Film academy president welcomes new members

Jeanne Tripplehorn is the new member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [Photo provided to China Daily]

BEVERLY HILLS, California－Jeanne Tripplehorn has been a professional actress for more than 25 years. But as a new member of the film academy, she's almost as giddy as her first day on set.

"I'm already involved in all these different committees," she says. "I love film so much ... so to be invited to become a member of the academy is the greatest honor I could have."

Tripplehorn was among the guests at a private reception on Monday for the newest members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The organization invited a record class of 774 new members in June－39 percent female and 30 percent nonwhite－representing 57 countries as part of an ongoing effort to diversify its ranks. The group previously had around 6,200 members.

Academy chief Dawn Hudson says the new membership class reflects a "re-envisioning of the academy as a truly international institution".

"You make our academy better, stronger, smarter, more open," she said as she welcomed hundreds of new members to the organization's headquarters in Beverly Hills, California. Director Tom Ford and actors Terry Crews and Rodrigo Santoro were among the artists who turned out to celebrate their new membership status.

Hairstylist Kenneth Walker says he always believed he would join the film academy, though it took 35 years.

After decades in Hollywood, amassing such credits as Ali and American Gangster, the 78-year-old is finally a member.

As an academy member, Walker says he plans to devote time to mentoring young talent and exploring foreign film.

Academy president John Bailey says the foreign-language film committee is his "home favorite".

"Even ones that may not quite grab the brass ring are windows into the sociopolitical temperature of their country," he says. "You'll receive sometimes startling insights into how filmmakers in the rest of the world view themselves and their own country and also how they view us."

Bailey, a cinematographer who joined the academy in 1981, says membership isn't about all the free DVD screeners, but connecting to the past and future of filmmaking through academy efforts to preserve film history and recruit new talent.

Jeanne Tripplehorn is the new member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [Photo provided to China Daily]

AFP