My mistake, you're correct, I was recalling from the top of my head. But I guess my point was that a lot of great work/artists are overlooked by not just the Academy, but by any institution.

Yes there is undoubtedly a discrepancy between what races are represented in nominations, but the real discussion should be about why quality work is sometimes overlooked in favor of popularity contests. That is, if these so-called award shows are to be given much weight and importance in the first place.

Love the whinging over diversity by multi millionaires news flash if Hollywood was racist you wouldn't be rich.

This is kind of like saying a pro sports owner can't be racist because he lets black people play on his team. 

The black players make him money.

If Will Smith is making $20 million dollars a movie (like him or not) it's because he brings $50-$100 million+ in box office to any given movie to the table. 

I don't think Hollywood is really racist so much as they are risk averse. They still hold to a 1960s-style notion that casting white people even in roles where the character isn't white (see the embarrassing Aloha with Emma Stone trying to play an Asian character or the Ridley Scott controversey over white actors trying to play Middle Eastern) is what the audience wants to see. 

And movies cost so much that they become obsessed with just sticking to that formula. 

Hopefully the massive success of films like Star Wars TFA, the Fast & Furious franchise, and Straight Outta Compton this past year alone can open some Hollywood studios eyes. Box office talks louder than anything else. 

Are you really suggesting that TFA made that amount of money by having a pair of non-white male leads? really? Star Wars would have made money even if the reviews where awful (bad reviews never hurt the Transformers films) it's Franchise not cast that make the film which on one havd means you can cast anybody and make money and on the other means the actors/actresses are easily replacable.

The new cast has nothing to do with the success of the movie.

Mega success, with the language at the time and subtitles

Based on franchise. A no name movie based on a screenplay only will have a hard time to sell with no name actors.

Might have been a bit weird for the director of that film to have to apologise for casting 'white' actors in the roles when he was probably thinking 'Cool, we got so and so, that's great.' Names sell and unless there are any big Egyptian actors to fill those roles that are widely known by the worlds community, then they'll get the names that sell. 

Ergh.. is this another case of specific ethnicities wanting special treatment? This thing keeps getting worse and worse.

I'm saying people are willing to go watch movies with diverse casts. Star Wars was just one of three examples of huge hits last year alone that I listed. 

How do other actors become big? Not every actor is blessed with a big film role which jump start their careers. I also wouldn't compare the original Star Wars to modern films either, back in the day that film could have failed and the main actors were not that big. Well it might have been a risk for Peter Cushing and Alec Guinness, Star Wars didn't make them. The new Star Wars you cannot even compare again as it's effect on the new actors isn't fully known yet, althought Oscar Isaac was famous already so he's fine. Maybe it was just a case no one of Egyptian, or nothern African, descent auditioned for the roles.

Of course you are right, more actors should be cast in roles that are designed for a certain ethnicity or origin and/or the characters shouldn't be changed to fit big names into roles. Especially in works of fiction where the character is actually described and depicted a certain way.