Paul Tazewell

Early life and education

Tazewell was born on September 15, 1964 in Akron, Ohio, as one of four sons of Barbara (an artist and French teacher) and Joseph Tazewell Jr. (a research chemist at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company who sang bass for his church choir). His mother, who enjoyed sewing and had a Singer sewing machine, taught him to sew when he was 9.

Following his graduation from Buchtel High School in 1982, he enrolled at Pratt Institute, then transferred and graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

His brother, Jonathan Tazewell, is also a writer and director.

Career

At age 16, while a student at Buchtel High School in Akron, Tazewell designed and sewed the costumes for a school production of The Wiz (in which he also played The Wiz); his mother made the white suit and cape that he wore in the production.

Tazewell has designed costumes for over a dozen Broadway productions, starting with Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk in 1996 (receiving a Tony Award nomination). Over Tazewell's career, he has costumed numerous plays that are predominantly African American and Latino. Other musicals include On the Town (Revival), The Color Purple, and, in 2009, Guys and Dolls (Revival) and Memphis. Recent Broadway work includes Dr Zhivago, Side Show, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Plays on Broadway have included Lombardi, The Miracle Worker (Revival), Magic/Bird and the Tony Award-winning revival of A Raisin in the Sun. His off-Broadway work as a costume designer includes Hamilton, Elaine Stritch at Liberty (2001), Boston Marriage (2002), Ruined, One Flea Spare, Flesh and Blood, and Harlem Song (Apollo Theater).

In regional theatre he has designed costumes for, among many, Alley Theatre (Camp David, 2020), Arena Stage (The Women, 1999, and Polk County, 2002), The Guthrie Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, and La Jolla Playhouse. His work for ballet companies includes the Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet. Opera credits at Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, ENO, and the Metropolitan Opera.

Tazewell served as costume designer on Wicked and Wicked: For Good, the two-part film adaptation of the Broadway musical. His work on Wicked won him the BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design and the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. Tazewell is the first Black man to win an Oscar for costume design and the second Black costume designer to win overall after Ruth E. Carter.

Credits

Film

• Harriet, Focus Features (2019)
• West Side Story, 20th Century Studios (2021)
• Wicked, Universal Pictures (2024)
• Wicked: For Good, Universal Pictures (2025)
• Disclosure Day, Universal Pictures (2026)

Television

• The Wiz Live!, NBC (2015)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, HBO (2017)
• Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, NBC (2018)

Theatre

• Before It Hits Home (1992)
• Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk (1996)
• On the Town (1998)
• Fascinating Rhythm (1999)
• Boston Marriage (2002)
• Elaine Stritch At Liberty (2002)
• Caroline, or Change (2003)
• A Raisin in the Sun (2004)
• The Color Purple (2005)
• In the Heights (2008)
• Guys and Dolls (2009)
• Memphis (2009)
• Fetch Clay, Make Man (2010)
• Lombardi (2010)
• The Miracle Worker (2010)
• Jesus Christ Superstar (2012)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (2012)
• Magic/Bird (2012)
• Side Show (2014)
• Hamilton (2015)
• Doctor Zhivago (2015)
• Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (2018)
• Escape to Margaritaville (2018)
• Ain't Too Proud (2019)
• MJ (2022)
• Mr. Saturday Night (2022)
• Suffs (2024)
• Death Becomes Her (2024)

Awards and nominations

He is recipient of nine total 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. He received the Princess Grace Statue Award bestowed by the Princess Grace Foundation to artists of excellence in various disciplines.

References

References

1. {{YouTube. YEKDunI7qR0. "'Wicked' Costume Designer Paul Tazewell Shares Movie Easter Eggs {{! Cosmopolitan"
2. "Costume Designer Paul Tazewell on Winning a Tony and Oscar Within Months: 'This Black, Queer Little Boy in Akron, Ohio Had No Idea He Would Have the Year That He Had'". Variety.
3. Tangcay, Jazz. (2025-03-03). "'Wicked's' Paul Tazewell Makes Oscars History as First Black Man to Win Best Costume Design"%20under%20his%20belt.).
4. Barnes, Barnes. (March 2, 2025). "Kieran Culkin Wins Best Supporting Actor for 'A Real Pain'". [[The New York Times]].
5. Tangcay, Jazz. (2025-11-05). "Costume Designer Paul Tazewell to Showcase His Work from ‘Wicked’ and ‘Hamilton’ at Chicago’s Griffin Museum of Science and Industry".
6. [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-709387.html Summary of article from ''The Washington Post'', January 18, 1997], encyclopedia.com
7. "Paul Tazewell (American, b.1964)".
8. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/entertainment/arts/2025/09/20/paul-tazewell-reflects-successful-year-costume-designer-akron-kent-state/86155395007/
9. http://bulletin-archive.kenyon.edu/x2262.html
10. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/01/nx-s1-5621908/wicked-costume-design-paul-tazewell
11. https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/akron-buchtel-grad-paul-tazewell-makes-history-at-the-oscars
12. Tazewell was a resident artist and associate professor of costume design at [[Carnegie Mellon University]] in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]] (2003–2006).[https://www.paultazewelldesign.com// Tazewell official site] paultazewell.net
13. Sloss, Eric.[http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/060608_tony.html "Carnegie Mellon Costume Design Professor Earns 2006 Tony Award Nomination"], cmu.edu, June 8, 2006
14. "Jonathan Tazewell {{!}} Kenyon College".
15. https://www.akronschools.com/district/news/news-detail/~board/district-news/post/paul-tazewell-makes-oscar-history
16. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/01/nx-s1-5621908/wicked-costume-design-paul-tazewell
17. (December 2015). "Designer Paul Tazewell brings Broadway Magic to 'The Wiz Live!'".
18. (2 March 2025). "Paul Tazewell notes...". [[The New York Times]].
19. Warner, Lindsay.[http://collegian.kenyon.edu/article.php?id=369 "Freelance costume designer Paul Tazewell speaks"] collegian.kenyon.edu, January 31, 2002