Nazanin Boniadi is many things. Actor. SAG Award nominee. Activist. Council on Foreign Relations Term Member. And now, she can add Academy Member to the list.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its newest class of members Wednesday, marking only the second round of invitees since the nearly 90-year-old institution launched an initiative to double the number of women and minorities in its ranks. In response to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the Oscar-granting Academy issued 774 invitations to new members. Of these invitations, 39% are women and 30% are people of color. With the new members, the share of women and people of color in the academy now stand at 28% and 13%, respectively.
The Tehran, Iran born Boniadi is in esteemed company, joining the ranks of newly invited Academy Members, Kristen Stewart, Gal Gadot, John Cho, Chris Pratt, Elle Fanning, Jordan Peele and many other stars. The Academy also extended invitations to other Iranian actors, including Leila Hatami and Golshifteh Farahani.
Thank you, @TheAcademy! I’m honored and thrilled to be a new #AcademyMember. https://t.co/RRQoTpktU3
— Nazanin Boniadi (@NazaninBoniadi) June 28, 2017
With television and movie appearances in Homeland, Zoolander 2, Passengers, Scandal and many more, she’s been hot demand. Boniadi recently appeared in the 2016 MGM-Paramount remake of BEN-HUR, playing the female lead role of Esther opposite Jack Huston, Morgan Freeman and Toby Kebbell. We will see her again on the big screen later this year, playing the role of “Zahra” in the Anthony Maras directed movie, “Hotel Mumbai“.
Below is the full list of actors joining Boniadi as an Academy Member:
Riz Ahmed – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Nightcrawler
Debbie Allen – Fame, Ragtime
Elena Anaya – Wonder Woman, The Skin I Live In
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Jodhaa Akbar, Devdas
Amitabh Bachchan – The Great Gatsby, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…
Monica Bellucci – Spectre, Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Gil Birmingham – Hell or High Water, Twilight series
Nazanin Boniadi – Ben-Hur, Iron Man
Daniel Brühl – The Zookeeper’s Wife, Inglourious Basterds
Maggie Cheung – Hero, In the Mood for Love
John Cho – Star Trek series, Harold & Kumar series
Priyanka Chopra – Baywatch, Barfi!
Matt Craven – X-Men: First Class, A Few Good Men
Terry Crews – The Expendables series, Draft Day
Warwick Davis – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Harry Potter series
Colman Domingo – The Birth of a Nation, Selma
Adam Driver – Silence, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Joel Edgerton – It Comes at Night, Loving
Chris Evans – Captain America series, Snowpiercer
Luke Evans – Beauty and the Beast, The Girl on the Train
Fan Bingbing – I Am Not Madame Bovary, Cell Phone
Elle Fanning – The Beguiled, 20th Century Women
Golshifteh Farahani – Paterson, About Elly
Anna Faris – Scary Movie series, Brokeback Mountain
Tom Felton – A United Kingdom, Harry Potter series
Rebecca Ferguson – The Girl on the Train, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Lou Ferrigno – The Incredible Hulk, Hercules
Gal Gadot – Wonder Woman, Fast & Furious series
Charlotte Gainsbourg – Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, Melancholia
Jeff Garlin – Safety Not Guaranteed, WALL-E
Spencer Garrett – Public Enemies, Thank You for Smoking
Domhnall Gleeson – Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Ex Machina
Sharon Gless – The Star Chamber, Airport 1975
Donald Glover – The Martian, Magic Mike XXL
Judy Greer – Jurassic World, 13 Going on 30
Rupert Grint – Moonwalkers, Harry Potter series
Noel Gugliemi – Lowriders, The Fast and the Furious
Jon Hamm – Baby Driver, The Town
Armie Hammer – The Birth of a Nation, The Social Network
Naomie Harris – Moonlight, Skyfall
Leila Hatami – A Separation, Leila
Anne Heche – Rampart, Donnie Brasco
Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea, Moonrise Kingdom
Chris Hemsworth – Thor series, Rush
Ciarán Hinds – Silence, Munich
Aldis Hodge – Hidden Figures, Straight Outta Compton
Bryce Dallas Howard – Jurassic World, The Help
Bonnie Hunt – The Green Mile, Jerry Maguire
Jiang Wen – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Let the Bullets Fly
Dwayne Johnson – Moana, Central Intelligence
Leslie Jones – Ghostbusters, Masterminds
Keegan-Michael Key – Don’t Think Twice, Keanu
Aamir Khan – 3 Idiots, Lagaan
Irrfan Khan – Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire
Salman Khan – Sultan, Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Rinko Kikuchi – Pacific Rim, Babel
Zoë Kravitz – Divergent series, Mad Max: Fury Road
Sanaa Lathan – Out of Time, Love and Basketball
Carina Lau – Infernal Affairs 2, Days of Being Wild
Tony Leung – The Grandmaster; Lust, Caution
Rami Malek – Short Term 12, The Master
Leslie Mann – Funny People, Knocked Up
Kate McKinnon – Ghostbusters, Office Christmas Party
Sienna Miller – The Lost City of Z, American Sniper
Janelle Monáe – Hidden Figures, Moonlight
Michelle Monaghan – Patriots Day, Gone Baby Gone
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic, The Lord of the Rings series
Ruth Negga – Loving, Warcraft
Franco Nero – The Lost City of Z, Django
Elizabeth Olsen – Avengers: Age of Ultron, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Deepika Padukone – xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Piku
Sarah Paulson – Blue Jay, 12 Years a Slave
Robert Picardo – Hail, Caesar!; The Meddler
Amy Poehler – Inside Out, Sisters
Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy series, Jurassic World
Zachary Quinto – Star Trek series, Snowden
Édgar Ramírez – The Girl on the Train, Joy
Phylicia Rashad – Creed, For Colored Girls
Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad, The Wolf of Wall Street
Maya Rudolph – Maggie’s Plan, Bridesmaids
Hiroyuki Sanada – Life, The Twilight Samurai
Henry G. Sanders – Selma, Whiplash
Rodrigo Santoro – 300, Love Actually
Rade Šerbedžija – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, The Quiet American
Nestor Serrano – The Insider, Lethal Weapon 2
Amanda Seyfried – Les Misérables, Mean Girls
Molly Shannon – Other People, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Anna Deavere Smith – Rachel Getting Married, Philadelphia
Hailee Steinfeld – The Edge of Seventeen, True Grit
Kristen Stewart – Café Society, Twilight series
Omar Sy – Inferno, The Intouchables
Wanda Sykes – Snatched, Evan Almighty
Channing Tatum – Hail, Caesar!; Foxcatcher
Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Nocturnal Animals, Kick-Ass
Lauren Tom – The Joy Luck Club, Cadillac Man
Jeanne Tripplehorn – The Firm, Basic Instinct
Paz Vega – Kill the Messenger, Sex and Lucía
Dee Wallace – Grand Piano, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Ming-Na Wen – Mulan, The Joy Luck Club
Betty White – You Again, The Proposal
Rebel Wilson – Pitch Perfect series, Bridesmaids
Mary Elizabeth Winstead – 10 Cloverfield Lane, Swiss Army Man
B.D. Wong – Mulan, Jurassic Park
Shailene Woodley – The Spectacular Now, The Descendants
Donnie Yen – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ip Man
