Janet Jackson is among the 395 individuals invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year.
The hitmaker joins a cohort of industry players including actors, cinematographers, directors, make-up artists and hairstylists with the offer to vote on future Oscars nominees.
In the case of the Nasty star, she’ll be in the music category, having received a Best Original Song nomination at the 1994 Oscars ceremony for her ‘Poetic Justice’ hit Again.
As an actress, Janet, who celebrates four decades in music in 2022, is noted for two of her movies, including the former and Tyler Perry’s ‘Why Did I Get Married Too?’, to which she contributed the song Nothing.
The invitees have “distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures,” the Academy notes.
Other stars invited to join the organisation this year include rising R&B star H.E.R., who has collaborated with stars including Maroon 5 and Toni Braxton, and this year won the Best Original Song Oscar this year for Fight for You from ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’.
Singer/songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Jon Batiste – who wrote the score to the animated film Soul – are also included.
According to Academy officials, 46 per cent of this year’s invitees are women, and 39 per cent are from “underrepresented ethnic/racial communities.”
The 94th Oscars is set for March 27 2022. at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood