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Source: Daniele Venturelli / Getty

Paul Tazewell made history at last night’s 97th Academy Awards.

Tazewell, from Akron, became the first Black man in Oscar’s history to win Best Costume Design. He won the prestigious film award for his role in the film Wicked.

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It’s been a great run for Tazewell. He adds his new Oscar to a 2025 list that includes wins at the Critics Choice Awards, Costume Designers Guild Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and the BAFTAs. The costume designer has also worked on the movies Hamilton, Harriet, and West Side Story throughout his career.

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“This is absolutely astounding. Thank you Academy for this very significant honor,” Tazewell, 60, said during his speech. “I’m the first Black man to receive the costume design award for my work on Wicked. I’m so proud of this.”

Tazewell is the second Black person to win Best Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Ruth E. Carter became the first Black woman to win it with 2018’s Wakanda, before doing it again in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

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“I want to touch hearts, want to change lives, I want to make a difference and my power, my medium in doing that, is costume design and I’m passionate about it,” Tazewell said. “I hold to that, and I know that I’m good at doing that, and that makes me feel good.”

Akron’s Paul Tazewell: First Black Man To Win Best Costume Design Oscar  was originally published on ronewzakcleveland.staging.go.ione.nyc