Producer Janet Yang elected president of film academy

Janet Yang (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Producer Janet Yang has been elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group’s board of governors announced, making her the first Asian American to lead the film academy.

Yang, the 66-year-old producer of The Joy Luck Club and The People Vs Larry Flynt, becomes the fourth woman to lead the organisation behind the Oscars.