Costume designer Ruth E. Carter made history at the 2023 Oscars by becoming the first Black woman to win a second Academy Award. At 62, she received the Oscar for Best Costume Design for *Black Panther: Wakanda Forever*, adding to her earlier win for the original *Black Panther* in 2019.
Carter was born on April 10, 1960, in Springfield, Massachusetts, the youngest of eight children raised by a single mother. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Virginia in 1982. Her career began with internships in her hometown and at the Santa Fe Opera, and she secured her first design job after meeting filmmaker Spike Lee in the mid‑1980s at Lula Washington’s Dance Theatre.
Since then, Carter has designed costumes for more than 40 films, collaborating with directors such as Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, and John Singleton. She has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. Her win for *Black Panther* made her the first African‑American to receive an Oscar in that category, and her subsequent win for *Black Panther: Wakanda Forever* marked the first time a Black woman has won two Oscars in any category.
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