The Academy OfMotion Picture Arts & Sciences has issued its annual membership invitationstatement, naming the 120 artists and executives who will become new votingmembers in 2006.

Candidates areconsidered by committees made up of representatives from each of the Academy's14 branches. Names are put forward by two current members of the branch andmust have achieved minimum qualifications laid out by their branch, althoughnone is necessarily invited to membership. In addition, individuals nominatedfor Academy Awards are also considered, although again they are not necessarilyinvited to become members. This year, 39 of those invited were nominated in2005.

They includeactors Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Felicity Huffman, KeiraKnightley, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, David Strathairn and Rachel Weisz.Non-nominated actors invited include Dakota Fanning, Maria Bello, Barry Pepper,Hayley Mills, Ving Rhames and Live Schreiber.

Among thedirectors invited are Werner Herzog, Nicole Holofcener and Mark Waters as wellas last year's nominee Bennett Miller and Oscar winner for best foreignlanguage film Gavin Hood.

Other notablenames on the invite list are singer and songwriter Dolly Parton, animator HayaoMiyazaki, Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias, cinematographers Cesar Charloneand Wally Pfister, documentarian Alex Gibney and costume designers JacquelineDurran and Janty Yates. Screenwriters being enlisted are Noah Baumbach, JeffreyCaine, Jean-Claude Carriere, Dan Futterman, Tony Kushner, Bobby Moresco andJosh Olson.

Producers beingasked to join include Hong Kong's Bill Kong, Oscar winner Cathy Schulman,Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa and Jennifer Todd.

Executives rangefrom studio bigwigs like Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes, HBO's Colin Callender and Paramount'sGail Berman and Andrew Cripps as well as indie players like Fortissimo Films'Michael J Werner, IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring, Echo Lake's DougMankoff and Lionsgate production chief Michael Pasoernek.