# Ruth E. Carter

Ruth E. Carter (born April 10, 1960) is an American costume designer for film and television. She is best known for her collaborations with Spike Lee, John Singleton, and Ryan Coogler. During her film career, Carter has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, for her work on Lee's biographical film Malcolm X (1992), Steven Spielberg's historical drama film Amistad (1997), and winning twice for Coogler's Marvel superhero films Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). She was the first African-American to win and be nominated for Best Costume Design and the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards in any category. Her other film credits include Do the Right Thing (1989), What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Love & Basketball (2000), Serenity (2005), The Butler (2013), Selma (2014), Marshall (2017), Dolemite Is My Name (2019), and Coming 2 America (2021).

## Early life and education

Carter was born on April 10, 1960, in Springfield, Massachusetts, in a single-parent household. Her mother is Mabel Carter, and she was the youngest of eight children. At nine years old, she began attending the Boys & Girls Club. Using her mother's sewing machine, Carter learned from the organization how to read and design simplicity patterns. She graduated in 1978 from Technical High School, Springfield, Ma. In 1982, Carter graduated from Hampton Institute, later renamed Hampton University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Arts.

## Career

After graduating, Carter returned to her hometown, working as an intern for City Stage's costume department and then the Santa Fe Opera. In 1986, she moved to Los Angeles to work at the city's Theater Center. While working there, Carter met director Spike Lee, who hired her for his second film, School Daze (1988). She continued working on his subsequent films, including Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), and Malcolm X (1992).
Aside from her work with Spike Lee, Carter also designed costumes for Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997) and several of John Singleton's films, such as Rosewood (1997) and Baby Boy (2001). She further designed costumes for the American television drama series Being Mary Jane on BET Networks, created by Mara Brock Akil and starring Gabrielle Union.
Carter worked on the superhero film Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler. Deriving from Afrofuturism, her costumes were inspired by many traditional African garments, including those of the Maasai and Ndebele people. She traveled to southern Africa to draw aesthetic inspirations and received permission to incorporate traditional Lesotho designs into the film's costumes. At the 91st Academy Awards, she won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, making her the first Black woman to win the Academy Award ine category.
Carter won 2 Oscars for Costume Design for Black Panther and Wakanda Forever, making history as the first African-American in that category. She also made history being the first African-American woman to win multiple Oscars in any category. A 4-time Academy Award nominee also for Malcolm X and Amistad, she has 50 feature film credits including Do the Right Thing, The Butler, Selma, and Marshall and received the 2019 Costume Designers Guild Career Achievement Award.
In 2021, Carter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the film category.
In 2023, Carter won her second Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). During her acceptance speech, Carter dedicated her win to her mother, who had died during the prior week at the age of 101. Also in 2023, the North Carolina Museum of Art hosted an exhibit displaying more than sixty of Carter's original garments.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Director |
| 1988 | School Daze | Spike Lee |
| 1988 | I'm Gonna Git You Sucka | Keenen Ivory Wayans |
| 1989 | Do the Right Thing | Spike Lee |
| 1990 | Mo' Better Blues | Spike Lee |
| 1991 | House Party 2 | Doug McHenry George Jackson |
| 1991 | Jungle Fever | Spike Lee |
| 1991 | The Five Heartbeats | Robert Townsend |
| 1992 | Malcolm X | Spike Lee |
| 1993 | The Meteor Man | Robert Townsend |
| 1993 | What's Love Got to Do with It | Brian Gibson |
| 1994 | Cobb | Ron Shelton |
| 1994 | Crooklyn | Spike Lee |
| 1994 | Surviving the Game | Ernest R. Dickerson |
| 1995 | Money Train | Joseph Ruben |
| 1995 | Clockers | Spike Lee |
| 1996 | The Great White Hype | Reginald Hudlin |
| 1997 | B*A*P*S | Robert Townsend |
| 1997 | Rosewood | John Singleton |
| 1997 | Amistad | Steven Spielberg |
| 1999 | Summer of Sam | Spike Lee |
| 2000 | Price of Glory | Carlos Ávila |
| 2000 | Love & Basketball | Gina Prince-Bythewood |
| 2000 | Shaft | John Singleton |
| 2000 | Bamboozled | Spike Lee |
| 2001 | Baby Boy | John Singleton |
| 2001 | Dr. Dolittle 2 | Steve Carr |
| 2002 | I Spy | Betty Thomas |
| 2003 | Daddy Day Care | Steve Carr |
| 2004 | Against the Ropes | Charles S. Dutton |
| 2005 | Serenity | Joss Whedon |
| 2005 | Four Brothers | John Singleton |
| 2009 | Spread | David Mackenzie |
| 2009 | Black Dynamite | Scott Sanders |
| 2013 | Teen Beach Movie | Jeffrey Hornaday |
| 2013 | Oldboy | Spike Lee |
| 2013 | The Butler | Lee Daniels |
| 2014 | The Best of Me | Michael Hoffman |
| 2014 | Selma | Ava DuVernay |
| 2014 | Da Sweet Blood of Jesus | Spike Lee |
| 2015 | Chi-Raq | Spike Lee |
| 2016 | Keeping Up with the Joneses | Greg Mottola |
| 2017 | Kidnap | Luis Prieto |
| 2017 | Marshall | Reginald Hudlin |
| 2018 | Black Panther | Ryan Coogler |
| 2019 | Above Suspicion | Phillip Noyce |
| 2019 | Dolemite Is My Name | Craig Brewer |
| 2021 | Coming 2 America | Craig Brewer |
| 2022 | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Ryan Coogler |
| 2025 | Blade | Yann Demange |

### Television

* Being Mary Jane (2013–2019)
* Roots (2016)

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1992 | Academy Awards | Best Costume Design | Malcolm X | Nominated |
| 1997 | Academy Awards | Best Costume Design | Amistad | Nominated |
| 2018 | Academy Awards | Best Costume Design | Black Panther | Won |
| 2022 | Academy Awards | Best Costume Design | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Won |
| 2015 | Costume Designers Guild Awards | Excellence in Period Film | Selma | Nominated |
| 2018 | Costume Designers Guild Awards | Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film | Black Panther | Won |
| 2019 | Costume Designers Guild Awards | Excellence in Period Film | Dolemite Is My Name | Nominated |
| 2021 | Costume Designers Guild Awards | Excellence in Contemporary Film | Coming 2 America | Won |
| 2016 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Period Costumes for a Limited Series | Roots | Nominated |
| 2018 | Black Reel Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Black Panther | Won |
| 2019 | Black Reel Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Dolemite Is My Name | Won |
| 2021 | Black Reel Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Coming 2 America | Nominated |
| 2022 | Black Reel Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Won |
| 2018 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Costume Design | Black Panther | Won |
| 2019 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Costume Design | Dolemite is My Name | Won |
| 2022 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Costume Design | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Won |
* 2002: American Black Film Festival, Career Achievement Award
* 2015: Essence, 2015 Black Women in Hollywood Award at the 8th Annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon
* 2019: Costume Designers Guild, Career Achievement Award
* 2019: Suffolk University, Honorary Degree - Doctor of Humane Letters
* 2020: SDFCS Awards, Best Costume Design, Dolemite Is My Name
* 2020: Satellite Awards, Best Costume Design, Dolemite Is My Name
* 2023: FashFilmFete, Costume Design Career Achievement Award in Film