Linda Cho
Linda Cho | |
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| Born | |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Costume designer |
| Website | Official website |
Linda Cho is a Korean-born costume designer raised in Canada and based in the U.S. She has designed costumes for more than 15 Broadway productions,[1] won two Tony Awards and been nominated for three more. She has also designed for opera and ballet companies, including the Metropolitan Opera and American Ballet Theatre, among others.
Early life and education
Born to an oil painter mother, Min Soon Cho, in Seoul and raised in Toronto,[2] Cho attended Paris American Academy for fashion (1991), received a BA from McGill University in Montreal (1995) and an MFA in design from Yale School of Drama (1998).[3]
Career
By 2019, Cho had designed costumes for more than 200 productions.[4] Her designs have been seen in productions on Broadway, off-Broadway, in U.S. regional theatres, Canada, Britain (including Royal Shakespeare Company) and Asia.[5] In addition to plays and musicals, she has designed for opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera[6][7] and dance companies, including American Ballet Theatre.[8]
Cho says that her pre-design research of each work's era is her favorite part of the design process.[4][9] However, she has taken liberties regarding historical accuracy. In her work for Anastasia, for example, the Parisian costumes "[have] a heightened flair; it’s not true 1920s," as she instead wanted to invoke "a playful, pushed, bright feeling, like a young lady’s fantasy of what Paris is, a romanticized view, to have an opposite effect of the Russian revolution costumes". In other cases, her costumes have strayed from historical accuracy to allow dancers to perform "non-period movement", to appeal to the modern gaze, or to allow for quick changes backstage.[4][9] In creating her designs, she uses a pencil and small watercolor set, allowing her to work while on a plane.[4] She says that her design sketches are done in about an hour.[10] When picking fabrics for her designs, she prefers to choose all the fabric for the production at one time, rather than to "design one gown in isolation".[10]
Personal life
Cho has two children.[11] She created her own wedding dress, as well as the dresses she has worn to the Tony Awards ceremonies.[12]
Costume design credits
Broadway
Source[13]
- A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (2013)
- The Velocity of Autumn (2014)
- Anastasia (2017)
- The Lifespan of a Fact (2018)
- The Great Society (2019)
- Grand Horizons (2020)
- POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive (2022)
- Take Me Out (2022)
- Summer, 1976 (2023)
- Harmony (2023)
- Doubt: A Parable (2024)
- The Great Gatsby (2024)
- Pirates! The Penzance Musical (2025)
- Art (2025)
- Ragtime (2025)
- Schmigadoon! (2026)
Off-Broadway
- The Chinese Lady[13]
- The Half-God of Rainfall
Awards and nominations
Source[13]
| Year | Awards | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Irene Sharaff Awards | Young Master Award | Won | |
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder | Nominated | |
| Tony Awards | Best Costume Design in a Musical | Won | ||
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical | Anastasia | Nominated |
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Nominated | ||
| Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Musical | Nominated | ||
| 2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design for a Play | The Chinese Lady | Nominated |
| 2024 | Lucille Lortel Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | The Half-God of Rainfall | Nominated |
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | The Great Gatsby | Won | |
| Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Musical | Won | ||
| 2026 | Ragtime | Nominated | ||
| Schmigadoon! | Nominated | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design[14] | Won | ||
References
- ↑ "Linda Cho", Internet Broadway database. Retrieved October 19, 2025
- ↑ Tran, Diep (July 11, 2024). "How Linda Cho Created Almost 300 Costumes for Broadway's The Great Gatsby". Playbill.
- ↑ "Costume Designer Linda Cho's Road to the Tonys". Mochi. October 7, 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 Christians, Lindsay (2019-07-25). "Anastasia costume designer Linda Cho tells the story in gowns and crowns". The Cap Times. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
- ↑ Robin, Brian. "Linda Cho – Award-Winning Costume Designer", South Coast Repertory, February 20, 2024
- ↑ Vine, Hannah. "First Look at Samson et Dalila at the Metropolitan Opera", Playbill, September 18, 2018; and Browner, Christopher. "Back to the Future", Metropolitan Opera (2018)
- ↑ "AAPI Artists Who Are Changing the Game", Los Angeles Opera, May 14, 2024
- ↑ "Dream within a Dream (deferred)", American Ballet Theatre, October 17, 2018
- 1 2 Carter, Alice T. (2015-11-15). "Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder gets the look by breaking rules". www.tribliveoffers.com. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
- 1 2 Tietjen, Alexa (2017-04-21). "Costume Designer Linda Cho on Bringing Anastasia to Life". WWD. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
- ↑ Hewitt, Chris (2015-05-01). "Tony Award-winning Linda Cho taps her inner child to dress Peter Pan". Twin Cities, St. Paul Pioneer Press. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
- ↑ Napoleon, Davi (2018-09-10). "Various Stages of Dress". American Theatre. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
- 1 2 3 "Linda Cho". Playbill. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
- ↑ Miller, Deb. "Winners of the 2026 Outer Critics Circle Awards for Broadway and Off-Broadway", DC Theater Arts, May 11, 2026