On Tuesday (June 28), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the governing body that oversees the Academy Awards, invited 397 new actors, directors, movie executives, and other talents to join the organization as members of its class of 2022. The list included Latine artists from the AMPAS’ 17 branches, including acting and directing.
In the acting branch, invitations were extended to Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Northman), Robin de Jesús (tick, tick…BOOM!), Olga Merediz (In the Heights), and Marco Rodriguez (El Chicano).
In the directing branch, Latine filmmakers invited to join the ranks were Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), Bruno Villela Barreto (Four Days in September), and Jeferson Rodrigues de Rezende (Bróder).
Other Latines on the list include Emílio Domingos (Favela Is Fashion) and Cristina Ibarra (The Infiltrators) in the documentary branch; Cristina Gallego (Birds of Passage) in the producers’ branch; and Karla Castañeda (La Noria), Hugo Covarrubias (Bestia) and K.D. Dávila (Please Hold) in the short films and feature animation branch, among others.
According to Deadline, the Class of 2022 includes 37 percent of invitees coming from underrepresented communities. After the #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2015, the Academy committed to more diversity in its membership with an initiative to double the number of women and underrepresented ethnic and racial communities and to significantly grow its international membership by 2020, which it continues to do.
“There is more of a need for Hollywood to let those voices speak for themselves,” actor Jesse Borrego told Remezcla last year when he was invited to join the Class of 2021. “I take it as a badge of honor and a responsibility. It’s beautiful that the Academy is moving in that direction of being more inclusive.”
To see the entire Class of 2022 list, visit Oscars.org.