These Are the Latinos Invited to Join the Academy of Motion Pictures This Year

When it comes to the Oscars, we know it’s just an honor to be nominated. But we should also remember that getting invited to be part of the Academy is as rare and welcome an honor. Continuing its mission to shake up the near 100-year-old organization, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences added 928 new members from 59 countries this year. Each member gets to join one branch and vote within that branch to dictate nominations (everyone votes for winners in their branch as well as for Best Picture). 49% of the invited members are female, which will nudge the overall female membership to a record-breaking (though still cringe-worthy) 31%. The same group is made up of 38% people of color (that overall percentage is unsurprisingly bleak: it sits at a paltry 16%). It’ll take time for the Academy’s make-up to mirror anything remotely resembling the United States’ demographics but these are all moves in the right direction.

There are, thankfully, a whole lot of Latino and Latin American filmmakers making their way into the Academy’s ranks this year. We decided to spotlight our favorite ten (all actors) which include a Jane the Virgin father-daughter duo, one of Mexico’s biggest comedic stars and two of Sebastian Lelio’s muses. Check them out below, as well as an added list of other talented folks from all across AMPAS’ branches that will get to decide what will follow The Shape of Water as next year’s Best Picture.