Marcus was recently profiled as one of the 100 people in Hollywood who could help fix the academy’s diversity problem.
Hollywood has struggled over the years to find enough diversity candidates for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Los Angeles Times embarked on a search to help out. Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs has vowed to double the number of women and minorities in the academy by 2020, after her membership nominated an all-white slate of candidates in the four acting categories for a second year in a row, prompting the #OscarsSoWhite outrage.
The academy will soon announce its annual list of candidates for membership, and it has a long way to go to achieve diversity. In a landmark 2012 study, the Los Angeles Times reported that voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the people who decide the Oscars — were 94% white and 77% male. In February of this year, The Times updated the study and found that little progress had been made: Oscar voters are now 91% white and 76% male. We submit the following 100 names to academy leaders for their consideration.