Ruth E. Carter
Carter in 2025
Born	(1960-04-10)April 10, 1960 (age 65) Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Hampton University (BA)[1]
Occupation	Costume designer
Years active	1982–present

Ruth E. Carter (born April 10, 1960) is an Americancostume designer for film and television.^[2] She is best known for her collaborations withSpike Lee,John Singleton, andRyan Coogler. During her film career, Carter has been nominated four times for theAcademy Award for Best Costume Design, for her work on Lee's biographical filmMalcolm X (1992),Steven Spielberg's historical drama filmAmistad (1997), and winning twice for Coogler's Marvel superhero filmsBlack Panther (2018) andBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).^[3] She was the first African-American to win and be nominated for Best Costume Design and the first Black woman to win multipleAcademy Awards in any category.^[4][5] Her other film credits includeDo 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),Coming 2 America (2021), andSinners (2025).

Carter was born on April 10, 1960, inSpringfield,Massachusetts, in a single-parent household. Her mother is Mabel Carter,^[6] and she was the youngest of eight children. At nine years old, she began attending theBoys & Girls Club. Using her mother's sewing machine, Carter learned from the organization how to read and designSimplicity patterns.^[7] She graduated in 1978 from Technical High School, Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1982, Carter graduated fromHampton Institute, later renamedHampton University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Arts.^[1]

After graduating, Carter returned to her hometown, working as an intern for City Stage's costume department and then theSanta Fe Opera. In 1986, she moved to Los Angeles to work at the city's Theater Center.^[8] While working there, Carter met directorSpike Lee, who hired her for his second film,School Daze (1988). She continued working on his subsequent films, includingDo the Right Thing (1989),Mo' Better Blues (1990),Jungle Fever (1991), andMalcolm X (1992).^[9][10]

Aside from her work with Spike Lee, Carter also designed costumes forSteven Spielberg'sAmistad (1997) and several ofJohn Singleton's films, such asRosewood (1997) andBaby Boy (2001).^[2] She further designed costumes for the American television drama seriesBeing Mary Jane onBET Networks, created byMara Brock Akil and starringGabrielle Union.^[11]

Carter worked on the superhero filmBlack Panther (2018), directed byRyan Coogler. Deriving fromAfrofuturism, her costumes were inspired by many traditional African garments, including those of theMaasai andNdebele people.^[12] She traveled to southern Africa to draw aesthetic inspirations and received permission to incorporate traditionalLesotho designs into the film's costumes.^[13] At the91st Academy Awards, she won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, making her the first Black woman to win the Academy Award in the category.^[14]

Carter won 2Oscars 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.^[15]

In 2021, Carter received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame in the film category.^[16]

In 2023, Carter won her second Academy Award for Best Costume Design forBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).^[5] During her acceptance speech, Carter dedicated her win to her mother, who had died during the prior week at the age of 101.^[6] Also in 2023, theNorth Carolina Museum of Art hosted an exhibit displaying more than sixty of Carter's original garments.^[17]

• Being Mary Jane (2013–2019)
• Roots (2016)^[18]

• 2002:American Black Film Festival, Career Achievement Award^[20]
• 2015:Essence, 2015 Black Women in Hollywood Award at the 8th Annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon^[21][20]
• 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^[22]

• The Art of Ruth E. Carter. Chronicle Books. 2023.ISBN 978-1797203065.^[23][24]

• Kirkham, Pat; Stallworth, Shauna (2000). "Chapter 4: "Three Strikes Against Me": African American Women Designers".Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference. New York: Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts. pp. 141–143, 258.ISBN 978-0-300-09331-5.OCLC 48628173.
• Landis, Deborah Nadoolman (2003).Screencraft. Costume Design. Burlington, MA: Focal Press.ISBN 978-0-240-80590-0.OCLC 718593913.

• Ruth E. Carter atIMDb

• 1960 births
• Living people
• 20th-century African-American artists
• 20th-century American artists
• 20th-century American women artists
• 21st-century African-American artists
• 21st-century American women artists
• 21st-century American artists
• African-American designers
• American costume designers
• American women costume designers
• Artists from Springfield, Massachusetts
• Best Costume Design Academy Award winners
• Costume Designers Guild Career Achievement Award recipients
• Excellence in Contemporary Film Costume Designers Guild Award winners
• Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Costume Designers Guild Award winners
• Hampton University alumni

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