In their efforts for diversity, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has sent out a record-breaking 928 invitations to join the Oscar-granting organization, including 158 individuals in the animation and visual effects fields. This makes it a significant increase over the 774 invitations sent out in 2017.
For this year’s invited members, 49% of them are female, and 38% are are people of colour. Should they all accept, this would bring the total Academy members to 31% female, and 16% people of colour. The organization aims to have female and diverse members doubled by 2020 as vowed by then-Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs back in 2016.
The criteria a candidate requires is that they must have “demonstrated exceptional achievement in the field of theatrical motion pictures”, and must be sponsored by two members of the Academy’s seventeen branches.
In alphabetical order by last name, the list below displays the 106 animations and 52 visual effects personnel who have been invited to the Academy (via The Hollywood Reporter). Those marked with an asterisk (*) indicate that they have been invited by more than one branch.
Short Films and Feature Animation
- Allison Abbate – Frankenweenie, The Iron Giant
- Kim Adams – Rain or Shine, Small Fry
- Ali Asgari – Gaze, The Silence
- Katja Benrath – Watu Wote/All of Us, Tilda
- Rose Bond – Electroflux, Cerridwen’s Gift
- Jongnic Bontemps – The Big Chop, There Are Ghosts
- Paul Briggs – Big Hero 6, Frozen
- Nick Bruno – The Peanuts Movie, Ice Age: Continental Drift
- Spela Cadez – Nighthawk, Boles
- Sofia Carrillo – Cerulia, La Casa Triste (The Sad House)
- Scott Carroll – Ferdinand, The Peanuts Movie
- Martine Chartrand – MacPherson, Black Soul (Ame Noire)
- Bruno Chauffard – Despicable Me 3, The Secret Life of Pets
- Yarrow Cheney – The Secret Life of Pets, Despicable Me
- Teresa Cheng – Shrek Forever After, Madagascar
- Pedro Collantes – Serori, Eskiper
- Melanie Coombs – Mary and Max, Harvie Krumpet
- Michèle Cournoyer – Accordéon, The Hat
- Jill Culton – Open Season, Monsters, Inc.
- Cassidy Curtis – How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
- Jennifer Dahlman – Coin Operated, Penguins of Madagascar
- Kevin Deters – Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, The Ballad of Nessie
- Karen Disher – Rio, Surviving Sid
- Ann Marie Fleming – Window Horses (The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming), Blue Skies
- Nick Fletcher – Trolls, Home
- Kirk Garfield – Ferdinand, Rio 2
- Danis Goulet – Barefoot, Wapawekka
- Carlos Grangel – Corpse Bride, Shark Tale
- Hamish Grieve – Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Rise of the Guardians
- Nicole Grindle – Incredibles 2, Sanjay’s Super Team
- Yasser Hamed – Moana, Big Hero 6
- Atsuko Hirayanagi – Oh Lucy!, Mo Ikkai
- Harry Hitner* – Ferdinand, Rio
- Brent Homman – Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, Big Hero 6
- Mamoru Hosoda – The Boy and the Beast, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
- Daisy Jacobs – The Full Story, The Bigger Picture
- Jeong Dahee – Man on the Chair, The Empty
- Yvette Kaplan – Ice Age, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
- Sunao Katabuchi – In This Corner of the World, Mai Mai Miracle
- Dorota Kobiela – Loving Vincent, Little Postman
- Ru Kuwahata – Negative Space, Something Left, Something Taken
- Jan Lachauer – Revolting Rhymes, Room on the Broom
- Josh Lawson – The Eleven O’Clock, After the Credits
- Pierre Leduc – Sing, Minions
- Lei Lei – Hand-Colored No. 2, Recycled
- Anthony Leo – The Breadwinner, Todd & the Book of Pure Evil: The End of the End
- Alexander Levenson – Ferdinand, The Peanuts Movie
- Li Jie – Coal Story, Three Pieces of Sincere Advice
- Liu Jian – Have a Nice Day, Look at This Man
- Adolph Lusinsky – Moana, Big Hero 6
- Maggie Malone – Big Hero 6, The Princess and the Frog
- Joe Mancewicz – Alvin and the Chipmunks, Happy Feet
- Pam Marsden Siragusa – Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Dinosaur
- Mauro Mueller – A World for Raúl, Ge.hen’nah
- Vincent Di Nguyen – The Peanuts Movie, Surviving Sid
- Fredrik Nilsson – The Boss Baby, The Croods
- Kevin M. Ochs – How to Train Your Dragon 2, Kung Fu Panda 2
- Ngozi Onwurah – Hang Time, The Body Beautiful
- Mauricio Osaki – My Father’s Truck, The Dust of Your Photos
- Chris Overton – The Silent Child, Dalston Heath
- Sergio Pablos – Rio, Despicable Me
- Nina Paley – Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, Sita Sings the Blues
- Michaela Pavlátová – Tram, Reci, Reci, Reci… (Words, Words, Words)
- Ruben Perez – The Boss Baby, Penguins of Madagascar
- Regina Pessoa – Kali the Little Vampire, Tragic Story with Happy Ending
- Suzan Pitt – Pinball, Visitation
- Bobby Podesta – Cars 3, Toy Story 3
- Max Porter – Negative Space, Something Left, Something Taken
- Carlos Fernandez Puertolas – The Boss Baby, Home
- Joanna Quinn – Dreams and Desires: Family Ties, Famous Fred
- Eric Ramsey – Trolls, Turbo
- Vanitha Rangaraju – The Boss Baby, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
- Jeffrey R. Ranjo – Frozen, Surf’s Up
- Timothy Reckart – The Star, Head Over Heels
- Tobias Rosen – Watu Wote/All of Us, Feuerkind
- Farnoosh Samadi – Gaze, The Silence
- Gini Cruz Santos – Coco, The Good Dinosaur
- Jakob Schuh – Revolting Rhymes, The Gruffalo
- Georges Schwizgebel – Erlking, Romance
- Yuriko Senoo – The Star, The Pirate Fairy
- Carla Shelley – Early Man, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- Rachel Shenton – The Silent Child, The Winter’s Club
- Makoto Shinkai – Your Name, Children Who Chase Lost Voices
- Amy Lawson Smeed – Moana, Tangled
- Tony Smeed – Zootopia, Frozen
- Keith L. Smith – Post Life, Island Song
- Patrick Smith – Puppet, Handshake
- Josh Staub – Inner Workings, Feast
- Stacey Steers – Edge of Alchemy, Night Hunter
- Chris Stover – Turbo, Foodfight!
- Mark Swift – Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Penguins of Madagascar
- Shannon Tindle – Kubo and the Two Strings, Curious George
- Karen Rupert Toliver* – Ferdinand, Rio
- Cilia Van Dijk – The Last Words of Dutch Schultz, Anna & Bella
- Cesar Velazquez – Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph
- Dina Velikovskaya – About a Mother, My Strange Grandfather
- John Walker – Incredibles 2, The Incredibles
- Dick Walsh – The Boss Baby, Shrek Forever After
- Dave Walvoord – How to Train Your Dragon 2, Kung Fu Panda 2
- Hugh Welchman – Loving Vincent, Peter & the Wolf
- Stevie Wermers-Skelton – Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, The Ballad of Nessie
- Carey Williams – Emergency, Cherry Waves
- Larry Y. Wu – Moana, Big Hero 6
- Paul Young – Song of the Sea, The Secret of Kells
- Jennifer Yu – Moana, Wreck-It Ralph
- Kathy Zielinski – The Road to El Dorado, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Visual Effects
- Gregory Anderson – The Wall, The Warrior’s Way
- Angela Barson – Tulip Fever, Me Before You
- Jay Barton – The Fate of the Furious, Furious 7
- Geoffrey Baumann – Black Panther, Doctor Strange
- Joel Behrens – Ready Player One, Pixels
- Jean Bolte – Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Glenn Campbell – Repentance, Walking with the Enemy
- Jeff Capogreco – Kong: Skull Island, Transformers: The Last Knight
- Trent Claus – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Doctor Strange
- Patrick Conran – Avengers: Age of Ultron, Pacific Rim
- Jonathan Egstad – The Boss Baby, Trolls
- Mark Elendt
- Jonathan Fawkner – Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy
- Audrey Ferrara – Alien: Covenant, Passengers
- Lucinda Foy – Ouija, Death Race
- Eric Frazier – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Nocturnal Animals
- Florian Gellinger – Black Panther, The Dark Tower
- Larry Gritz – Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The Emoji Movie
- Charlie Iturriaga – Chappie, Gone Girl
- Paul Kavanagh – Transformers: The Last Knight, Star Trek Into Darkness
- Michael Koperwas – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rango
- Gene Kozicki – Big Miracle, Moneyball
- Paul Lambert – Blade Runner 2049, The Huntsman: Winter’s War
- Kevin Martel – Avengers: Infinity War, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
- Aaron McBride – Kong: Skull Island, Marvel’s The Avengers
- Ken McGaugh – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The BFG
- Scott Meadows – Ready Player One, Black Panther
- Yvonne Muinde – Rampage, Black Panther
- Mike Mulholland – Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Gerd Nefzer – Blade Runner 2049, The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Erik Nordby – Passengers, The Amazing Spider-Man 2
- Jessica Norman – Wonder Woman, World War Z
- Kaori Ogino – Kong: Skull Island, Jurassic World
- Russell T. Paul – Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Philip Peterson – Mars Needs Moms, Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- Andrew Roberts – Independence Day: Resurgence, Snow White and the Huntsman
- Rachel Rose – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Noah
- Sue Rowe – The Legend of Tarzan, Independence Day: Resurgence
- Daryl Sawchuk – Black Panther, Doctor Strange
- Nelson Sepulveda – Kong: Skull Island, Marvel’s The Avengers
- Thrain Shadbolt – Rampage, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Matt Sloan – Maze Runner: The Death Cure, X-Men: Apocalypse
- Greg Steele – Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy
- Sandra Stewart – Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
- Nigel Sumner – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Pacific Rim
- Hanzhi Tang – Thor: Ragnarok, Independence Day: Resurgence
- Corey Turner – Monster Trucks, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Todd Vaziri – Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Chris Waegner – Spider-Man: Homecoming, Suicide Squad
- Joel Whist – War for the Planet of the Apes, The BFG
- Sheila Wickens – On Chesil Beach, The Limehouse Golem
- Alison Wortman – Dunkirk, Alice Through the Looking Glass
As an added titbit for animation fans, it’s interesting to note that of the 168 new actors invited, four of them are key voice actors of The Simpsons. These include Yeardley Smith (voice of Lisa), Julie Kavner (voice of Marge), Harry Shearer (voice of Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, and more), and Hank Azaria (voice of Apu, Moe, and more).