Biography

Quita Alfred is an award-nominated costume designer with more than 35 years of experience working in and around the film industry. She is originally from Winnipeg, MB, and has lived and worked in Toronto since 1982. She now splits her time between Toronto and Winnipeg.

Starting off as a sewer in the film industry, Alfred eventually moved to working on set, where she spent many years learning the practical side of creating costumes for the screen, all the while looking towards costume design.

Having spent time in every position of a film costume department, both on set and in the office/workshop, Alfred began designing for film in 1998, when she completed her first feature as costume designer on Russell Mulcahy's Resurrection.

Alfred's many years as a costume set supervisor revealed to her an (unforeseen) love of stunt-heavy, action-packed films. Years of helping filmmakers "blow stuff up and throw people out of windows" gave her an appreciation for the action genre, which is still strong to this day.

In the early 2000's, after starting her family, Alfred made a strategic detour back to her roots in the costume sewing shop and workroom. This gave her the opportunity to engage once again with the skills that led her into the industry in the first place. Sewing, jewellery making, leatherwork, creating background performers' looks and the freedom to create fantastical costumes from scratch, helped to keep her design skills alive, while allowing her to balance work and family life. Costume supervising on large TV series followed, reinforcing her leadership skills and strategic planning on a grand scale.

Several years, many fruitful collaborations and one budding stills photographer later, Alfred re-entered the world of costume design with Sarah Polley's Women Talking.

Women Talking earned Alfred a Costume Designers Guild Award nomination for Excellence in Contemporary Film in 2023. As part of the creative team for Women Talking, she won the Hamilton Behind the Camera award for Craft Achievement in 2022. The film was nominated for both Best Picture and Best Adapted Screen Play at the 2023 Academy Awards, with Sarah Polley taking home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screen Play. The film starred Claire Foy, Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Sheila McCarthy and a host of talented actors.

Alfred's projects awaiting release include the features Silent Planet with Elias Koteas and Briana Middleton, and Aberdeen, starring Gail Maurice.
- IMDb mini biography by: Quita Alfred