Producer Janet Yang has been elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy’s Board of Governors announced on Tuesday.
At a virtual meeting of 54 members, Rubin was elected. The board was also selecting a successor to David Rubin as casting director. Rubin was forced to resign from the board due to term limits.
Yang is a member of the Academy’s Producers Branch and for the past year had served as a vice president of the board and chair of the Membership Committee.
Yang is a manufacturer of “The Joy Luck Club,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt”The recent Oscar-nominated animated feature “Over the Moon.” Born in New York City, she will be the Academy’s first president of Asian descent, and the fourth woman after Bette Davis (who resigned after two months in 1941), Fay Kanin (1979-1983) and Cheryl Boone Isaacs (2013-2017). The position has been held by 31 men.
Yang is also the Academy’s first president who was not elected by her branch. The Academy appointed three Governors at Large positions in 2016 to its board. These positions were to be filled by people of color and will be appointed by the AMPAS President. John Bailey appointed Yang, DeVon and Rodrigo Garcia to this board in 2019. Rubin reappointed them again this year. Franklin, the governor at large, was her chief challenger in presidential election.
Yang is currently in the first year her second three-year term, so she can only serve three terms as Academy president until term limits limit her.
Yang has had long working relationships with Steven Spielberg. She was also a representative for him in China. “Empire of the Sun,”Oliver Stone. She was instrumental in introducing Chinese cinema to America in the 1980s. In addition, she is co-founder of Gold House (a non-profit collective of Asian cultural leaders).
Six weeks before being elected president, Yang was honored by the Academy Museum with the unveiling of one of the museum’s pillars in her honor. Other notables who were recognized on the pillars are Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Willow Bay, Bob Iger, Barbra Streisand and Willow Bay, Christopher Nolan, and Emma Thomas.
Yang also takes the position at a moment when Asian cinema is being embraced by Academy in a manner not seen since the success of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”In 2000. The South Korean film “Parasite”The first film in English to win Best Picture in 2020 was this film. “Minari”And “Drive My Car”Multiple nominations were received and they have been awarded Oscars. The main way in which the Academy has become more diverse since 2016 is by becoming significantly more international, making a president with strong ties to non-English cinema a sensible choice for today’s Academy.
The board also elected other officers on Tuesday.
Teri E. DomanVice President (chair, Membership Committee)
Donna GigliottiVice President/Secretary (chair of Governance Committee).
Lynette Howell TaylorVice President (chair, Awards Committee),
Larry Karaszewski, Vice President (chair History and Preservation Committee).
David LindeVice President/Treasurer (chair of Finance Committee).
Isis Mussenden, Vice President (chair of Museum Committee).
Kim Taylor-Coleman, Vice President (chair Equity and Inclusion Committee).
Wynn P. ThomasVice President (chair Education and Outreach Committee).
Tightened term limits helped made this year’s presidential election an unpredictable one. In a turbulent time for the Academy, Yang and Franklin emerged the two most popular candidates because of the restrictions.
The Academy is facing serious challenges, due to falling Oscar ratings and the ongoing effects of COVID-19’s pandemic on theatrical exhibit. The organization is also trying to recover from a widely-panned Oscar show that was marred by Will Smith’s onstage assault on Chris Rock, and then by the perceived inaction of David Rubin and then-CEO Dawn Hudson afterwards. Hudson has since been replaced by Bill Kramer well in advance of her contract expiration in May 2023, while Rubin couldn’t remain in his position regardless of what happened at the Oscars.