Guillermo del Toro, Kris Bowers and More Elected to Expanded 60-Member Film Academy Board of Governors

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the newly elected Board of Governors for the 2026-2027 term year.

The new board is comprised of a mixture of new faces to the board, like director Guillermo del Toro and composer Kris Bowers, returning incumbents like actor Lou Diamond Phillips and executive Hannah Minghella, and familiar names rejoining after a hiatus, including animation and documentary legends Bonnie Arnold and Roger Ross Williams.

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The new term also ushers in a structural change. Under a bylaws amendment approved by the board in February, all 19 Academy branches will now have three branch-elected governors apiece, adding seats to the Animation, Production and Technology, and Short Films branches. The change adds five branch-elected seats to the board, bringing the total to 60 industry figures sitting on the Academy’s vital group. To stagger the terms, governors in those three branches were elected this year to one-, two- or three-year terms, with the process reverting to the standard one-governor-per-branch, three-year cycle in 2027.

Among the incumbents reelected to serve another term are Phillips (Actors Branch), Jinko Gotoh (Animation Branch), Daniel Orlandi (Costume Designers Branch), Minghella (Executives Branch), David Dinerstein (Marketing and Public Relations Branch), Wendy Aylsworth (Production and Technology Branch), Kalina Ivanov (Production Design Branch), Mark P. Stoeckinger (Sound Branch) and Dana Stevens (Writers Branch).

Newly elected to the board for the first time are Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro (Directors Branch), Michael Goi (Cinematographers Branch), Anne Goursaud (Film Editors Branch), Patricia Dehaney (Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch), composer Kris Bowers (Music Branch), Fred Berger (Producers Branch), Vic Armstrong (Production and Technology Branch), David Leitch (Production and Technology Branch) and Kim Magnusson (Short Films Branch).

Rejoining the board after a hiatus are Bonnie Arnold (Animation Branch), Bernard Telsey (Casting Directors Branch), Roger Ross Williams (Documentary Branch), Bob Rogers (Short Films Branch) and Paul Debevec (Visual Effects Branch).

Because of the expansion, several governors drew shortened terms. In the Animation Branch, Arnold was elected to a three-year term and Gotoh to a one-year term. In the Production and Technology Branch, Aylsworth will serve for three years, Armstrong for two years and Leitch for one year. In the Short Films Branch, Magnusson was elected for three years and Rogers for two.

They join continuing governors Pam Abdy, Haifaa al-Mansour, Lesley Barber, K.K. Barrett, Dion Beebe, Jason Blum, Brooke Breton, Effie T. Brown, Carter Burwell, Paul Cameron, Patricia Cardoso, Eduardo Castro, Annie Chang, Peter Devlin, Jennifer Fox, Chris Hegedus, Richard Hicks, Larry Karaszewski, Laura C. Kim, Christina Kounelias, Peter Kujawski, Marlee Matlin, Isis Mussenden, Andy Nelson, Missy Parker, Gerald Quist, Jason Reitman, Nancy Richardson, Andrew Roberts, Howard A. Rodman, Terilyn A. Shropshire, Chris Tashima, Kim Taylor-Coleman, Jean Tsien, Marlon West, Gigi Williams and Rita Wilson.

As a result of the election, the board is composed of 47% women and 32% members from underrepresented communities, based on self-reporting.

Governors, including the board-elected governors-at-large, may serve up to two three-year terms, consecutive or non-consecutive, followed by a two-year hiatus, after which eligibility renews for up to two more terms, for a lifetime maximum of 12 years. A term of fewer than three years served by a governor elected in a 2026 branch election will not count against those limits.

A separate amendment approved earlier this year allows a sitting Academy president to run for reelection for up to four consecutive one-year terms, even if a hiatus would otherwise be required, with that president serving as an ex officio governor through the completion of the term.

The Board of Governors sets the Academy’s strategic vision, preserves its financial health and ensures the fulfillment of its mission. The governors will take office at the first scheduled board meeting of the new term.

The board recently announced its honorees for the 17th Governors Awards. It will present Honorary Oscars to veteran actress Glenn Close, legendary director Ridley Scott and Disney’s first Black animator Floyd Norman, while producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, longtime champions of independent film, will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.