Cheyney University's Tanisha LaVerne Grant To Be At This Year's Academy Awards

Contributor: Tanisha LaVerne Grant

Malcolm Lee, Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and David Oyelowo are among 322 artist who have been invited to join the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Tanisha LaVerne Grant Entertainment correspondent and Cheyney University of Pennsylvania Alum has had the pleasure to interview some of the extraordinary talent who will have the opportunity to join this prestigious organization. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2015.

“It’s gratifying to acknowledge the extraordinary range of talent in our industry,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.  “This year, our branches have recognized a more diverse and inclusive list of filmmakers and artists than ever before, and we look forward to adding their creativity, ideas and experience to our organization.”

The 2015 invitees are:

Actors
Elizabeth Banks – “Love & Mercy,” “The Hunger Games”
Choi Min-sik– “Lucy,” “Oldboy”
Benedict Cumberbatch – “The Imitation Game,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Martin Freeman – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Hot Fuzz”
Heather Graham – “The Hangover,” “Boogie Nights”
Tom Hardy – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Inception”
Kevin Hart – “The Wedding Ringer,” “Ride Along”
Felicity Jones – “The Theory of Everything,” “Like Crazy”
Stephen Lang – “Avatar,” “The Men Who Stare at Goats”
Jodi Long – “A Picture of You,” “Beginners”
John Carroll Lynch – “Shutter Island,” “Zodiac”
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – “Beyond the Lights,” “Belle”
Denis O’Hare – “Milk,” “Michael Clayton”
Michael O’Neill – “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Transformers”
David Oyelowo – “Selma,” “A Most Violent Year”
Dev Patel – “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Slumdog Millionaire”
Rosamund Pike – “Gone Girl,” “Pride & Prejudice”
Chris Pine – “Into the Woods,” “Star Trek”
Daniel Radcliffe – “Kill Your Darlings,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Eddie Redmayne – “The Theory of Everything,” “Les Misérables”
Jason Segel – “The Five-Year Engagement,” “The Muppets”
J.K. Simmons – “Whiplash,” “Juno”
Sonny Skyhawk – “Geronimo: An American Legend,” “Young Guns II”
Song Kang-ho – “Snowpiercer,” “The Host”
Emma Stone – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Help”

Casting Directors
Lucy Bevan – “Cinderella,” “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
Victoria Burrows – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “King Kong”
Aisha Coley – “Selma,” “Beyond the Lights”
Patricia DiCerto – “Blue Jasmine,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Mary Hidalgo – “The Lego Movie,” “The Incredibles”
Roger Mussenden – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Get Smart”
Lucie Robitaille – “Incendies,” “The Barbarian Invasions”
Luis San Narciso – “The Skin I Live In,” “The Sea Inside”
April Webster – “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek”
Tricia Wood – “Woman in Gold,” “The Lincoln Lawyer”

Cinematographers
Christopher Blauvelt – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “The Bling Ring”
Adriano Goldman – “August: Osage County,” “Jane Eyre”
Ben Kasulke – “Laggies,” “Safety Not Guaranteed”
Ryszard Lenczewski – “Ida,” “Margaret”
Jody Lee Lipes – “Ballet 422,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Sharone Meir – “Whiplash,” “Mean Creek”
Rachel Morrison – “Cake,” “Fruitvale Station”
Tristan Oliver – “ParaNorman,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Hoyte Van Hoytema – “Interstellar,” “Her”
Roman Vasyanov – “Fury,” “End of Watch”
Łukasz Żal – “Ida,” “Joanna”

Costume Designers
Kasia Walicka Maimone – “Foxcatcher,” “Moonrise Kingdom”
Francesca Livia Sartori – “Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy,” “When the Night”
Jany Temime – “Gravity,” “Skyfall”

Designers
Ramsey Avery – “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Gae Buckley – “The Book of Eli,” “He’s Just Not That into You”
Keith Brian Burns – “The Best Man Holiday,” “2 Fast 2 Furious”
Lester W. Cohen – “Fading Gigolo,” “Cop Land”
Suzie Davies – “Mr. Turner,” “The Children”
John F. Fenner – “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”
Darren Gilford – “Oblivion,” “Tron: Legacy”
Derek R. Hill – “Southpaw,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”
Bryn Imagire – “Cars 2,” “Up”
Dina Lipton – “Baggage Claim,” “Love Hurts”
Tatiana Macdonald – “The Imitation Game,” “The Invisible Woman”
Dominic Masters – “Woman in Gold,” “Casino Royale”
Doug Meerdink – “Jurassic World,” “Ocean’s Thirteen”
Chris Spellman – “Paper Towns,” “This Is the End”
Patrick Tatopoulos – “300: Rise of an Empire,” “Total Recall”
Charlotte Watts – “Mr. Holmes,” “Mr. Turner”

> Directors
> Michael Binder – “Black or White,” “Reign over Me”
> Bong Joon-ho – “Snowpiercer,” “Mother”
> Niki Caro – “North Country,” “Whale Rider”
> Damien Chazelle* – “Whiplash,” “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”
> Simon Curtis – “Woman in Gold,” “My Week with Marilyn”
> François Girard – “Silk,” “The Red Violin”
> F. Gary Gray – “The Italian Job,” “Friday”
> James Gunn – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Super”
> Im Kwon-taek – “Chi-Hwa-Seon (Painted Fire),” “Chunhyang”
> Stan Lathan – “Beat Street,” “Amazing Grace”
> Malcolm D. Lee* – “The Best Man Holiday,” “The Best Man”
> Justin Lin – “Fast & Furious 6,” “Better Luck Tomorrow”
> François Ozon – “Young & Beautiful,” “Swimming Pool”
> Paweł Pawlikowski* – “Ida,” “My Summer of Love”
> Kelly Reichardt – “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Wendy and Lucy”
> Ira Sachs – “Love Is Strange,” “Keep the Lights On”
> Lynn Shelton – “Laggies,” “Your Sister’s Sister”
> Abderrahmane Sissako* – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
> Damián Szifron* – “Wild Tales,” “On Probation”
> Fernando Trueba – “Chico & Rita,” “Belle Epoque”
> Morten Tyldum – “The Imitation Game,” “Headhunters”
> Zaza Urushadze – “Tangerines,” “The Guardian”
> Wayne Wang – “Anywhere but Here,” “The Joy Luck Club”
> Edgar Wright – “The World’s End,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”
> Joe Wright – “Anna Karenina,” “Atonement”
> Andrey Zvyagintsev* – “Leviathan,” “Elena”

> Documentary
> Richard Berge – “The Island President,” “The Rape of Europa”
> Mathilde Bonnefoy* – “CitizenFour,” “The Invisibles”
> Emad Burnat – “5 Broken Cameras”
> Guy Davidi – “5 Broken Cameras,” “Interrupted Streams”
> Geralyn Dreyfous – “The Square,” “The Invisible War”
> Lewis Erskine – “Free Angela: And All Political Prisoners,” “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple”
> Shana Hagan – “Misconception,” “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”
> Tony Hardmon – “Detropia,” “Semper Fi: Always Faithful”
> Leonard Retel Helmrich – “Position among the Stars,” “Shape of the Moon”
> Pirjo Honkasalo – “The 3 Rooms of Melancholia,” “Atman”
> Judy Irving – “Pelican Dreams,” “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”
> Robert Kenner – “Merchants of Doubt,” “Food, Inc.”
> Marc Levin – “Mr. Untouchable,” “The Last Party”
> Jesse Moss – “The Overnighters,” “Full Battle Rattle”
> Pratibha Parmar – “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth,” “A Place of Rage”
> Paula DuPre’ Pesmen – “Keep On Keepin’ On,” “The Cove”
> Gordon Quinn – “Life Itself,” “Hoop Dreams”
> Kim Roberts – “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” “Lost Boys of Sudan”
> Richard Rowley – “Dirty Wars,” “The Fourth World War”
> João Moreira Salles – “Santiago,” “Entreatos (Intermissions)”
> Ondi Timoner – “We Live in Public,” “Dig!”

> Executives
> Carolyn Blackwood
> Robbie Brenner
> Lia Buman
> Steve Burke
> David Fenkel
> Mellody Hobson
> Brian Keane
> Steven Paul O’Dell
> Jim Orr
> Mark Rachesky
> Ted Sarandos
> Jeff Shell

> Film Editors
> Craig Alpert – “Pitch Perfect 2,” “Pineapple Express”
> Mick Audsley – “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Dirty Pretty Things”
> Pablo Barbieri – “Wild Tales,” “La Antena (The Aerial)”
> Nadia Ben Rachid – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
> Kristina Boden – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “Cake”
> Mathilde Bonnefoy* – “CitizenFour,” “Run Lola Run”
> Julian Clarke – “Chappie,” “District 9”
> Douglas Crise – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Babel”
> Tom Cross – “Whiplash,” “Any Day Now”
> Jinx Godfrey – “The Theory of Everything,” “Man on Wire”
> Robert Grahamjones – “Brave,” “Ratatouille”
> Masahiro Hirakubo – “Virunga,” “The Duchess”
> Jarosław Kamiński – “Ida,” “Aftermath (Pokłosie)”
> William Kerr – “Bridesmaids,” “I Love You, Man”
> Nico Leunen – “Lost River,” “The Broken Circle Breakdown”
> Mike McCusker – “Get On Up,” “3:10 to Yuma”
> Tim Mertens – “Big Hero 6,” “Wreck-It Ralph”
> Barney Pilling – “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “An Education”
> David Rennie – “22 Jump Street,” “Office Space”
> Gary D. Roach – “American Sniper,” “Prisoners”
> Michael L. Sale – “We’re the Millers,” “Bridesmaids”
> Stephen Schaffer – “Cars 2,” “WALL-E”
> Job ter Burg – “Borgman,” “Winter in Wartime”
> Peter Teschner – “St. Vincent,” “Horrible Bosses”
> Tara Timpone – “Friends with Kids,” “Bad Teacher”

> Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
> Frida S.