Thursday, December 31, 2015

In Honor of Their First Oscar Ballot….

I posted some publicity images on twitter, facebook and tumblr yesterday, in honor of some of the new Academy members who received an Oscar ballot for the first time. I hope to do some more as the season progresses to help raise awareness about The Academy Members Project.

reznor ross first time.jpg

jason segel first time.jpg

Elizabeth Banks first time.jpg

justin lin first time.jpg

john legend common first time.jpg

Tom Hardy's First Time.jpg

pine cumberbatch first time.jpg

daniel radcliffe first time.jpg
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Friday, December 11, 2015

The Academy Members Project Has Now Identified 5500 Oscar Voters!

As awards season heats up, I’m proud to announce that we have now identified the names of 5,500 Oscar voters! That’s over 76% of the Academy!

From the very beginning, our goal has been to identify and celebrate the artists who make up this prestigious club. We get a rush of excitement every time we find a new name, but we have to admit that surpassing big round numbers like 5,500 brings a special thrill.

In addition to the 5,500 current members, we have found 4,650 historical members, and 2,350 filmmakers who have not been admitted to the academy (yet!).

I want to thank everyone who has helped with the research, or even just smiled supportively over the years. Reading through archival materials and hunting down news articles can be lonely work, but your encouragement helps immensely. There are still lots of names left to find, but the days when people can claim that they have “no idea” who makes up the academy are dwindling fast.

You can check out all the names using the index below, or learn how you can join the search to help us get to 6,000!

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