Veronica Ferres becomes a member of the Oscar Academy

Admission process and requirements

The final selection follows a multi-stage process: First, the boards of the respective branches decide on potential new members. A membership committee then reviews the proposals. The final decision rests with the Board of Governors, the Academy's supreme governing body. Only those who accept the invitation will officially belong to the Academy starting in 2026.

Ferres counts among a prominent roster in the acting branch. Alongside her, this year's class also includes Josh O'Connor, Jacob Elordi, Mathieu Amalric, Mia Goth, Teyana Taylor, and Jenna Ortega, among others. Other well-known names on the list are Julia Garner, Simu Liu, and Bill Skarsgård. The new class thus reflects the diversity of the international film landscape.

Acting branch with prominent names

The Academy is divided into more than a dozen branches, including directing, cinematography, editing, screenplay, acting, and music. In addition to actors, this year's invitations also go to directors, cinematographers, costume designers, editors, producers, and representatives of numerous other film professions.

Among the 529 invitees are 95 Oscar nominees, 21 of whom have already won an Oscar. The new members will in future be allowed to vote in the awarding of the Oscars, making them part of the voting body that decides each year on the prize winners.

Additional German film professionals invited

In addition to Ferres, other German film professionals have been invited. In the Visual Effects branch, the Germans Michael Ralla and Guido Wolter, who were nominated for an Oscar this year for their work on the film "Blood & Sinners," have been called up. Cinematographer Markus Förderer ("September 5") also received an invitation.

Furthermore, film composer Karim Sebastian Elias ("Cutting Through Rocks") and costume designer Sabrina Krämer ("In die Sonne schauen") have been admitted. The German film industry is thus represented in several branches of the Academy this year, underscoring the growing international visibility of the local film scene.

Diversity and representation

With each new wave of members, the Academy emphasizes the goal of broader representation. According to its own figures, women make up 42 percent of this year's invitees. 56 percent belong to underrepresented groups, according to the organization. 53 percent of the new members come from 60 countries and territories outside the United States.

If all 529 invitees accept membership, the Academy would in future comprise a total of 11,319 members, including 10,338 voting members. This would make the organization one of the largest cultural professional associations in the world and the voting body for the film industry's most important award.

The Academy's reform process

In view of its growing membership, the Academy has reformed its admission process several times in recent years. The aim was to strengthen the representation of women, international film professionals, and underrepresented groups. The invitation of Ferres and her German colleagues fits into this line.

Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor welcomed the new class. They stated that the invitees had „bedeutende Beiträge für unsere globale Filmindustrie geleistet". They expressed their delight at „diese bemerkenswerte Gruppe von Filmkünstlern und Fachleuten aus der ganzen Welt einzuladen, der Academy beizutreten".

Significance for the German film industry

For Ferres, the invitation represents the highest formal degree of international recognition that an actress from the German-speaking world can currently achieve. In the coming years, she could have a say not only as an invitee but as a voting member in the awarding of the Oscars.

The fact that film professionals from countries outside anglophone cinema were called up in the same wave points to an ongoing trend toward the internationalization of the Academy. German contributions such as "Das Leben der Anderen" or "Die Verurteilten" had previously won Oscars without those involved being automatically admitted to the Academy.

With her admission to the Academy, Ferres becomes part of an exclusive circle of film professionals whose voices help decide the awarding of the industry's most prestigious honor.

The Academy has been regarded as the guardian of the highest film awards since its founding in 1927. The admission of new members traditionally takes place once a year and is followed with great interest by the industry, as the composition of the voting body influences future prize decisions.