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Daniel Kaluuya in Black Panther
Photo: Marvel Studios
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Oscars body the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued its drive for better diversity with its latest round of invitations.
Stars and executives asked to be part of the awards body include Welsh star Taron Egerton, Black Panther's Daniel Kaluuya and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
The Academy, which plans to double the number of women and ethnic minority voters by 2020, also invited Girls Trip star Tiffany Haddish, writer/actor/producer Dave Chappelle, The Big Sick's Kumail Nanjiani, and Timothée Chalamet, the French star of Call Me By Your Name, to join its ranks.
The organisation, which has faced a wave of criticism from the #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo movements, says that 49 per cent of the new members are women and 38 per cent people of colour.
Other female actors on the list include Amy Schumer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Ann Dowd - along with the youngest invitee, Quvenzhané Wallis, 14. Directors invited include The Rider's Chloé Zhao, Sean Baker (The Florida Project) and Justin Simien (Dear White People).
If everyone who has received an invite accepts, the female membership will be up to 31 per cent, from 25 per cent in 2015, while ethnic minority representation will have doubled from eight per cent to 16 per cent.
