Oscar Voters Increase by 187 Over the Last Year, but Academy’s Actors Branch Shrinks

After five years of explosive growth designed to make the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bigger, more international and more diverse, growth slowed significantly in 2021, with the organization adding only 187 new Oscar voters to last year’s total of 9,300.

According to an AMPAS branch count dated Jan. 24, 2022, the Academy has 9,487 members who are eligible to vote for this year’s 94th Academy Awards when nomination voting opens on Thursday. The increase came after a year in which 395 film professionals were invited to join the Academy, about half the number that had been invited since the 2016 #OscarsSoWhite protests caused AMPAS leadership to undertake a revamping of its membership.

During the ensuing five-year drive, membership increased from just over 6,000 voting members to more than 9,000. But the Academy announced in 2021 that it would reduce the number of invitations “to enable steady future growth and to ensure the necessary infrastructure, staff resources and environment to support all Academy members.”

This year’s branch count, which will be used to determine who’s eligible to vote for the Oscars, shows a total growth of less than 200, which means that some of the 395 invitees may have declined the invitation, while other existing Academy members died or moved to non-voting status.

Of the 17 Academy branches, 16 showed slight increases in membership, with the Short Films and Feature Animation and Visual Effects branches having the largest jump with 26 more members than in 2021. The number of members in the Documentary and Producers branches also rose by at least 20, while nine branches had single-digit increases.

The Actors Branch, the Academy’s largest, was the only one to lose members, with its current count of 1,336 marking a drop of 23 over last year’s total of 1,359.

Counting non-voting associate members, the Academy has a total active membership of 9,573 – while if you add an additional 914 emeritus members, the total reaches 10,487.

Here are the branch counts as of Jan. 24, 2022. The change in size since last year’s final pre-nomination count is indicated in parentheses.

Actors: 1,336 (-23)
Casting Directors: 150 (+8)
Cinematographers: 290 (+8)
Costume Designers: 171 (+4)
Directors: 568 (+4)
Documentary: 618 (+23)
Executives: 681 (+18)
Film Editors: 375 (+4)
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists: 231 (+7)
Marketing and Public Relations: 605 (+18)
Music: 383 (+9)
Producers: 634 (+20)
Production Design: 387 (+5)
Short Films and Feature Animation: 844 (+26)
Sound: 550 (+14)
Visual Effects: 606 (+26)
Writers: 504 (+5)
Members-at-Large: 554 (+11)

Total voting members: 9,487 (+187)

Associate members: 86 (-9)
Total active members: 9,573 (+178)
Emeritus members: 914 (+33)
Total active and inactive members: 10,487 (+211)