It’s that time of year when the Academy swell their ranks with more new academy members and this year a handful of Star Wars related people have been chosen.
Emilia Clarke from Solo: A Star Wars Story, Celia Imrie from The Phantom Menace, Daisy Ridley from the sequel trilogy, Richard Roberts, designer on The Last Jedi, Joe Bonn who worked on the music for The Last Jedi, Skywalker Sounds David Acord and Joel Iwataki, ILM’s Mike Mulholland, Russell T. Paul, Phillip Peterson, Rachel Rose, Nigel Sumner and Todd Vaziri. The list is certain to contain more with close associations to the saga.
Steven Spielberg welcomed the new Academy initiates.
Our new member list is officially out! And Directors Branch governor Steven Spielberg has a message for all of those invited to join. https://t.co/LEv2huAGHn #WeAreTheAcademy pic.twitter.com/rGG1S2pjaw
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) June 25, 2018
Of the 928 new members from 59 countries there are 49% new female members, bringing female Academy representation up to 31%, and 38% of new members are people of colour, bringing the Academy total up to 16%.
Of those invited there are 17 Oscar winners, 92 are Oscar nominees with the youngest member being 14 and the oldest 86.