Paul Tazewell made history at the Oscars by becoming the first Black man to win the award for Best Costume Design. He earned this recognition for his exceptional design work in “Wicked” at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday. This win marks his first Oscar victory and his second nomination, with his previous nomination coming for his work on Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”.
“I’m the first Black man to receive the costume design award,” he said during his acceptance speech, which was met with multiple standing ovations. “I’m so proud of this.”
Backstage, Tazewell shared that winning the award represents the pinnacle of his career. He expressed feeling humbled by the opportunity to inspire other Black men aspiring to become costume designers. “I’ve been designing costumes for over 35 years — that has been on Broadway and now it’s film,” he explained. “There was never a Black male designer who I saw that I could follow and see as an inspiration. But to realize now that it’s actually me.”
Who is Paul Tazewell?
Paul Tazewell, born September 15, 1964, in Akron, Ohio, United States, graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He was a resident artist and associate professor of costume design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Tazewell is a distinguished American costume designer for theater, dance, film, opera, and television. After training at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, he began his career on Broadway.
Before his Oscar win, Tazewell received recognition at the BAFTA, Critics’ Choice, and Costume Designers Guild Awards, the Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.
He has earned six Tony Award nominations for Costume Design, four Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Costume Design, two Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Costume Design, the Henry Hewes Award, and the Theater Development Fund’s Irene Sharaff Award in 1997. Tazewell also received the Princess Grace Statue Award from the Princess Grace Foundation, which honors artists of excellence across various disciplines.
Tazewell is the second Black person to win an Oscar in this category, following Ruth E. Carter, who made history in 2018 for her work on “Black Panther” becoming the first African American to win the Oscar for Best Costume Design.
His career spans a wide array of productions, including plays, musicals, and operas, with his costume designs featured in numerous prestigious projects in both theater and film.
