2025 KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Deborah L. Scott

Deborah L. Scott is an award-winning costume designer known for her outstanding design, intuitive looks, and trailblazing techniques that elevate each and every character she costumes.

Scott’s latest work can be seen in the record-breaking film, Avatar: The Way of Water. Her work on the film garnered recognition from the Costume Designers Guild Awards as a nominee for Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Film. In addition, she was honored as the 2023 season’s CDG Career Achievement Award recipient.

For the unique filmmaking experience on Avatar: The Way of Water, Scott and her team spent more than several years weaving, stitching, beading, embroidering, and braiding, using a craft-based sampling-led design process. They blended these techniques with technological innovations with her collaborators at Wētã FX to bring the Na’vi of Pandora to life. She turned fantasy into material reality by creating a unique, rich culture inspired by the indigenous craft techniques of Oceania and crafting thousands of bespoke costume pieces and props.

Scott continues her work on the Avatar saga with Avatar: Fire and Ash, set for release on December 19, 2025. She reunites with James Cameron for this third installment, helping to further expand the vibrant, immersive world of Pandora.

Previously, Scott collaborated with Cameron on Titanic (1997), for which she took home the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. She also received a BAFTA nomination, in addition to ACCA, OFTA, and Golden Satellite Award wins. Scott was later tapped by Cameron to work on Avatar (2009).

Her first film as a costume designer was Never Cry Wolf (1983). She is also known for her work on films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Back to the Future (1985), Legends of the Fall (1994), Heat (1995), Wild Wild West (1999), The Patriot (2000), Minority Report (2002), Transformers (2007), Love & Other Drugs (2010), and Aloha (2015). Scott is a sought-after designer whose work is respected globally.

Scott's additional award nods include a CDG Award nomination in Excellence in Fantasy Film for Avatar; a Golden Satellite nomination for Best Costume Design for Roland Emmerich’s The Patriot; and Saturn Award nominations for Back to the Future and Minority Report. She is also an active member of the Costume Designers Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In spring 2023, Scott was named Designer-in-Residence for the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design, which gives students the chance to study under the wing of a seasoned professional.

As a prestigious costume designer, Scott epitomizes the high standards of a creative designer who can seamlessly design for any plot, be it set on a faraway planet, in the dark past, in a contemporary setting, or the future. From miniature people to giant robots, her versatility and intelligent design elevate her films toward greatness.

Based in Los Angeles and represented in the United States by Innovative Artists, Scott’s work takes her all around the world.