The Academy elects Whoopi Goldberg to its Board Of Governors

By William Hughes | June 30, 2017 | 12:56am

Aux Features Film

The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences announced the results of its annual Board Of Governors election today, and it looks like Whoopi Goldberg was one of the big winners. According to Variety, Goldberg scored the currently open Actors Branch spot on the governing board, beating out fellow performers like Geena Davis, Edward James Olmos, and Rita Wilson. She joins Tom Hanks and Laura Dern—whose name has been bandied around as a future Academy president—on the actors’ portion of the governing body.

The elections saw a higher-than-average amount of turnover—with only 6 out of 16 incumbents keeping their seats—for the organization, which sets the Oscar-granting group’s overall policies. Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Peirce won a seat alongside Steven Spielberg and Michael Mann, for instance, while Ed Wood screenwriter Larry Karaszewski will help represent the Academy’s writers. All in all, nine women were elected or returned to the board this year.