Today we’d like to introduce you to Chrisi Karvonides – Dushenko. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko has more than 35 years of experience as a professional costume designer in theater, film, and television. She has Emmy for her costume design work on NBC’s American Dreams. As well as nominations for FX’s American Horror Story and HBO’s Carnivàle and From the Earth to the Moon. Additionally, she was nominated for the Costume Designers Guild Awards HBO’s Big Love, Carnivàle, From the Earth to the Moon, and ABC’s Pan Am.
Other TV credits include Alan Ball’s HBO series Here and Now; Starz Blunt Talk, starring Patrick Stewart, HBO Barry season 3, and Dysney+ second season of Mysterious Benedict Society. Chrisi’s theatrical costume designs have been featured in productions at the Old Globe Theater, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Seattle Repertory, Guthrie Theater, and the Kennedy Center. On Broadway, she designed the costumes of August Wilson’s production Two Trains Running.
Karvonides-Dushenko’s designs for opera as well include Alcina in Karlsruhe, Germany; Proving Up for Opera Omaha; The Human Voice and Breaking the Waves for Opera Philadelphia; and Iphigenia in Tauris for Teatro National San Carlo in Lisbon, Portugal, and the 2021 world premiere; Lord of Cries for Santa Fe Opera. Currently, she is designing the costumes for the 2023 world premier Melancholia at the Royal Swedish Opera.
Since 2011 Chrisi joined UCLA’s school of theater film and Television to run the costume design program along with her colleagues Deborah Landis and Myung Hee Cho. In addition to teaching full-time both undergraduate and graduate costume designers at UCLA, she has given guest lectures on the art of costume design in Prague, Czech Republic; Leche, Italy; Cardiff, Wales; Russia, Mexico City, and New York City. Karvonides-Dushenko received her M.F.A. in theater design from Yale School of Drama and her B.F.A. from Emerson College.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have dyslexia which I was able to manage as an adolescent. I could not read until 5th grade but now love to read etc.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a professional Costume Designer for television and opera in the US and Europe. In addition, I am the Head of the Costume Design program at UCLA School of Theater, Film, and TV. I also am an active fine artist and painter.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Empowering young aspiring artists/designers to create a lucrative career in the entertainment industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: costumesbychrisi.com
- Other: paintingsbychrisi.com
Image Credits
All photos curated by Costume Designer Chrisi Karvonides – Dushenko
