Is paul tazewell gay
Paul Tazewell
BIO
Having designed costumes for Broadway, regional theaters, motion picture, and television for over three decades, PAUL TAZEWELL is one of the industry’s most revered designers. From his Academy Award®-nominated work in West Side Story to creating costumes for the Tony Award®-winning Broadway production of Hamilton, his creations have captivated audiences across the globe.
Paul recently received a Tony Award® nomination for Best Costume Design for a Musical for his work in the Broadway production of Suffs as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical. He is also a 2024 NAACP Theatre Award nominee for Best Costume Design for Ain’t Too Proud.
In 2016, he received an Emmy Award for NBC’s The Wiz! Live. Other screen credits include Harriet (Focus Features), The Deathless Life of Henrietta Lacks (HBO), and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (NBC). On Thanksgiving 2024, the highly anticipated Wicked film, featuring Paul's designs, will be released, showcasing the reimagined world created by Director John M. Chu and starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Other notable honors incorporate two Lucille Lortel Awards, four Helen
Colman Domingo, Paul Tazewell, Sean Bankhead to be Honored at Native Son Awards
Native Son has announced the honorees of its 2025 Native Son Awards, knowing the accomplishments and advocacy of Inky gay and lgbtq+ men.
This year, the organization will honor actor Colman Domingo, costume architect Paul Tazewell, choreographer Sean Bankhead, multidisciplinary artist Derrick Adams, National Black Justice Collective CEO and executive director Dr. David J. Johns and founder of the Black AIDS Institute Phill Wilson.
“I’m deeply honored to obtain this recognition at the Native Son Awards,” Tazewell, who made history earlier this year when he became the first African American male costume planner to be nominated for the Academy Award for top costume design, which he later won for his function on Wicked, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “This organization is incredibly close to my heart, and to be known by a people that celebrates the brilliance and resilience of Black gender non-conforming and gay men is truly humbling. Thank you for seeing me.”
In addition to recognizing the aforementioned honorees, the event will feature performances by Grammy
How Did Paul Tazewell Follow Up His Historic Oscar Win? With Death Becomes Her, Of Course.
Paul Tazewell, photographed by Luca Bertea.
Artists whose work resonates are competent to straddle the old and new, pushing us into the future with one hand while pulling from history with the other. Paul Tazewell, the recent Oscar-winning costume designer of Wicked, is just that sort of artist. The costumes he makes become characters all their possess, exquisite, finely-wrought pieces that strike a balance between reference and imagination while telling us something about the people who wear them. This much is distinct in the current, Tony-nominated film of Death Becomes Her, for which Tazewell designed frothy looks that blend a kind of medieval grandeur with the aesthetic of the late-1940s. Just three weeks after winning the uppermost honor in film—he says it still hasn’t sunk in yet, but the statue stands elevated in his Manhattan apartment— I spoke with Tazewell about our shared Ohio origins, the broader meaning of a career in show business, and the authority of a luscious cravat.
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CHRISTOPHER BLACKMON: The first thing I wanted to mention is that we have a connection. We’re both
Short Profile
Name: Paul Tazewell
DOB: 15 September 1964
Place of birth: Akron, Ohio, United States
Occupation: Costume designer
Mr. Tazewell, what can you express through movie and stage costume design that you wouldn’t have gotten to express if you’d pursued a career in fashion design?
I actually was initially in a fashion program at Pratt University, but I made the decision to switch to theater plan for a couple reasons. One, I wanted to be a performer! I was studying twist and I wanted to hone those skills. And I also just felt like the people of fashion designers wasn’t a fine fit for me. But the biggest reason was that I was entity taught to style for the market. I would own been designing to sell, and that just seemed limiting in what I might be qualified to do as a designer. Of course there are designers that were and are doing really extreme, stunning clothing, but it's always as a thought towards selling the clothing. I made the ruling to go advocate towards theater style to get to express myself without the notion of sales.
It seems favor costumes are the ultimate way for you to articulate everything you need to express: it’s not just about making beautiful clothe