The Academy Opens Its Arms Once More: 271 Stars Invited, Inc. Nyongo'o, Pharrell, Fassbender

Like a basking shark, hoovering up the most talented plankton the world of cinema has to offer, The Academy has extended a warm invitation to a slew of new potential members.

The headline acts comprise a host of last year’s most prominent nominees and winners: Lupita Nyong’o, who stunned with her performance as Patsey in Steve McQueen’s moving drama ‘12 Years a Slave’, Barkhad Abdi, whose turn as an uncompromising Somali pirate provided a perfect foil for Tom Hanks in ‘Captain Phillips’ and Pharrell Williams, who imbued Despicable Me with an irresistibly catchy soundtrack, have all been invited in and could vote for next year's nominees and winners.

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"This year's class of invitees represents some of the most talented, creative and passionate filmmakers working in our industry today," said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. "Their contributions to film have entertained audiences around the world, and we are proud to welcome them to the Academy."

But it’s not just burgeoning talent within film that has been recognised; The Academy is free to ask as many times as it wishes, and of course recipients of those invitations are free to decline as many times as they want. Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan, as well as Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki and Israeli-born Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad have all been asked this year, we assume not for the first time.

Below is a full list of actors invited to the Academy this year. For a comprehensive list of directors, writers, and make up artists etc., head over to Deadline.

Barkhad Abdi – “Captain Phillips”

Clancy Brown – “The Hurricane,” “The Shawshank Redeption”

Paul Dano – “12 Years a Slave,” “Prisoners”

Michael Fassbender – “12 Years a Slave,” “Shame”

Ben Foster – “Lone Survivor,” “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”

Beth Grant – “The Artist,” “No Country for Old Men”

Clark Gregg – “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”

Sally Hawkins – “Blue Jasmine,” “Happy-Go-Lucky”

Josh Hutcherson – “The Hunger Games,” “The Kids Are All Right”

Julia Louis-Dreyfus – “Enough Said,” “Planes”

Kelly Macdonald – “Brave,” “No Country for Old Men”

Mads Mikkelsen – “The Hunt,” “Casino Royale”

Joel McKinnon Miller – “Super 8,” “The Truman Show”

Cillian Murphy – “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Inception”

Lupita Nyong’o – “Non-Stop,” “12 Years a Slave”

Rob Riggle – “21 Jump Street,” “The Hangover”

Chris Rock – “Grown Ups 2,” “Madagascar”

June Squibb – “Nebraska,” “About Schmidt”

Jason Statham – “Parker,” “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”

David Strathairn – “Lincoln,” “Good Night, and Good Luck.”