Sharmila Tagore, Deepa Mehta Among Oscar Academy's New Members Thursday June 30,2016

Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore, Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto and director Deepa Mehta feature among Indian-origin film personalities invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be part of its new class of members.

The Academy invited a record 683 new members -- 46 % female and 41 % persons of colour -- as it aims to diversify following criticism of its largely white and male membership.

Apart from Tagore, Pinto and Mehta, British filmmaker of Indian origin Asif Kapadia -- who bagged the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for Amy, based on the life of late singer Amy Winehouse -- also features in this year's class of new members.

The diversity push was in response to the #OscarsSoWhite uproar that took place earlier this year, when all-white acting nominees put a microscope on the Academy’s largely white and male membership.

On the Hollywood front, the new members also include Star Wars actor John Boyega, Idris Elba and last year’s best actress winner Brie Larson. Also invited are Kate Beckinsale, Creed director Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan and Emma Watson.

The new class is by far the largest ever announced by the Academy -- and it features celebrities aged as young as 24 and as old as 91.