Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, organization founded in 1927 at Hollywood, California, for the purpose of raising the cultural and technical standards of professional filmmaking. The academy has some 5000 members, drawn from the performing, technical, and administrative branches of the motion-picture industry. Membership is by invitation and eligibility depends on the requirements of a given branch of the academy. Although membership is open to film workers in other countries, the academy has generally been associated with the United States film industry.

The academy is best known for its annual presentation of special awards of merit, called the Academy Awards. (For a list of Academy Award winners, see the accompanying table.) The academy also supports technical research, maintains a library of film-related materials, and issues bulletins of credits containing the records of producers, actors, writers, directors, and others for production-office use. The headquarters of the academy is in Beverly Hills, California.