Linda Cho
Birth placeSeoul, South Korea
Education
OccupationCostume designer
WebsiteOfficial 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]

Before beginning design work on historical projects, Cho researches the era and collects image inspiration from catalogs, paintings, and books. She has called this research her favorite part of the design process.[4][9] However, Cho does allow herself some liberties when it comes to 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 stray 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]

Her design setup is fairly minimal, working with a pencil and small watercolor set, allowing her to work while on a plane.[4] Her design sketches are done in about an hour, an amount of time she says is "reasonable considering the extensive research she does".[10] When picking fabrics for her designs, she prefers to choose all the fabric for the production at one time; "I can’t 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]

Off-Broadway

  • The Chinese Lady[13]
  • The Half-God of Rainfall

Awards and nominations

Source[13]

YearAwardsCategoryWorkResult
2014Irene Sharaff AwardsYoung Master Award
Outer Critics Circle AwardsOutstanding Costume DesignA Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Tony AwardsBest Costume Design in a Musical
2017Drama Desk AwardsOutstanding Costume Design of a MusicalAnastasia
Outer Critics Circle AwardsOutstanding Costume Design
Tony AwardsBest Costume Design of a Musical
2022Drama Desk AwardsOutstanding Costume Design for a PlayThe Chinese Lady
2024Lucille Lortel AwardsOutstanding Costume DesignThe Half-God of Rainfall
Outer Critics Circle AwardsOutstanding Costume DesignThe Great Gatsby
Tony AwardsBest Costume Design of a Musical
2026Ragtime
Schmigadoon!
Outer Critics Circle AwardsOutstanding Costume Design[14]

References

  1. ^ "Linda Cho", Internet Broadway database. Retrieved October 19, 2025
  2. ^ Tran, Diep (July 11, 2024). "How Linda Cho Created Almost 300 Costumes for Broadway's The Great Gatsby". Playbill
  3. ^ "Costume Designer Linda Cho's Road to the Tonys". Mochi. October 7, 2014.
  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.
  5. ^ Robin, Brian. "Linda Cho – Award-Winning Costume Designer", South Coast Repertory, February 20, 2024
  6. ^ 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)
  7. ^ "AAPI Artists Who Are Changing the Game", Los Angeles Opera, May 14, 2024
  8. ^ "Dream within a Dream (deferred)", American Ballet Theatre, October 17, 2018
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Tietjen, Alexa (2017-04-21). "Costume Designer Linda Cho on Bringing Anastasia to Life". WWD. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Napoleon, Davi (2018-09-10). "Various Stages of Dress". American Theatre. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  13. ^ "Linda Cho". Playbill. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
  14. ^ Miller, Deb. "Winners of the 2026 Outer Critics Circle Awards for Broadway and Off-Broadway", DC Theater Arts, May 11, 2026