Do you ever wonder how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gains members? Obviously you have to be involved in film production in some manner, but a glance at 2024 invitees raises few eyebrows. If you’re familiar with the films and people you see the relation of cause to effect. There are some interesting categories and choices to be sure, like the At Large, Executive or Music sections.

What follows is the main part of today AMPAS press release:

Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 135 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2024 to the Academy’s roster of voting members. The Academy’s membership policies would have allowed a maximum of 180 new members in 2024, but as in other recent years, the several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2024. New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception at the Academy’s Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills in September.

The 2024 invitees are:

Actors


Tobin Bell – “Saw,” “The Firm”


Vera Farmiga – “Up in the Air,” “The Departed”


Miguel Ferrer – “Traffic,” “RoboCop”


James Gandolfini – “In the Loop,” “Get Shorty”


Anna Kendrick – “Up in the Air,” “Twilight”


Mo’Nique – “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” “Phat Girlz” 


Carey Mulligan – “An Education,” “Public Enemies”

Jeremy Renner – “The Hurt Locker,” “28 Weeks Later”


Ryan Reynolds – “The Proposal,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”


LaTanya Richardson Jackson – “Mother and Child,” “Losing Isaiah”


Peter Riegert – “Traffic,” “Crossing Delancey”


Sam Robards – “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” “American Beauty”


Saoirse Ronan – “The Lovely Bones,” “Atonement”


Zoe Saldana – “Avatar,” “Star Trek”


Adam Sandler – “Funny People,” “Punch-Drunk Love”


Peter Sarsgaard – “An Education,” “Boys Don’t Cry”


Gabourey Sidibe – “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”


Shaun Toub – “Iron Man,” “The Kite Runner”


Christoph Waltz – “Inglourious Basterds” 


George Wyner – “A Serious Man,” “American Pie 2”

Animators


Ken Bielenberg – “Monsters vs Aliens,” “Shrek”


Peter de Seve – “Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” “Ratatouille” 


Steve Hickner – “Bee Movie,” “The Prince of Egypt”


Angus MacLane – “Toy Story 3,” “WALL-E”


Darragh O’Connell – “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty,” “Give Up Yer Aul Sins”


Simon Otto – “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Kung Fu Panda”


Bob Pauley – “Toy Story 3,” “Monsters, Inc.”


Willem Thijssen – “The Aroma of Tea,” “A Greek Tragedy”

Art Directors


Kim Sinclair – “Avatar,” “Cast Away”


Dave Warren – “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary”

At-Large


Darcy Antonellis


John Lowry

Casting Directors


Laura Rosenthal – “The Messenger,” “I’m Not There”

Cinematographers


Barry Ackroyd – “The Hurt Locker,” “United 93”


Christian Berger – “The White Ribbon,” “Cache”


Hagen Bogdanski – “The Young Victoria,” “The Lives of Others”


Shane Hurlbut – “Terminator Salvation,” “We Are Marshall”


Tom Hurwitz – “Valentino The Last Emperor,” “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”


Dan Mindel – “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible III”


Tobias Schliessler – “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” “Hancock”


Stephen Windon – “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” “House of Wax”


Robert Yeoman – “Get Him to the Greek,” “The Squid and the Whale”

Costume Designers


Catherine Leterrier – “Coco before Chanel,” “Avenue Montaigne”


Janet Patterson – “Bright Star,” “The Piano”

Directors


Jacques Audiard – “A Prophet,” “The Beat That My Heart Skipped”


Juan Jose Campanella – “The Secret in Their Eyes,” “Son of the Bride”


Lee Daniels – “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” “Shadowboxer”


Claudia Llosa – “The Milk of Sorrow,” “Madeinusa”


Lone Scherfig – “An Education,” “Italian for Beginners”


Adam Shankman – “Bedtime Stories,” “Hairspray”

Documentary


Nancy Baker – “Rehearsing a Dream,” “Born into Brothels”


Rick Goldsmith – “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” “Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press”


Davis Guggenheim – “It Might Get Loud,” “An Inconvenient Truth”


Tia Lessin – “Capitalism: A Love Story,” “Trouble the Water”


Cara Mertes – “The Betrayal,” “My Country, My Country”


Frazer Pennebaker – “Al Franken: God Spoke,” “The War Room”


Julia Reichert – “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant,” “Seeing Red”


Morgan Spurlock – “Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?,” “Super Size Me”

Executives


Christopher W. Aronson

Jim Berk


Philippe Dauman


Sheila DeLoach


Donald Peter Granger


Nathan Kahane


Andrew Karpen


Ryan Kavanaugh


David Kosse


David Andrew Spitz


Emma Watts

Film Editors

Robert Frazen – “Synecdoche, New York,” “Smart People”


Dana E. Glauberman – “Up in the Air,” “Thank You for Smoking”


Joe Klotz – “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” “Grace Is Gone”


Bob Murawski – “The Hurt Locker,” “Spider-Man”


John Refoua – “Avatar,” “Reno 911!: Miami”



Live Action Short Films


Joachim Back – “The New Tenants”


Gregg Helvey – “Kavi,” “The Knife Grinder’s Tale”

Makeup Artists and Hairstylists


Kris Evans – “X-Men The Last Stand,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”


Jane Galli – “Knight and Day,” “3:10 to Yuma”


Mindy Hall – “Star Trek,” “World Trade Center”


Joel Harlow – “Star Trek,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”


Jenny Shircore – “The Young Victoria,” “Elizabeth”

Music


Christophe Beck – “The Hangover,” “Bring It On”


Bono – “Gangs of New York,” “In the Name of the Father”


T Bone Burnett – “Crazy Heart,” “Cold Mountain”


The Edge – “Gangs of New York,” “GoldenEye”


Brian Tyler – “Fast & Furious,” “Aliens vs. Predator Requiem”

Producers


Stephanie Allain – “Black Snake Moan,” “Hustle & Flow”


Gregory Jacobs – “The Informant!,” “The Good German”


Jon Landau – “Avatar,” “Titanic”


Marc Turtletaub – “Away We Go,” “Little Miss Sunshine”


Glenn Williamson – “Sunshine Cleaning,” “Hollywoodland”

Production Designers


Kirk M. Pertruccelli – “The Incredible Hulk,” “The Patriot”

Edward S. Verreaux – “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” “Jurassic Park III”

Public Relations


Dwight Caines


Suzanne M. Cole


Tommy Gargotta


Sophie Gluck


Josh Greenstein


Pamela Levine


Wendy Lightbourn


Michele Robertson


Tony Sella

Set Decorators


Maggie Gray – “The Young Victoria,” “Ella Enchanted”


Douglas A. Mowat – “Role Models,” “The Sixth Sense”


Caroline Smith – “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Match Point”

Sound


Frank Eulner – “Iron Man 2,” “Hellboy”


Adam Jenkins – “I Love You, Man,” “Crash”


Tony Lamberti – “Inglourious Basterds,” “Sideways”

Dennis Leonard – “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” “The Polar Express”


Tom Myers – “Up,” “WALL-E”


Paul N.J. Ottosson – “The Hurt Locker,” “Spider-Man 3”


Resul Pookutty – “Ghajini,” “Slumdog Millionaire” 


Gary A. Rizzo – “How to Train Your Dragon,” “The Dark Knight”


Michael Silvers – “Up,” “Ratatouille”


Gwendolyn Yates Whittle – “Avatar,” “The Simpsons Movie”

Visual Effects


Matt Aitken – “District 9,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”


Karen Ansel – “Angels & Demons,” “Men in Black II”


Richard Baneham – “Avatar,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”


Eric Barba – “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Zodiac”


Paul Debevec – “Avatar,” “King Kong”


Russell Earl – “Star Trek,” “Transformers”


Steve Galich – “Date Night,” “Transformers”


Andrew R. Jones – “Avatar,” “I, Robot”


Dan Kaufman – “District 9,” “Ocean’s Thirteen”


Derek Spears – “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” “Superman Returns”


Steve Sullivan – “Avatar,” “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith”


Michael J. Wassel – “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” “The Bourne Identity”

Writers


Neill Blomkamp – “District 9”


Mark Boal – “The Hurt Locker,” “In the Valley of Elah”


Geoffrey Fletcher – “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”


Nick Hornby – “An Education,” “Fever Pitch”


Alex Kurtzman – “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible III”


Tom McCarthy – “Up,” “The Visitor”


Roberto Orci – “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible III”


Terri Tatchell – “District 9”