Ruth E. Carter

Costume designer Ruth E. Carter was born on April 10, 1960 in Springfield, Massachusetts to Mabel Carter and Ralph Carter. Carter received her B.A. degree in theater arts from the Hampton Institute (later Hampton University) in 1982.

After graduating from the Hampton Institute, Carter completed internships at City Stage in Springfield, Massachusetts and the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico. She then moved to Los Angeles, California, where she worked for the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Carter made her debut as a film costume designer when she worked on director Spike Lee’s School Daze in 1988. Throughout her career, Carter has served as the costume designer for over sixty film and television projects including Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing in 1989, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X in 1992, Steven Spielberg’s Amistad in 1997, Being Mary Jane in 2013, Ava DuVernay’s Selma in 2014, Roots in 2016, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther in 2018, Craig Brewer’s Dolemite Is My Name in 2019, Craig Brewer’s Coming 2 America in 2021, and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022. Carter won an Academy Award for her work on Black Panther in 2019, making her the first African American person to win an Academy Award in Best Costume Design. She also became the first African American female to win two Academy Awards in 2023. Carter’s costumes have been featured in two traveling exhibits: Heroes & Sheroes: The Art and Influence of Ruth E. Carter in Black Cinema and Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism In Costume Design in 2023. That same year, Carter published her book The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from Do the Right Thing to Black Panther with Chronicle Books.

Carter has received numerous awards and honors including the Career Achievement Award from the American Black Film Festival in 2002, the 2015 Black Women in Hollywood Visionary Award from Essence Magazine, an Emmy Award nomination from the Television Academy for Roots in 2016, the Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Fantasy Film in 2018, the Career Achievement Award from the Costume Designers Guild in 2019, the San Diego Film Critic Society (SDFCS) Award for Best Costume Design in 2020, a Satellite Award for Best Costume Design from the International Press Academy in 2020, a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 2021, the Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Contemporary Film in 2021, the NAACP Image Award in 2023, three Black Reel Awards for Outstanding Costume Design from the Foundation for the Augmentation of African Americans in Film (FAAAF) in 2018, 2019, and 2022, and three Critics’ Choice Movie Awards for Best Costume Design from the Critics’ Choice Association in 2018, 2019, and 2022. In addition, Carter received an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Black Panther in 2019 and again in 2023 for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She also received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Hampton University in 2023.

Ruth E. Carter was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 15, 2023.