Well , The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a professional honorary organization, maintains a voting membership of 5,829 as of 2007.[17]

Actors constitute the largest voting bloc, numbering 1,311 members (22 percent) of the Academy's composition. Votes have been certified by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (and its predecessor Price Waterhouse) for the past 73 annual awards ceremonies.[18]

All AMPAS members must be invited to join. Invitation comes from the Board of Governors, on behalf of Academy Branch Executive Committees. Membership eligibility may be achieved by a competitive nomination or a member may submit a name based on other significant contribution to the field of motion pictures.

New membership proposals are considered annually. The Academy does not publicly disclose its membership, although as recently as 2007 press releases have announced the names of those who have been invited to join. The 2007 release also stated that it has just under 6,000 voting members. While the membership had been growing, stricter policies have kept its size steady since then

Answered by Alok Gupta , an ibibo Guru, at 5:09 PM on March 03, 2009

Formed as a non-profit organisation in 1927, AMPAS originally comprised 36 member producers and filmmakers. It now has over 6,000 members, representing all areas of the professional movie community from around the world.

Answered by sanjay , an ibibo Guru, at 11:35 PM on March 02, 2009