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Last Year’s Biggest Oscar Contenders Invited to Join the Academy

From new winners like Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur to nominee snubs Caitríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan, it’s yet another eclectic new group of voters.
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Last year’s biggest breakout Oscar contenders have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year—whether they were ultimately nominated or not.

As is typical, first-time nominees from 2021 films, including supporting-acting champs Troy Kotsur (CODA) and Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), and nominees Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) and Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog), are among the biggest names on the annual invitee list, this time comprising 397 industry professionals. But equally prominent are those who hit the pavement hard last season only to come up short on noms morning: Caitríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan (Belfast), Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World), Robin de Jesús (Tick, Tick…Boom!), Olga Merediz (In the Heights), and Gaby Hoffmann (C’mon C’mon) will all have a vote next year, should they choose to accept the offers. (This goes, too, for craftspeople on movies ranging from Nightmare Alley composer Nathan Johnson to The Hand of God cinematographer Daria D’Antonio.

This year’s class overall reflects continuing trends in the Academy’s evolving membership, with over a third of invitees being people of color, and more significantly, half hailing from countries outside the U.S., according to the Academy. Indeed, we’re seeing a significant kind of feedback loop here, with the filmmakers and stars of major 2022 contenders Drive My Car (Japan), Titane (France), A Hero (Iran), and Flee (Denmark) being asked to join. This ever-increasing global skew of the Academy will continue to impact its nominations especially; last year’s stunner of a showing for Drive My Car might feel less anomalous than the beginning of a new normal. 

The Academy also uses the invitation tradition to welcome both industry vets perhaps less known for Hollywood movies than other mediums, and rising stars sure to meet Academy recognition in the years to come. Fitting into that former category are Tony-winner Reed Birney (seen in last year’s Mass), Tony-nominee Sheryl Lee Ralph (now an Emmy contender for Abbott Elementary), and reigning BAFTA best-actress champ Joanna Scanlan (for After Love). Of those in the latter group, Anya Taylor-Joy (Last Night in Soho) and writer Jeremy O. Harris (Zola) haven’t gotten too close to an Oscar nom yet, but it’s likely more a matter of when than if.

Other 2022 Oscar winners set to join the Academy are best-picture-winning CODA’s writer-director Sian Heder, best-song winners Billie Eilish and Finneas, and Drive My Car’s writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi. In total, per the Academy, 71 Oscar nominees, including 15 winners, were named as part of this year’s invited group.

You can access the full invite list here.