Dev Patel, Eddie Redmayne to join Academy of Motion Picture Arts

Actors Eddie Redmayne, Emma Stone and Dev Patel are invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be its new members of 2015.

After adding 271 people last year, the Academy sends out invitations to more than 300 people this year.

They consist of Oscar winners, nominees, and other notable names in the industry, reported Ace Showbiz.

The new members include Redmayne, who won best actor this year for his role as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, Emma Stone who was nominated for best supporting actress for her performance in Birdman, Common who grabbed best original song for his Selma soundtrack, and Patel whose claim-fame film Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars in 2009.

John Legend who collaborated with Common in the Selma theme song, Glory, is also among the invitees. Another new member in the music branch include Nine Inch Nails' vocalist Trent Reznor who scored David Fincher's Gone Girl.

The new list also include Elizabeth Banks, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Tom Hardy, Kevin Hart, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Chris Pine, Daniel Radcliffe, Jason Segel and J K Simmons.

The directors picked for this year's invitees are James Gunn Guardians of the Galaxy, Justin Lin Fast and Furious 6, Edgar Wright The World's End, and Joe Wright Anna Karenina.

"It's really gratifying to see the big increases in genre,

people of color, age and national origin.

"We've stressed very much that our members in each branch, it's their duty to really pay attention to a diverse talent pool, to those coming up, to those that may have been overlooked for membership. I think that effort has paid off well this year," Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said.

Image: Dev Patel, Eddie Redmayne. Photograph: Reuters