Ruth E. Carter

Academy Award-winning Costume Designer

Ruth E. Carter is an Academy Award-winning (and 2-time Academy Award-nominated) Costume Designer.

Ruth’s unparalleled ability to develop an authentic story through costume and character has made her one of the most sought after and renowned costume designers today. She is the 2019 Academy Award winner for “Best Costume Design” for her work on BLACK PANTHER, making history as the first African American to win in that category. She has also garnered two additional Academy Award nominations for Spike Lee’s MALCOM X (1993) and Steven Spielberg’s AMISTAD (1998) as well as an Emmy nomination in 2016 for the reboot of ROOTS. In 2019, Carter received the “Career Achievement Award” and “Excellence in Sci-fi/Fantasy Film” from the Costume Designers Guild and the Critics Choice Award for “Best Costume Design” for BLACK PANTHER, among numerous other honors.

She has worked in the industry for over three decades and has been credited with over forty films and counting, collaborating with Spike Lee on over ten films beginning with SCHOOL DAZE and including DO THE RIGHT THING, MALCOLM X and OLD BOY. Carter is known for her research and diligence to the craft of costume design, specifically for her outstanding work for period ensemble films such as the highly praised Lee Daniels’ THE BUTLER, Ava Duvernay’s SELMA and MARSHALL, directed by Reginald Hudlin. Carter completed work on the first season of YELLOWSTONE, a television series starring Kevin Costner and directed by Taylor Sheridan. Additionally, she is the costume designer on the Netflix film, DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Craig Brewer, and the FOX series COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS, premiering in Spring 2019.