Cheryl Boone Isaacs
( 1949)
President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
First Black President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
is an American film marketing and public relations executive. She represented the Public Relations Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), known for its annual Academy Awards (Oscars), on the AMPAS Board of Governors for 21 years, until 2013. On July 30, 2013, she was elected as the 35th president of AMPAS, and on August 11, 2015, she was re-elected. Boone Isaacs was the first African American to hold this office, and the third woman (after Bette Davis and Fay Kanin). On November 16, 2021, it was announced that Boone Isaacs would serve as Founding Director of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, effective January 1, 2022.
Boone Isaacs was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to a father, postal worker Ashley Boone, Sr., and a homemaker mother. Her family was middle class and she grew up near Springfield College until her family moved to the Sixteen Acres neighborhood of Springfield. She is the youngest of four children, with two older brothers: Ashley Jr. and Richard; and an older sister, Velma.
In 1967 Boone Isaacs graduated from Springfield Central High School, known at that time as Classical High School. In 1971, she graduated from Whittier College with a degree in political science. During college, she spent time in a study abroad program in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Boone Isaacs married Stanley Isaacs who is of English-Jewish descent. They live and work in the greater Los Angeles area.
Industry Work
Boone Isaacs has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1987. All work for the Academy, even leadership roles, is on a volunteer basis.
As President of the AMPAS, Boone Isaacs was instrumental in removing the restriction of the number of members allowed into the Academy, what had been a long-time membership cap. She also initiated a drive to invite over 400 new members, many of whom were young and came from diverse backgrounds.
Boone Isaacs has been an active force in addressing the lack of diversity, and an imbalance of membership that is predominantly white and male. Other efforts that she is addressing include focusing on improving AMPAS mentorship programs, enhancing the student version of the Academy Awards, and improving the Scientific and Technical Council.
Part of her duties as President included overseeing the Academy Awards. Boone Isaacs also oversaw the Governors Awards, where honorary lifetime achievement awards are given. Unlike the Oscars, the Governors Awards are not televised ceremonies. She has also spearheaded the development of an AMPAS museum developed in conjunction with the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art with a budget of $300 million, opening in 2017.
At the 2015 Governors Awards, Boone Isaacs launched a new Academy initiative called A2020, which focused on improving the representation of diversity—age, gender, race, national origin, and point of view—and includes a five-year plan to focus on industry practices and hiring. Honorary Oscar-winner Spike Lee praised Boone Isaacs for her work towards diversity in Hollywood.
Honors
2013: Black Entertainment Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA)
2013: Essence Magazine’s Trailblazer Award
2014: African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Horizon Award
2014: NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame
2014: Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts O.L. Halsell Filmmaker-in-Residence
Personal life
Boone Isaacs is married to film producer, director, and writer Stanley Isaacs and lives in Los Angeles. They have a son, Cooper Boone Isaacs.