Biographical Note
Rick Carter was born in California on March 24, 1950. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1974 with a degree in sociology and art. His career started in mid-1970s, when he worked as an art director or illustrator on various feature films and TV mini-series, including Bound For Glory, The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Winds of War . In 1982, he was the Production Designer for Disney's 3D film Magic Journeys, which played at Walt Disney World in Florida until 1993 and at Disneyland until 1986. Carter first worked with Steven Spielberg when he served as the Art Director for the movie The Goonies, which was written by Spielberg, in 1984. The next year, Spielberg hired Carter to be the Production Designer for his TV series Amazing Stories, which is the only TV series Carter has ever worked on.
While working on Amazing Stories, Carter worked for the first time with Robert Zemeckis, who directed two of the series' episodes. For the next twenty-five years, Carter worked almost exclusively on movies being directed by either Spielberg or Zemeckis. These movies included Back to the Future II and III, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, War of the Worlds, Munich and Forrest Gump . Carter was nominated for the Best Art Direction-Set Direction Academy Award in 1995 for his work on Forrest Gump . In 2010, Carter won the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction for his work for James Cameron on Avatar .
From the guide to the Rick Carter Collection, 1976-2005, (USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library)
