Biography           

Erica D. Schwartz is a community-oriented, Jewish-American woman with over a decade of experience as a costume designer. Growing up in Los Angeles, Erica has been surrounded by the fantastic world of film and theater and has always imagined playing a role in this industry. She first became enamored with costuming and the stories it could tell through attending community theater shows and participating in ballroom and Latin dance performances. This led her to become actively involved in her community, designing costumes for all-ages community theater performances and designing for a wide variety of dance companies. However, Erica truly found her passion for costume design when she stepped into the world of film and television- she found that working in this medium enabled artistic collaboration with others, allowing for a larger canvas to tell the stories of character development with greater depth.

Erica has worked as a costume designer on dozens of feature films and television shows, including those starring Snoop Dogg, Stephen Baldwin, Rob Schneider, Ed Asner, Jamie Lynn Sigler, and Dolph Lundgren, among others. Erica designed the television series “Golden Revenge,” which premiered at the Cannes Television Festival in France. The series featured many custom-made outfits designed for various cats, dogs, and chimpanzees. It was one of Erica’s favorite projects to design due to all the stunts, comedy, and consulting with animal safety advisors on how the garments should be made. Erica has always enjoyed having her creativity pushed in fresh and challenging ways and this provided a wonderful opportunity to consider new ways in which clothing contributes to story-telling.

Erica’s sense of design incorporates a mix of colors and patterns to express the inner psychology of her characters. Her love of history and passion for detailed research gives her designs unrivaled profundity and richness. Erica’s background in dance gives her unique perspective to understand the integral role of movement and flow. Her interest in psychology helps her paint a deeper understanding of her characters and their motivations for moving through the world as they do.

Erica is a member of the Costume Designers Guild, Television Academy, and Motion Picture Costumers. Her membership in these organizations has enabled greater connectivity within the Los Angeles film industry and beyond. In 2021, Erica won an Emmy Award® as Assistant Costume Designer on Sherman's Showcase Black History Month Spectacular. This achievement is just the beginning of what she will continue to demonstrate with her work.