Ruth E. Carter

Ruth E. Carter Profile Photo

Biography

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 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 won twice for Coogler's Marvel superhero films Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022); becoming the first African-American to win and be nominated for Best Costume Design. She was nominated for a fifth time for her work in Coogler's Sinners (2025), breaking the record for most-nominated Black woman in Oscar history. 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). She also received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Period Costumes for a Limited Series for her work on the 2016 miniseries Roots. Carter is the recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the Costume Designers Guild Awards, in addition to receiving two competitive awards from the organisation. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ruth E. Carter, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Career Overview

Ruth E. Carter has 69 screen credits in a career dating back to 1988. Their work spans 13 cinematic universes — most prominently MCU with 2 titles. Signature works include Sinners, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Black Panther. Explore the interactive character relationship maps on each title page to trace how their roles connect across franchises.

Personal Facts

Known For
Costume & Make-Up
Gender
female
Known Credits
69
Birth Date
1960-04-10 00:00:00
Birth Place
Springfield, Massachusetts, USA

Known For

Associated Universes

Universe traveler — spans 13 universes

Frequent Collaborators

Credits