Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The Academy's corporate management and general policies are overseen by a board of governors, which includes representatives from each of the craft branches.
As of 2025, the organization was estimated to consist of more than 11,000 motion picture professionals. The Academy is an international organization and membership is open to qualified filmmakers around the world.
The Academy is known around the world for its annual Academy Awards, both officially and popularly known as "The Oscars".
In addition, the Academy holds the Governors Awards annually for lifetime achievement in film; presents Scientific and Technical Awards annually; gives Student Academy Awards annually to filmmakers at the undergraduate and graduate level; and honors film artists at the Academy Museum Gala.
The academy also operates the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, the Academy Film Archive, the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and the Academy opened the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles in 2021.
The Academy maintains the largest film-related collection in the world, including 52 million items, which are conserved and exhibited through the Academy Foundation.
History
The notion of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences began with Louis B. Mayer, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He said he wanted to create an organization that would mediate labor disputes without unions and improve the film industry's image. In other words, the Academy was originally founded as a company union. He met with actor Conrad Nagel, director Fred Niblo, and the head of the Association of Motion Picture Producers, Fred Beetson to discuss these matters. The idea of this elite club having an annual banquet was discussed, but no mention of awards at that time. They also established that membership into the organization would only be open to people involved in one of the five branches of the industry: actors, directors, writers, technicians, and producers.After their brief meeting, Mayer gathered up a group of thirty-six people involved in the film industry and invited them to a formal banquet at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on January 11, 1927. That evening Mayer presented to those guests what he called the International Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Everyone in the room that evening became a founder of the Academy. Between that evening and when the official Articles of Incorporation for the organization were filed on May 4, 1927, the "International" was dropped from the name, becoming the "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences".
Several organizational meetings were held prior to the first official meeting held on May 6, 1927. Their first organizational meeting was held on May 11 at the Biltmore Hotel. At that meeting Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was elected as the first president of the Academy, while Fred Niblo was the first vice-president, and their first roster, composed of 230 members, was printed. Initially, the Academy was broken down into five main groups, or branches, although this number of branches has grown over the years. The original five were: Producers, Actors, Directors, Writers and Technicians.
The initial concerns of the group had to do with labor. However, as time went on, the organization moved "further away from involvement in labor-management arbitrations and negotiations." During the Great Depression, the Academy lost all credibility among studio employee members with respect to labor issues when it took the side of the major film studios in the latter's efforts to convince employees to agree to voluntary reductions in wages and salaries. The Academy thus evolved into its modern role as an honorary organization.
The initial location of the organization was 6912 Hollywood Boulevard. In November 1927, the Academy moved to the Roosevelt Hotel at 7010 Hollywood Boulevard, which was also the month the Academy's library began compiling a complete collection of books and periodicals dealing with the industry from around the world. In May 1928, the Academy authorized the construction of a state of the art screening room, to be located in the Club lounge of the hotel. The screening room was not completed until April 1929.
With the publication of Academy Reports : Incandescent Illumination in July 1928, the Academy began a long history of publishing books to assist its members. Research Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences trained Signal Corps officers, during World War II, who later won two Oscars, for Seeds of Destiny and Toward Independence.
In 1929, Academy members, in a joint venture with the University of Southern California, created America's first film school to further the art and science of moving pictures. The school's founding faculty included Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, William C. deMille, Ernst Lubitsch, Irving Thalberg, and Darryl F. Zanuck.
1930 saw another move, to the Hollywood Professional Building, in order to accommodate the enlarging staff, and by December of that year the library was acknowledged as "having one of the most complete collections of information on the motion picture industry anywhere in existence." They remained at that location until 1935 when further growth caused them to move once again. This time, the administrative offices moved to one location, to the Taft Building at the corner of Hollywood and Vine, while the library moved to 1455 North Gordon Street.
In 1934, the Academy began publication of the Screen Achievement Records Bulletin, which today is known as the Motion Picture Credits Database. This is a list of film credits up for an Academy Award, as well as other films released in Los Angeles County, using research materials from the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library. Another publication of the 1930s was the first annual Academy Players Directory in 1937. The Directory was published by the Academy until 2006 when it was sold to a private concern. The Academy had been involved in the technical aspects of film making since its founding in 1927, and by 1938, the Research Council consisted of 36 technical committees addressing technical issues related to sound recording and reproduction, projection, lighting, film preservation, and cinematography.
In 1946, the Academy found it necessary to move to a new headquarters, and it acquired the Marquis Theatre at 9038 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, which it renamed the Academy Awards Theatre, utilizing the building for both offices and an entertainment venue. The renaming turned out to be fortuitous, as the 21st Academy Awards, held March 24, 1949, were moved there at the last minute.
The Academy acquired property at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills in 1972, and built its current headquarters building on the site; the new facilities opened in 1975.
In 2009, the inaugural Governors Awards were held, at which the Academy presents the Academy Honorary Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
In 2016, the Academy became the target of criticism for its failure to recognize the achievements of minority professionals. For the second year in a row, all 20 nominees in the major acting categories were white. The president of the Academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the first African American and third woman to lead the Academy, denied in 2015 that there was a problem. When asked if the Academy had difficulty with recognizing diversity, she replied "Not at all. Not at all." When the nominations for acting were all white for a second year in a row Gil Robertson IV, president of the African American Film Critics Association called it "offensive." The actors' branch is "overwhelmingly white" and the question is raised whether conscious or unconscious racial biases played a role.
Spike Lee, interviewed shortly after the all-white nominee list was published, pointed to Hollywood leadership as the root problem, "We may win an Oscar now and then, but an Oscar is not going to fundamentally change how Hollywood does business. I'm not talking about Hollywood stars. I'm talking about executives. We're not in the room." Boone Isaacs also released a statement, in which she said "I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it's time for big changes." After Boone Isaac's statement, prominent African-Americans such as director Spike Lee, actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and activist Rev. Al Sharpton called for a boycott of the 2016 Oscars for failing to recognize minority achievements, the board voted to make "historic" changes to its membership. The Academy stated that by 2020 it would double its number of women and minority members.
In 2018, the Academy invited a record 928 new members.
Casting director David Rubin was elected President of the Academy in August, 2019.
In 2020, Parasite became the first non-English language film to win Best Picture. In June 2022, Bill Kramer was named the CEO of the Academy. Also in 2022, Janet Yang was elected as the first Asian American President of the Academy.
In 2024, Amy Homma was named Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
In July 2025, Lynette Howell Taylor was elected President of the Academy.