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Janet Yang, the veteran producer who has served as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since August 2022, has been re-elected to that position by the Academy’s board of governors, the organization announced on Thursday.

Also elected to vice president positions were Lesley Barber (chair, Membership Committee); DeVon Franklin (chair, Equity and Inclusion Committee); Donna Gigliotti (chair, Finance Committee), who will also serve as treasurer; Lynette Howell Taylor (chair, Awards Committee); and Howard A. Rodman (chair, Governance Committee), who will also serve as secretary.

Franklin, Howell Taylor and Rodman were re-elected; Gigliotti previously served as an officer but not last term; and this will be the first officer stint for Barber.

“I am thrilled to have Janet return as Academy president for a third term to continue our great work of the past two years,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer said in a statement. “I also...

Janet Yang, the film producer who a year ago was elected the 36th president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was re-elected to that post on Tuesday during the first meeting of the Academy’s recently reconstituted board of governors, the Academy has announced.

Yang, 67, the Queens-born daughter of Chinese immigrants, broke into showbiz by connecting key players in the Chinese and Hollywood film industries to make possible films like Empire of the Sun before becoming a producer of films including The Joy Luck Club and The People vs. Larry Flynt. She is just the fourth female (after Bette Davis, Fay Kanin and Cheryl Boone Isaacs) and second person of color (after Boone Isaacs) ever tapped for the board’s top job.

A member of the producers branch since 2002, she has served on the board since 2019 as a governor-at-large. Three seats for governors-at-large were added to the...

Anyone who loved Mary Tyler Moore as Laurie Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” as the thoroughly modern career woman Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and as the brittle, distant Beth in her Oscar-nominated turn in 1980’s ‘Ordinary People,” will love the new Max documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore.” Moore, who died in 2017 at the age of 80, narrates the story of her life which had incredible triumphs but also great tragedy. But one aspect of her storied career it doesn’t really delve in as her work in telefilms, miniseries and even an “PBS Hollywood Presents” that reunited her with Dick Van Dyke.

Did you know that two years before she went to Broadway winning a special Tony for her performance in “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” and did “Ordinary People,” she unveiled her dramatic chops in the 1978 CBS TV movie “First, You Cry.” Based on...

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On Aug. 2, hours after Janet Yang was elected as the new president of the Film Academy — becoming the first Asian person to hold the position — Universal hosted the premiere for Jo Koy’s Filipino American family comedy, Easter Sunday, where insiders cheered the historic news.

“I’m so proud of her,” producer Dan Lin told THR of his friend, who was honored at the Academy Museum with a pillar dedication in June. “It is historic on so many levels, but I think she’s a fantastic choice given all of the turmoil that the Academy’s gone through. She’s the leader we need.”

Yang, whose producing credits include The Joy Luck Club and The People vs. Larry Flynt, is known as a godmother to Asian Americans working in Hollywood. Easter Sunday writer and EP Ken Cheng reported that he experienced it firsthand.

After a tumultuous reign under David Rubin, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has voted for a new president. The winner of that election is producer Janet Yang. The 66-year-old New York native becomes only the second person of color to hold the position at the Academy (after Cheryl Boone Isaacs) and the fourth woman.

Continue reading Janet Yang Elected New Academy President at The Playlist.

Hollywood producer Janet Yang has been named the new president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the organization’s Board of Governors. Yang, who is of Chinese descent, is the first Asian person ever to hold the position and the fourth woman behind Fay Kanin (1979-1983), Cheryl Boone Isaacs (2013-2017) and Bette Davis (Davis resigned after two months in 1941).

Yang is beginning her first term as president and her second term as a Governor-at-Large. The Board also voted on the officers, electing:

Teri E. Dorman, Vice President Donna Gigliotti, Vice President/Secretary Lynette Howell Taylor, Vice President Larry Karaszewski, Vice President David Linde, Vice President/Treasurer Isis Mussenden, Vice President Kim Taylor-Coleman, Vice President Wynn P. Thomas, Vice President

“Janet is a tremendously dedicated and strategic leader who has an incredible record of service at the Academy,” said Bill Kramer, Academy CEO. “I am thrilled that...

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.

She was elected at a virtual meeting of the 54-member board, which was selecting a successor to casting director David Rubin. While presidents can serve four consecutive one-year terms, Rubin had to leave the board because of term limits after serving three terms.

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 producer of “The Joy Luck Club,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and 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...

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Janet Yang, the Queens-born daughter of Chinese immigrants, has been elected the 36th president in the 95-year history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The 66-year-old, who broke into showbiz by connecting key players in the Chinese and Hollywood film industries to make possible films like Empire of the Sun before becoming a producer of films including The Joy Luck Club and The People vs. Larry Flynt, is just the fourth female (after Bette Davis, Fay Kanin and Cheryl Boone Isaacs) and second person of color (after Boone Isaacs) ever tapped by the Academy’s board to hold the board’s top job.

A member of the producers branch since 2002, Yang defeated DeVon Franklin, a member of the executives branch since 2016. Both candidates have served on the Academy’s board of governors since 2019 as governors-at-large. Three seats for governors-at-large were...

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I take great pride when I read news stories in my Hollywood Reporter about young people from a wide array of ethnic groups making their entry into the wonderful world of motion pictures. Last month, almost 400 people, many from the Asian, African-American and Latino communities, were invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. More than a few of them have experienced hardship, discrimination and intolerance, but they persevered and can now take great pride in being members of the film industry’s most prestigious organization.

I know the feeling well.

I was born on the Lower East Side in 1939. My parents were born in Europe and were lucky to arrive in this country before the Holocaust, unlike other members of our family who were murdered by the Nazis. We lived in the projects just off the East River Drive.

This CinemaScope musical remake of 1939’s The Women is highly watchable, especially in this flawless digital remaster. The actresses that bare their claws, compete for husbands and just plain cat-fight are a choice batch, with favorites from the ’50s the ’40s the ’30s — plus a few wildflowers that bloomed cinematically for only a few years (Dolores Gray) and one that somehow managed immortality (Joan Collins). It’s highly watchable despite, or maybe because of, its criminally outdated recipe for marital bliss. Did women really go for this fantasy — did anybody ever really live like this?

The Opposite Sex

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date October 27, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller, Leslie Nielsen, Jeff Richards, Agnes Moorehead, Charlotte Greenwood, Joan Blondell, Sam Levene, Alice Pearce, Barbara Jo Allen, Sandy Descher, Carolyn Jones, Jerry Antes, Harry James, Art Mooney,...

David Rubin is the 37th president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The decision came Tuesday night at a meeting of the AMPAS board of governors, which also selected a new slate of officers.

Rubin, the casting branch governor and board secretary, will succeed exiting president John Bailey, who served two back-to-back terms that were plagued with a variety of scandals and misunderstandings, from an ill-fated push to change the annual Oscar ceremony with the addition of an Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film category and snipping of televised awards for categories like Best Editing and Best Cinematography, to a leaked sexual harassment investigation (he was later exonerated).

Rubin is the first casting director to hold the position of Academy President. His more than 100 film and television credits include “The English Patient,” “Men in Black,” “Hairspray,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral.

The Academy Board of Governors convenes Tuesday night to pick their next president. Three major candidates have emerged from the 54-member body, although anything can happen.

Dern would be the first actress since Bette Davis’s notoriously short two-month 1941 tenure. (She quit when she realized the all-male board would give her no power.) While movie stars like Gregory Peck and Douglas Fairbanks have served as president, only two women have served since Davis: Screenwriter Fay Kanin presided effectively from 1979 to 1983, and publicity executive Cheryl Boone Isaacs (the first African-American to hold the post) is exiting at the end of a tumultuous four-year term. During that time, she and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson spearheaded a concerted drive to add more diversity to the Academy, urging the 17 branches to actively recruit a younger and more inclusive membership from all over the world.

Isaacs also presided over the infamous last Oscar show, with...

The Academy Board of Governors convenes Tuesday night to pick their next president. Three major candidates have emerged from the 54-member body, although anything can happen.

Dern would be the first actress since Bette Davis’s notoriously short two-month 1941 tenure. (She quit when she realized the all-male board would give her no power.) While movie stars like Gregory Peck and Douglas Fairbanks have served as president, only two women have served since Davis: Screenwriter Fay Kanin presided effectively from 1979 to 1983, and publicity executive Cheryl Boone Isaacs (the first African-American to hold the post) is exiting at the end of a tumultuous four-year term. During that time, she and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson spearheaded a concerted drive to add more diversity to the Academy, urging the 17 branches to actively recruit a younger and more inclusive membership from all over the world.

Isaacs also presided over the infamous last Oscar show, with...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been pulled, even dragged, into the future by two women: CEO Dawn Hudson, who makes a half million dollars a year, and president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is a volunteer. She’s only the third woman to serve as president, following the successful Fay Kanin and the notorious Bette Davis, who walked off the job.

Both serve at the pleasure of the Academy Board of Governors. But as they recover from the Oscar night PricewaterhouseCoopers fiasco — they’ve decided to keep the accounting firm, which promises more oversights — Hudson will keep her job, as Boone Isaacs completes her final term as president and returns to full-time public relations consulting.

Read More: #OscarsSoWhat? Why Academy Head Cheryl Boone Isaacs’ SXSW Talk Was a Missed Opportunity

But Boone Isaacs’ high profile and the mark she has left on Hollywood is considerable. At CinemaCon...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been pulled, even dragged, into the future by two women: CEO Dawn Hudson, who makes a half million dollars a year, and president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is a volunteer. She’s only the third woman to serve as president, following the successful Fay Kanin and the notorious Bette Davis, who walked off the job.

Both serve at the pleasure of the Academy Board of Governors. But as they recover from the Oscar night PricewaterhouseCoopers fiasco — they’ve decided to keep the accounting firm, which promises more oversights — Hudson will keep her job, as Boone Isaacs completes her final term as president and returns to full-time public relations consulting.

Read More: #OscarsSoWhat? Why Academy Head Cheryl Boone Isaacs’ SXSW Talk Was a Missed Opportunity

But Boone Isaacs’ high profile and the mark she has left on Hollywood is considerable. At CinemaCon...

On Tuesday, the newly-installed board of governors of the motion picture academy re-elected marketing exec Cheryl Boone Isaacs as their president for a third term of one year. She is the first African American to head up this organization that oversees the Oscars in its 88-year history and just the third woman after Bette Davis (1941) and scripter Fay Kanin (1979 - 1983). Issacs, who has her own marketing company, was the one-time marketing chief at New Line and prior to that was chief of publicity at Paramount.  -Break- It is never too early to dish the Golden Globes & Oscars Join the red-hot debate in our fiery forums right now Back in 2013, she had defeated Lionsgate exec Rob Friedman to replace producer Hawk Koch, who'd served a single one-year term. He had not been eligible for re-election to the board due to term limits that allow for only three consecutive three-year stints a.

Women In Film is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting equal opportunities for women, encouraging creative projects by women, and expanding and enhancing portrayals of women in all forms of global media. Given that women comprise fifty percent of the population, Wif's ultimate goal is to see the same gender parity reflected on and off screen. Founded in 1973, Wif focuses on advocacy and education, provides scholarships, grants and film finishing funds and works to preserve the legacies of all women working in the entertainment community.

Since 1977, Women In Film, Los Angeles has annually honored outstanding women in the entertainment industry – women who lead by example, who are creative, groundbreaking, and who excel at their chosen fields. This year’s Crystal + Lucy Awards® fundraising dinner, in support of Wif La’s educational and philanthropic programs and its advocacy for gender parity for women throughout the industry, is being held on Tuesday, June 16 in the Los Angeles Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City. The 2015 Crystal + Lucy Awards is sponsored by Max Mara, BMW of North America, and Tiffany & Co.

This year’s Crystal + Lucy Award honorees are:

2015 Crystal Award for Excellence in Film – Nicole Kidman 2015 Lucy Award for Excellence in Television – Jill Soloway 2015 Dorothy Arzner Directors Award® – Ava DuVernay The Women In Film Max Mara “Face of the Future®” 2015 – Kate Mara Presented by Nicola Maramotti Global Brand Ambassador for Max Mara

2015 Tiffany & Co. / Bruce Paltrow Mentorship Award – Sue Kroll 2015 Sue Mengers Award – Toni Howard

Cathy Schulman , President of Women In Film, Los Angeles, said in making the announcement, “We are proud to celebrate an extraordinary line-up of honorees this year. Each one of these women has made extraordinary contributions to the media art, and as a group they have forged sustainable careers that are emblematic of the positive and long overdue change that is taking root for women in Hollywood.”

Iris Grossman, President Emerita of Women In Film, Los Angeles, returning this year as Chair of the Awards, said “This year’s honorees are all women who have helped change the face of the business. Through their insight, determination, resilience and talent, they add substance and depth to their creative endeavors and to the entertainment industry as a whole.”

About the Honorees

Nicole Kidman / Crystal Award for Excellence in Film

The Crystal Awards were established in 1977 to honor outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. Past recipients include Cate Blanchett, Laura Linney, Viola Davis, Annette Bening, Donna Langley, Jennifer Aniston, Diane English and the cast of The Women, Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Lopez, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Diane Lane, Halle Berry, Laura Ziskin, Jessica Lange, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Angela Bassett, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alfre Woodard, Polly Platt, Lauren Shuler Donner, Diane Warren, Amy Heckerling, Paula Weinstein, Martha Coolidge, Buffy Shutt and Kathy Jones, Gale Anne Hurd, Nancy Malone, Maya Angelou, Lily Tomlin, Ruby Dee, Penny Marshall, Jessica Tandy, Barbara Boyle, Nikki Rocco, Jean Firstenberg, Lee Remick, Lina Wertmuller, Bette Davis, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Sherry Lansing, Nora Ephron, Dawn Steel, Fay Kanin, Lillian Gish, Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close and Amy Pascal.

Academy Award winning actress Nicole Kidman is internationally-recognized for her range and versatility. In 2002, Kidman was honored with her first Oscar nomination for her performance in the innovative musical, "Moulin Rouge!" For that role, and her performance in the psychological thriller "The Others," she received dual 2002 Golden Globe nominations, winning for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2003, Kidman won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award and a Berlin Silver Bear for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s "The Hours." In 2010 Kidman starred in "Rabbit Hole," for which she received Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Actress. The film was developed by Kidman’s production company, Blossom Films. In October 2012 Kidman starred in Lee Daniel’s "The Paperboy." Her performance earned her an Aacta, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nomination.

Upcoming films include "Strangerland," "The Family Fang" and "Genius." Kidman is currently in production on "The Secret in Their Eyes." Next up, she will being shooting The Weinstein Company’s "Lion."

In January of 2006, Kidman was awarded Australia’s highest honor, the Companion in the Order of Australia. She was also named, and continues to serve, as Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, Un Women, whose goals are to foster women’s empowerment and gender equality, to raise awareness of the infringement on women’s human rights around the world and to end violence against women. Along with her husband, Keith Urban, she has helped raise millions over the years for the Women’s Cancer Program which is a world-renowned center for research into the causes, treatment, prevention, and eventual cure of women’s cancer.

Jill Soloway / Lucy Award for Excellence in Television

The Lucy Awards were founded in 1994 by Joanna Kerns, Bonny Dore and Loreen Arbus and are presented in association with the Lucille Ball Estate. They were named for Lucille Ball, who was not only a legendary actress and comedienne, but also a producer, studio owner, creator and director. They are given to recognize women and men and their creative works that exemplify the extraordinary accomplishments she embodied; whose excellence and innovation have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television. Past recipients include: Kerry Washington, The Women Of "Mad Men" (Christina Hendricks, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Jessica Paré, Kiernan Shipka), Bonnie Hammer, Nina Tassler, Courteney Cox, Holly Hunter, Salma Hayek, Shonda Rhimes and the women of "Grey’s Anatomy," Geena Davis, Debra Messing and Megan Mullally, Blythe Danner, Lily Tomlin, Rosie O’Donnell, Amy Brenneman, Tyne Daley, Phyllis Diller, Marcy Carsey, Carol Burnett, Barbara Walters, Shari Lewis, Garry Marshall, Angela Lansbury, Marlo Thomas, Gary David Goldberg, Diahann Carroll, Tracey Ullman, Fred Silverman, Imogene Coca, Camryn Manheim, Norman Lear, Bud Yorkin and the casts of "Sex and the City," " If These Walls Could Talk" and "If These Walls Could Talk 2."

Jill Soloway is the creator of Amazon Studios' Golden Globe-winning, "Transparent," a dark, deep, silly family series about boundaries, love and secrets.

Soloway won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival for her first feature, "Afternoon Delight." She recently founded WifeyTv, an internet brand producing and curating content to ignite the feminist revolution. Soloway is a three-time Emmy nominee for her work writing and producing "Six Feet Under."

She co-created the theater experiences, "Real Live Brady Bunch," "Miss Vagina Pageant," "Hollywood Hellhouse" and "Sit N Spin," and co-founded the community organization East Side Jews. Soloway lives with her family in Silver Lake.

Ava DuVernay / Dorothy Arzner Directors Award

Dorothy Arzner was the first female member of the Directors Guild of America. In her honor, the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award® was established to recognize the important role women directors play in the film and television industries. Past recipients include: Jennifer Lee, Sofia Coppola, Pamela Fryman, Lisa Cholodenko, Catherine Hardwicke, Nancy Meyers, Barbra Streisand, Mimi Leder, Barbara Kopple, Gillian Armstrong, Lian Lunson, Joey Lauren Adams and Nicole Holofcener.

Nominated for two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, five Critics Choice awards, eight NAACP Image Awards and five Independent Spirit Awards, writer/director Ava DuVernay's most recent film "Selma" chronicles the historic 1965 voting rights campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

She won the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 for her acclaimed feature "Middle of Nowhere." Her previous narrative and documentary work includes the feature film "I Will Follow" and the documentaries Venus Vs.," "My Mic Sounds Nice" and "This is The Life."

In 2010, DuVernay founded the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (Affrm), a grassroots collective that distributes work from filmmakers of color. Prior to her directorial career, she worked as a film marketer and publicist for more than 14 years through her company, The DuVernay Agency.

Kate Mara / The Women In Film Max Mara “Face of the Future” Award

The Women In Film Max Mara “Face of the Future” Award® was inaugurated at Women In Film’s 2006 Crystal + Lucy Awards®. As the 13th year as presenting sponsor and longstanding Women In Film partner, Max Mara identifies an actress who is experiencing a turning point in her career through her work in the film and television industries with focus on her contributions to the community at large and recognizes her outstanding personal achievements and embodiment of style and grace. Past recipients include: Rose Byrne, Hailee Steinfeld, Chloë Grace Moretz, Katie Holmes, Zoë Saldana, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin, Emily Blunt and Maria Bello.

Kate Mara made her feature film debut in "Random Hearts" for director Sydney Pollack. She then co-starred in Ang Lee’s "Brokeback Mountain" in which she portrayed Heath Ledger’s daughter. She also appeared in the Academy Award nominated film "127 Hours" with James Franco for director Danny Boyle and she co-starred in "Transcendence" alongside Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman, which marked the directorial debut of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister.

Mara recently completed filming on location in Budapest director Ridley Scott’s outer space action film The Martian alongside Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain. Last fall, she completed filming the psychological thriller "Man Down" in which she plays the wife of a war veteran, played by Shia Labeouf and "Captive" in which she stars with David Oyelowo as a single mother struggling with meth addiction in the adaptation of the best-selling book An Unlikely Angel. This summer she will film "Morgan" for director Luke Scott, son of Ridley Scott, who will produce. Audiences will next see her star in "Fantastic Four" alongside Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell.

She received an Emmy Award® nomination for her role in David Fincher’s critically acclaimed television series, "House of Cards" in which she co-starred alongside Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright.

Sue Kroll/ Tiffany & Co. / Bruce Paltrow Mentorship Award

The Tiffany & Co. / Bruce Paltrow Mentorship Award was created to honor the late director and great mentor Bruce Paltrow. This year, Wif Presenting Sponsor Tiffany & Co. has joined the Paltrow family in recognizing an entertainment industry professional who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to mentoring and supporting the next generation of filmmakers and executives. Past honorees include Kathleen Kennedy and Sherry Lansing.

Sue Kroll is President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures. As marketing chief, she oversees the strategic creation and implementation of marketing campaigns for the Studio’s global releases and collaborates closely with the Studio’s principals on the strategic development of its slate of films.

Her leadership of global marketing has propelled the studio’s releases to record-breaking box office and myriad awards. Most recently, the Best Picture Oscar nominee "American Sniper" became the top-grossing domestic film release of 2014 and has grossed more than $500 million worldwide. Other recent successes include the "Harry Potter," "Dark Knight," and "The Hobbit" film series, as well as such award-winning pictures as "Gravity," "Argo" and "The Departed."

Kroll joined Warner Bros. in 1994 and headed International Marketing from 2000 to 2008, when she was named to her current role at the studio. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Film Independent, the Los Angeles-based non-profit that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, and is one of the inaugural members of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program.

Toni Howard / Sue Mengers Award

The Sue Mengers Award , named for the legendary agent and given for the first time in 2015, will be presented annually to a representative who is, and has been, instrumental in guiding careers. Sue Mengers was an icon in the entertainment industry. She was one of the most influential talent agents of her time, when women were not the norm, and she was devoted to her clients.

Toni Howard is a partner at ICM Partners. Toni joined the agency’s talent department in 1991 and quickly became a leader in the division, having served as its department head for the better part of a decade. She oversees a celebrated and eclectic group of actors who appear in film, television and on stage and have garnered an astonishing 46 Academy Award® nominations, 148 Emmy® nominations, and 125 Golden Globe® nominations. Among her award-winning clients are Alan Alda, Candice Bergen, Michael Caine, Bobby Cannavale, Edie Falco, Samuel L. Jackson, Topher Grace, Holly Hunter, Michael Keaton, Nathan Lane, Spike Lee, Laura Linney, Catherine O’Hara, Lily Rabe, Christina Ricci, Tim Robbins, Michael Sheen, Maggie Smith, James Spader, Julia Stiles, and Christopher Walken. Throughout her career at ICM Partners, Toni has mentored many young agents to incredibly successful careers of their own.

Prior to joining ICM, Toni was an agent at the William Morris Agency for seven years. She began her entertainment industry career as a casting director, working on such iconic projects as "Tootsie," "Superman," "The Right Stuff" and "Something About Amelia."

Recognized by her distinctive voice, Toni was cast by director Alexander Payne as the voice of agent ‘Evelyn Berman-Silverman’ in the film "Sideways."...

Women presidents at the Academy: Cheryl Boone Isaacs is only the third one (photo: Angelina Jolie, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Brad Pitt) (See previous post: "Honorary Award Non-Winners: Too Late for Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich.") Wrapping up this four-part "Honorary Oscars Bypass Women" article, let it be noted that in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 85-year history there have been only two women presidents: two-time Oscar-winning actress Bette Davis (for two months in 1941, before the Dangerous and Jezebel star was forced to resign) and screenwriter Fay Kanin (1979-1983), whose best-known screen credit is the 1958 Doris Day-Clark Gable comedy Teacher's Pet. Additionally, following some top-level restructuring in April 2011, the Academy created the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, with the CEO post currently held by a woman, former Film Independent executive director and sometime actress Dawn Hudson. The COO post is held...

On Tuesday, the newly-installed board of governors of the motion picture academy re-elected marketing exec Cheryl Boone Isaacs as their president. She is the first African American to head up this organization that oversees the Oscars in its 87-year history and just the third woman after Bette Davis (1941) and scripter Fay Kanin (1979 - 1983). Issacs, who has her own marketing company, was the one-time marketing chief at New Line and prior to that was chief of publicity at Paramount.  -Break- It is never too early to dish the Golden Globes & Oscars Join the red-hot debate in our fiery forums right now Last year, she defeated Lionsgate exec Rob Friedman to replace producer Hawk Koch, who served a single one-year term. He had not been eligible for re-election to the board due to term limits that allow for only three consecutive three-year stints as a governor. However, as Koch had done...

This story first appeared in the March 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made history July 30 when its board of governors elected Cheryl Boone Isaacs, 64, as the organization's 35th president. She's the first African-American and only the third woman (following Bette Davis and screenwriter Fay Kanin) to hold the nonsalaried position, providing direction for the 300-employee Academy while working alongside CEO Dawn Hudson, who handles its day-to-day operations. A veteran Hollywood marketing executive who has held top jobs at Paramount and New Line Cinema, Boone

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Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will pay tribute to Oscar® winner Joan Fontaine and eight-time Oscar® nominee and honorary Academy Award® recipient Peter O’Toole with tributes Today Sunday, Dec. 29.

The Fontaine collection features Blonde Cheat (1938), The Women (1939), Born To Be Bad (1950), Ivanhoe (1952), Fontaine’s Oscar-nominated roles in The Constant Nymph (1943) and Rebecca (1940), and her Oscar-winning performance in Suspicion (1940).

In the evening, TCM will pay tribute to O’Toole with his Oscar-nominated performances in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) and My Favorite Year (1982). Also featured will be a special encore telecast of Peter O’Toole: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival, a one-hour extended interview with TCM host Robert Osborne taped before a live audience at the 2011 TCM Classic Film Festival.

The following is the complete lineup for TCM’s on-air tributes to Joan Fontaine and Peter O’Toole:

Sunday, Dec. 29

All times are Et/Pt.

TCM Remembers Joan Fontaine

6:30 a.

By Mark Pinkert

Contributor

…

This is the second article in a three-part series.

Earlier this month, the acclaimed writer/producer/director Joss Whedon spoke at an Equality Now benefit dinner and suggested that the word “feminism” be removed from the English lexicon. According to Mr. Whedon, the word is problematic because it assumes that gender equality is not the “natural state” but something that needs to be achieved. Though several self-purported feminist bloggers have criticized this idea, Whedon’s speech does raise some interesting questions about how prejudice can hide away in the depths of language and rhetoric.

Thankfully, we have reached a point where shouting sexist comments is socially unacceptable and utterly disgraceful; anyone who does becomes ostracized by civil people. But that does not mean gender prejudices have been cured. The most corrosive type of sexism, and the one Whedon was getting at, is the kind embedded in words and institutions,...

This story first appeared in the Aug. 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, hailed Cheryl Boone Isaacs' election July 30 as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as "an historic moment," predicting "her selection will encourage the studios and networks to empower more women and minorities." Boone Isaacs, 63, is the first African-American and only the third woman -- Bette Davis served for two months in 1941 before quitting in a huff, while screenwriter Fay Kanin held the post for four years in the

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Cheryl Boone Isaacs was elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Tuesday night (July 30) by the organization’s Board of Governors.

Boone Isaacs, who is beginning her 21st year as a governor representing the Public Relations Branch, served as Academy first vice president during the past year. She also produced the 2012 Governors Awards.

Boone Isaacs is the first African-American and third woman to be AMPAS President and succeeds Hawk Koch, who served a one-year term.

The other two women who previously headed up the Academy were American screenwriter, playwright and producer Fay Kanin from 1979 to 1983 as well as actress Bette Davis in 1941. She resigned after two months.

Boone Isaacs currently heads Cbi Enterprises, Inc., where she has consulted on such films as “The Call,” “The Artist,” “The King’s Speech,” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” “Spider-Man 2” and “Tupac: Resurrection.”Boone Isaacs...

On Tuesday, the newly-installed board of governors of the motion picture academy elected marketing exec Cheryl Boone Isaacs as their president. She is the first African American to head up this organization that oversees the Oscars in its 86-year history and just the third woman after Bette Davis (1941) and scripter Fay Kanin (1979 - 1983).  Issacs, who has her own marketing company, was the one-time marketing chief at New Line and prior to that was chief of publicity at Paramount. Her rival for the presidency was Lionsgate exec Rob Friedman.  She replaces producer Hawk Koch, who served a single one-year term. He was not eligible for re-election to the board due to term limits that allow for only three consecutive three-year stints as a governor. However, back in April, Koch broke with precedent by re-upping Oscarcast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron rather than leaving that ...

There have been 33 presidents in Academy history. This press release neglects to mention that Cheryl Isaacs is only the 3rd woman. (Bette Davis, 1941, resigned after two months. Fay Kanin, 1979-1983.) Complete list,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the group which awards the Oscars each year, has elected its first African-American president.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs was elected by the board of governors to lead the Academy on Tuesday night, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Boone Isaacs, a veteran marketing executive who currently heads Cbi Enterprises, is only the third woman to lead the 86-year-old Academy. The first two female presidents were actress Bette Davis and screenwriter Fay Kanin.

Boone Isaacs has previously served as president of theatrical marketing for New Line Cinema and executive vice president of worldwide publicity at Paramount Pictures. Earlier this year, she produced the 4th annual Governors Awards for the Academy.

Boone Isaacs will replace Hawk Koch, a producer who left the board because of term limits. According to Entertainment Weekly, one of her first jobs will be to select a host for the March 2 Oscar telecast.

Don’t look for any white smoke floating out of the head of a giant Oscar statue, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a new leader.

Veteran marketing executive Cheryl Boone Isaacs was elected Tuesday night by the Academy’s board of governors to head the organization for the next year. Among her first responsibilities as president will be the selection of a host for the March 2 Oscar telecast.

The producing team for the broadcast has already been selected by outgoing Academy president Hawk Koch. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan (Chicago, Hairspray, The Bucket List) have...

Cheryl Boone Isaacs has been elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the organization’s board of governors. The Academy announced her election Tuesday night via Twitter. Boone Isaacs, a marketing executive who has served stints at Paramount and New Line, is the first African-American to head the 86-year-old Academy and only the third woman to serve as president. Actress Bette Davis held the post for just two months in 1941, and screenwriter Fay Kanin served for four years from 1979-83. In addition at the July 30 board of governors meeting,

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Blacklisted screenwriter and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The screenwriter Fay Kanin, who has died aged 95, was the only female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in its 86-year history (apart from Bette Davis, who resigned after two months in 1941). She served as president from 1979 to 1983, for the maximum of four consecutive one-year terms. Kanin, who committed herself to the preservation of early Hollywood movies, was first elected president by a board consisting of 34 men and one woman.

"I'm a big feminist," she declared at the time that her play Goodbye, My Fancy opened on Broadway in 1948. "I've put into my play my feeling that women should never back away from life." The serious comedy, with Madeleine Carroll as a powerful congresswoman revisiting her alma mater to receive an honorary degree, ran for more than a year and was made into a 1951 film starring Joan Crawford.

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Fay Kanin died yesterday at the age of 95, and I suspect that her accomplishments have long since faded from the memory of most people. But, beyond her career as a movie and television writer and playwright, she was a remarkable woman – graceful, gracious, and determined that women should steer their own lives. A lifelong feminist, she was only the second woman to head the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (Bette Davis had been president for a few weeks in 1941.) And no woman has been elected president since Fay served for the maximum four years on a board that had 34 men and one other woman. I interviewed her many times and, when she was in her eighties, I wrote her advance obituary for the New York Times. Two stories that she told me seem to me to illuminate her. As a seventh grader in Elmira, New York, she was...

Los Angeles — Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Fay Kanin has died. She was 95.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed Kanin's death Wednesday. She served as president of the film academy from 1979 to 1983.

Kanin was nominated for an Academy Award for 1958's "Teacher's Pet" alongside her husband and writing partner, Michael Kanin. The film starred Clark Gable and Doris Day.

Fay Kanin was also recognized for her television contributions, winning two screenwriting Emmys in 1974 and another for producing the TV special "Friendly Fire" in 1979.

Details on Kanin's survivors and cause of death were not immediately available.

While two-time Oscar champ Bette Davis could lay claim to being the first female president of the motion picture academy, her tenure was short-lived, lasting just two months in 1941.  -Insertgroups:12- Fay Kanin, who died Thursday at age 95, was the second woman to head up the organization, serving with distinction from 1979 to 1983. She understood what it meant to contend for an Oscar, having been nominated alongside her husband Michael Kanin for their original script to the Doris Day-Clark Gable comedy "Teacher's Pet" in 1958; they lost to the "The Defiant Ones." Michael had won this award in 1942 for co-writing with Ring Lardner, Jr. "Woman of the Year," which was the first pairing of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.  Kanin, who had penned the play "Goodbye, My Fancy" which won Shirley Booth the first of her three Tonys in 1949, tried her hand at solo writing teleplays in the 1970s. After...

Fay Kanin, an Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning screenwriter, died Wednesday of natural causes. She was 95. In addition to her award-winning work, Kanin served as the second female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, the nonprofit organization behind the Academy Awards, from 1979 to 1983. "She was committed to the Academy's preservation work and instrumental in expanding our public programming," the Academy said in a statement. "A tireless mentor and inspiration to countless filmmakers, Fay's passion for film continues to inspire us daily." Kanin's credits bridged the small and big...

Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Fay Kanin has died. She was 95.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed Kanin’s death Wednesday. She served as president of the film academy from 1979 to 1983.

Kanin was nominated for an Academy Award for 1958′s Teacher’s Pet alongside her husband and writing partner, Michael Kanin. The film starred Clark Gable and Doris Day.

Fay Kanin was also recognized for her television contributions, winning two screenwriting Emmys in 1974 and another for producing the TV special Friendly Fire in 1979.

Details on Kanin’s survivors and cause of death were not immediately available.

Los Angeles, March 28: Fay Kanin, Hollywood screenwriter and former president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), has died at Beverly Hills, California. She was 95.

AMPAS confirmed the death of its first full-term female president Wednesday but failed to provide any details about her survivors and cause of death, reports Xinhua.

Born Fay Mitchell May 9, 1917 in New York city, Kanin attended University of Southern California and became a story editor at the Rko Pictures.

She met Michael Kanin, who later became her husband and writing partner, and the duo embarked on a long writing career.

The.

Oscar winning Fay Kanin, former writer and producer, died today. She was 95. Kanin had been one of the people blacklisted by the Huac (that’s really how you know she was cool). Beverly Hills,...

Fay Kanin, Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning screenwriter and former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, died today at the age of 95. A New York native, Kanin began her showbiz career in the early 1940s. One of her earliest works was the MGM film Sunday Punch, about boxers living in a boarding house, which she co-wrote with her husband Michael Kanin. The duo went on to become one of the most successful husband and wife writing teams in Hollywood history. The couple also penned 1952′s My Pal Gus, 1954′s Rhapsody and 1956′s The Opposite Sex and they shared an Oscar nomination for the 1958 Clark Gable-starrer Teacher’s Pet. Fay Kanin also went to Broadway with Goodbye My Fancy (1949), about a female congressional representative renewing past loves, which her husband produced. When her husband’s interest in writing waned in the late 1960s, Fay Kanin went solo mainly writing TV movies,...

Fay Kanin, the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning screenwriter who brought an energetic and assertive female voice to her work, then served four terms as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has died. She was 95. Kanin, a New York State spelling bee champion at age 14 who with the late Michael Kanin made for one of the most popular husband-and-wife screenwriting teams in Hollywood history, died Wednesday of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica, her family said. The Kanins shared an Oscar nom for their spunky romantic comedy Teacher’s Pet (1958),

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Fans of classic movies know that "Woman of the Year" marks the beginning of the 25-year partnership, on- and off-screen, between one of film's most beloved and enduring couples: Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Released 70 years ago today (on January 19, 1942), "Woman of the Year" came to define combustible romantic chemistry, thanks to the two fiery, evenly-matched leads. It launched a partnership that lasted until Tracy's death in 1967, a quarter-century union that resulted in nine films and an extramarital affair that was Hollywood's worst kept secret. What fans may not know is how the partnership came to be, who the real-life inspirations were for Hepburn's high-minded columnist and Tracy's earthy sportswriter, or the forgotten screen pairing of the two stars that came four years earlier. Read on for the untold story of "Woman of the Year" and its long afterlife in the realms of Broadway, TV, and magazines. 1. "Woman of the Year...

Every once in a while smart people get together to do good. In this case, the Women In Film Foundation was sitting on countless hours of some 40 Legacy Series video interviews with industry achievers--including Debbie Allen, Martha Coolidge, Eva Marie Saint, Fay Kanin, Evelyn Keyes, Marcia Nasatir, Margaret O'Brien, Anna Hamilton Phelan, Meta Wilde, Joan Tewkesbury, Fay Wray, Jane Wyatt and Laura Ziskin--that needed editing. After talking to Wif's Ilene Kahn Power and Linda Feferman about the series, Barbara Boyle, UCLA's Chair of the UCLA Department of Film, Television and Digital Media, figured out a clever way to kill two birds with one stone. She allocated some funding for first-round Legacy Series interviewee, legendary film editor Anne V. Coates (Lawrence of Arabia), to guest lecture ...

The Library of Congress has honored screenwriter Fay Kanin with its 100th Living Legend Award for her 20 years of service to the library as chair of the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board. Kanin also served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1979 to 1983.

"The role played by Fay Kanin as chair of the board for the past 20 years has been critical to the Library's success in increasing public awareness of the need to preserve America's film heritage," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

The Library's Living Legend designation is given to individuals who have made significant contributions to America's cultural, scientific and social heritage. Since the award was established in 2000 to celebrate the Library's bicentennial, other honorees include Steven Spielberg, Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Martin Scorsese and Barbra Streisand.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a governor of the public relations branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has been elected president of the Academy Foundation, the Academy's educational and cultural arm. It will be her first term as president.

Other officers chosen this week are executives branch governor Robert Rehme, who was elected vp, and film editors branch governor Donn Cambern, who was re-elected vp. Music branch governor Charles Bernstein was elected treasurer, and current Academy president Sid Ganis was re-elected secretary. Academy exec director Bruce Davis remains executive secretary of the foundation.

Academy Foundation trustees are elected annually by the board of governors. Foundation trustees for 2007–08 are Bernstein, Jon Bloom (short films and feature animation Branch), James L. Brooks (writers), Cambern, Caleb Deschanel (cinematographers), Ganis, Jim Gianopulos (executives), J. Paul Huntsman (sound), Isaacs, Fay Kanin (writers), Kevin O'Connell (sound), Frank Pierson (writers), Rehme, Tom Sherak (executives), Bill Taylor (visual effects) and Henry Winkler (actors).

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday announced the winners of its 20th annual Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. This year's winners are Morgan Read-Davidson from Downey, Calif. for The Days Between; Seth Resnik of West Hollywood and Ron Moskovitz from Los Angeles for Fire in a Coal Mine; Michael D. Zungolo from Philadelphia for No Country; Colleen Cooper De Maio of Los Angeles for Pirates of Lesser Providence; and Gian Marco Masoni of Santa Monica for Ring of Fire. The winners were selected from nearly 6,000 scripts submitted for this year's competition. Final judging was conducted by writers Susannah Grant, John Gay, Fay Kanin and Hal Kanter, cinematographers John Bailey and Steven Poster, editor Mia Goldman, actor Eva Marie Saint, executive Bill Mechanic, producers Gale Anne Hurd, David Nicksay and Buffy Shutt, and agent Ron Mardigian. The winning writers will receive the first installment of their $30,000 prize money at a dinner in Beverly Hills on Nov. 10. Academy Award-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman will be the keynote speaker. Since the program's inception in 1985, 93 fellowships have been awarded. Previous winners include Grant, Raymond De Felitta and Ehren Kruger.

Fay Kanin, a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences representing the writers branch, has been re-elected president of the Academy Foundation, the educational and cultural arm of the Academy. Trustees of the Foundation are elected annually by the board of governors of the Academy. Kanin served three terms as president of the Academy Foundation from 1995 through 1998, and has also served in the post for the past two years. She has been a Foundation officer every year for the past decade except for 1998-99. Kanin also served as president of the Academy itself from 1979 to 1983. The Academy Foundation was established in 1942 to oversee all educational, preservation and cultural activities of the Academy. Its trustees and officers serve one-year terms.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday announced the election of five new governors, including three first-timers, to its board to represent their respective branches, with nine incumbent governors getting re-elected The three first-time governors include Alexander Payne, directors branch; John Lasseter, short films and feature animation; and Craig Barron, visual effects, with the two returning governors being Albert Wolsky, art directors, after an absence of three years; and past Academy president Robert Rehme, from the executives branch, who was off the board for one year. Both had left the board after serving the maximum of three consecutive three-year terms Re-elected incumbents are Tom Hanks, actors branch; Owen Roizman, cinematographers; Michael Apted, documentary; Donn Cambern, film editors; Charles Bernstein, music; Kathleen Kennedy, producers; Sid Ganis, public relations; J. Paul Huntsman, sound; and Fay Kanin, writers Three governors represent each of the Academy's branches and are elected for staggered terms, so that each branch elects or re-elects one governor each year.

Fay Kanin, a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from the writers branch, has been re-elected president of the Academy Foundation, the educational and cultural arm of the Academy. Kanin previously served three terms as president, from 1995-98, and has been an officer every year for the past decade, except for 1998-99. In other election news, music branch governor Charles Bernstein was re-elected vp, as was his fellow branch governor Arthur Hamilton. Film editors branch governor Donn Cambern was re-elected secretary, and public relations branch governor Sid Ganis was again named treasurer.

Six new screenwriters have been named by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as recipients of the 2003 Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. This year's recipients are Adrea R. Herman for Augmentation, Tejal K. Desai and Brian C. Wray for Linda and Henry, Annie Reid for Revival, Bragi Schut Jr. for Season of the Witch and James N. Mottern for Trucker. The five scripts were selected from a group of 10 finalists by the Nicholl Committee, chaired by writer Fay Kanin. Each writer or writing team will receive the first installment of the fellowship's $30,000 prize money at a gala dinner Nov. 20 in Beverly Hills.

Fay Kanin, a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences representing the writers branch, has been elected to serve as president of the Academy Foundation. Trustees of the foundation -- the Academy's educational and cultural arm -- are elected annually by the organization's board of governors. Kanin served three terms as president of the Academy Foundation from 1995-98 and has been a foundation officer every year for the past decade except for 1998-99. She also was president of the Academy from 1979-83.