Taylor Swift invited to join the Oscars' Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Taylor Swift has been invited to join the academy along with a number of others who have made major contributions to film over the past year, including David Byrne, Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye, Austin Butler, Keke Palmer, Ke Huy Quan and many more.

Swift is yet to win or be nominated for an Oscar, but they aren’t a prerequisite for joining the Academy. “Membership selection is based on professional qualifications, with an ongoing commitment to representation, inclusion and equity,” the Academy said. Swift's contributions include the songs she’s written for film soundtracks, such as “Safe and Sound” for The Hunger Games, “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” for Fifty Shades Darker, “Beautiful Ghosts” for Cats, and “Carolina” for Where the Crawdads Sing.

She has also been involved with various movies as an actor; picking up roles in Cats, the animated version of The Lorax, and David O. Russell’s 2022 historical drama Amsterdam.

She’s has been regularly directing her music videos over the past few years and made All Too Well: The Short Film to coincide with the release of Red (Taylor’s Version). At the end of last year, it was announced that Swift would make her feature-length directorial debut based on an original script she wrote, though additional details are yet to be revealed.

Many recent Oscar nominees are among the invitees, such as Austin Butler, Paul Mescal, Stephanie Hsu, and Kerry Condon.

“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang said in a joint statement to the publication. “They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide.”

The 2023 class is 40% women. 34% belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities and 52% hail from 51 countries and territories outside the United States. If all 398 people who were invited this year accept their invitations, the Academy will have a 34% female, 18% non-white and 20% non-American membership.

In 2022, the Oscars invited 397 new members, including Billie Eilish, Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, Belfast stars Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan and Disney executive Dana Walden.