The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences took a big step this week to including more women and people of color in its organization by sending out a record 683 invitations, which included Nia Long.
On Thursday, Long shared her excitement over the Academy’s attempt to increase diversity in its ranks during an appearance on daytime talk show, “The Talk.”
“I’m very excited that the Academy is diversifying the group so that we [African Americans] can have a voice,” she said. “[So] that we can talk about our projects, [so] that we can vote. Film and television should look like the world that we live in.”
In addition to Long, actors Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan, Gabrielle Union, and Vivica A. Fox were among the new crop of invitees selected.
Long’s prestigious invite into the Academy also comes on the heels of the 25 anniversary of the actresses’ 1991 breakout film,“Boyz n the Hood.” She went on to tell “The Talk” co-hosts that, although she and the film’s cast had no idea how much of a cultural impact it would make years later, she applauds director John Singleton --who became the youngest person, and the first African American, to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director -- for “being brave enough” to make the film.
“He was 22 years old when he made that film, and he changed the way that black people living in the hood are viewed,” she said. “To be able to tell our stories. To be able to have a platform to feel apart of something.”
Happy 25th Anniversary!!
Check out Nia Long’s interview segment on “The Talk” in the clip above.
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