Catherine Martin - Designer of Custume, Set and Production

Catherine Martin (born 26 January 1965) is an Australian costume designer, production designer, set designer, and film producer. She has won two Academy Awards for Moulin Rouge! In 2002 and another two for The Great Gatsby in 2014. At four Oscars, she is the most awarded Australian in Oscar history

Martin was born in Lindfield, New South Wales. She went to school at North Sydney Girls High School. As a schoolgirl, she worked as an usherette at the Roseville theatre. She later studied visual arts at the Sydney College of the Arts, and pattern cutting at East Sydney Technical College. She did a Diploma Design Course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney, where she started collaborating with her college mate Baz Luhrmann (now her husband).

Catherine Martin designed sets and costumes for Luhrmann's one-act stage precursor of Strictly Ballroom. After completing studies, she worked as a designer on Luhrmann's production of "Lake Lost" (1988). In 1989, she designed the sets for an Australian stage production of Diary of a Madman starring Geoffrey Rush. She worked on Luhrmann's La bohème (1990) and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

She recreated her designs for screen-version of Strictly Ballroom (1992), for which she won two Australian Film Institute Awards (Best Production design and Best Costume design). She won an Oscar nomination (as a production designer) for Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). She also made her debut as an associate producer for the same film. She married Luhrmann on her 32nd birthday, 26 January 1997.

Their third feature collaboration was Moulin Rouge! (2001), the last in Luhrmann's The Red Curtain Trilogy. She designed the sets and co-designed the costumes with Angus Strathie. The feature earned her two Academy Awards: for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

In 2002, she adapted her set and costume designs for Luhrmann's Broadway adaptation of La bohème, for which she won Broadway's 2003 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical and won a nomination as Best Costume Designer (along with Angus Strathie).

She designed Nicole Kidman's vintage wardrobe for her husband's 2008 film Australia In 2009, she received a fourth Oscar nomination for Best Achievement in Costume Design for Australia, but lost the award to Michael O'Connor for The Duchess.

Moulin Rouge!