Kerry Condon and Paul Mescal together with Irish actor Barry Keoghan at the 95th Academy Awards in March. Getty
Oscar-nominated Irish actors Paul Mescal and Kerry Condon are among the 398 people who have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, the Academy announced on Wednesday.
"An Cailín Ciúin" (The Quiet Girl) director Colm Bairéad was also among those invited to join the Academy, the organization said.
The Academy said it extended membership invites to individuals who "distinguished themselves by their contributions to motion pictures".
Mescal received a nomination for Best Actor at the Oscars in March for his performance in "Aftersun" and has landed the lead role in the sequel to Ridley Scott's "Gladiator", which he is currently filming.
Meanwhile, Condon was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Siobhán in Martin McDonagh's "The Banshees of Inisherin".
Condon has also had roles in several Marvel films and has starred in the acclaimed series "Better Call Saul".
Bairéad, whose Irish-language film "An Cailín Ciúin was nominated for Best International Feature Film this year, was one of eight directors who were invited to join multiple of the Academy's 18 branches. The Dublin filmmaker was invited to join both the writers and directors branches of the Academy but will have to pick one branch.
Kate McCullough, the cinematographer for Bairéad's acclaimed film, was also invited to join the Academy on Wednesday.
Tom Berkeley and Ross White, who won the Oscar for Best Short Film with "An Irish Goodbye", were also invited to join the Short Film and Feature Animation branch of the Academy.
Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang said the 398 people invited to join the organization represent "extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines".
"The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership," they said in a statement.
The 2023 invite list is roughly half the size it was in previous years, with the Academy choosing to limit the number of invitees in order to "enable steady future growth and to ensure the necessary infrastructure, staff resources and environment to support all Academy members".
The Academy has attempted to diversify its membership in recent years.
A total of 34% of invitees in 2023 belong to an under-represented ethnic or social group, while 52% of people invited to join the US come from outside the United States. Roughly 40% of the invitees identify as women.
If all 398 people accept their invitations, the number of voting members in the Academy will rise to 9,375, 34% of which would be female, 18% non-white, and 20% non-American.