Costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, made history at the 2023 Oscars when she became the first Black woman to win her second Academy Award.
Carter, 62, took home the Oscar for best costume design for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” She had previously won an Oscar for best costume design for the first Black Panther movie in 2019.
Here are 10 things to know about Carter:
1. Ruth E. Carter was born April 10, 1960 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
2. Carter is the youngest of eight children (five brothers and two sisters) and was raised by a single mother.
3. She is an American costume designer for film and television, with over 40 films to her credit.
4. Carter graduated from Hampton Institute, currently known as Hampton University, Virginia, in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
5. Carter began her career working as an intern in her hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, and at the Santa Fe Opera.
6. She first met American Filmmaker Spike Lee, who gave her her first design job, in the mid-’80s at Lula Washington’s Dance Theatre.
7. Carter designed costumes for the films by Spike Lee and has also worked with legendary directors such as Steven Spielberg and John Singleton.
8. Carter has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
9. For her work on “Black Panther”, Carter became the first African-American to win an Oscar Academy Award in that category.
10. She made further history by winning the same award for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, which makes her the first black woman to win two Oscars in any category.
