Shunika Terry with Michael B. Jordan at the 2026 Oscars luncheonPhotograph by Al Seib/The Academy, courtesy of Shunika Terry Sinners hair department head Shunika Terry had it all planned. Back at home in Atlanta, she set up her camera the night before the Academy Awards nominations broadcast. She w as ready. “I was just so excited,” she tells Atlanta magazine. “It was like the first day of school!” Determined to capture the moment—nomination or not, she had given her husband specific instructions. Only it didn’t go as planned. “My husband was trying to do something fancy with the camera and the lights, and it just didn’t work,” she recalls. “Before I knew it, they started announcing our category. I remember just grabbing my phone and pressing record because I didn’t want to miss anything. And then, as soon as they said Sinners, I dropped the phone, ran, and kissed my husband.” Like Sammie, newcomer Miles Caton’s character in Sinners who, per Terry’s instructions, shed his locks for the role, we must go back to comprehend this moment. Like most hairstylists, Terry began her career in a salon with no intention of working in film and TV. Earning this Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling or the 2021 Emmy nomination she received for Mare of Easttown was never in her plans. Sometimes fate, however, has a way of giving you what you deserve without you even asking. Her first film set was the little-known 2008 indie Kings of the Evening starring Lynn Whitfield Tyson Beckford and Glynn Turman. Whitfield, the Emmy winner who later starred in the Atlanta-shot, Oprah Winfrey-produced series Greenleaf, encouraged Terry’s film and TV career, even hiring the budding powerhouse to work with her in Louisiana. That experience gave the Texan enough confidence to relocate to Atlanta. “I loved reading the script, designing the looks, watching them come to life on the screen, and that’s what motivated me to press forward and move to Atlanta to work in the film industry,” she explains. “I had friends there that needed help on their projects. So I told them I was available and just worked my way up.” Stomp the Yard: Homecoming, the 2010 sequel to the 2007 smash filmed in Atlanta, was her first hair department head credit. It was also One Battle After Another star and fellow first-time Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor’s first film role. That connection made sharing this moment at the Academy Awards luncheon with her even sweeter for Terry. “I hadn’t seen Teyana in quite a few years,” Terry says. “When I saw her at the Oscars luncheon, I couldn’t wait to give her the biggest hug and just pour into her because [of the] sweet bond that we [formed] filming Stomp the Yard 2. I was like, Wow, can you believe that?” “For us to be there celebrating our first Oscar nominations in the same year and understand where we came from, it was something,” she adds. “It was just deep and heartfelt because a lot of people can see where you are now, but they don’t know the before and what it took to get to where we are right now, which is a lot of hard work and a lot of grit. So being able to give each other our roses in that moment was one of the gems for me at the Oscars luncheon.” Shunika Terry at the 2026 Oscars luncheonPhotograph by Mark Von Holden/The Academy, courtesy of Shunika Terry Prompted by her stellar work on Ironheart—the Disney+ series about Marvel character Riri Williams, who was introduced on screen in Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever—Terry found herself on a phone interview with Zinzi and Ryan Coogler for the director’s next film from their own Proximity shingle. “We spoke about the [Sinners] characters feeling real, being lived in,” she recalls of that conversation. “I just started telling them about how you want the hair to disappear into the characters. You want them to feel just authentic and true as much as possible. And, at that time, I only knew that Michael B. Jordan was cast.” As other Sinners actors and elements came together, Terry got to work. “Research was the biggest part of my prep,” she says. “That was about a good month of pulling images, reading books and diving in to get the true feeling of what the Mississippi Delta was like.” Well before it garnered a record-breaking 16 Academy Award nominations, Terry recognized how special Sinners was. “During the first week when we shot at Grace and Bo Chow’s store, walking on that set and stepping outside of the store, it felt like I went back in time,” she says. “From the wardrobe to production design to the set dressing, looking at the hair and makeup and just watching these people build this world, at that moment, I was like, Wow, this is something special. And I just remember getting chills and just sitting there in awe because it was so beautiful.” Michael B. Jordan in SinnersProximity Media/Warner Bros., courtesy of Shunika Terry Filming in the Louisiana heat was brutal for everyone, she recalls, but she felt most for fellow first-time Oscar nominee Jordan, who barely had any breaks playing twins Smoke and Stack. “I carried a huge Milwaukee fan, and it was blowing on the highest level because he’s wearing a wool suit [and a] hat. Luckily, he had no hair changes because of what I formulated to make sure that hairstyle stayed locked in. But it was very hot, and he’s a champ. He really pushed through and did an amazing job with no complaints.” As for Terry, her biggest personal challenge on set is a joyful and surprising one: “Getting married while we were filming.” From the very beginning, Terry was upfront about that day being non-negotiable. And the closer they drew to her happily-ever-after, Ryan Coogler made sure the entire set celebrated by counting down the days until she left to become Mrs. Shunika Terry-Jennings. The hits keep on coming. Last year, her Apple TV series Dope Thief (co-starring Wagner Moura, who is also a first-time Oscar nominee) was also released. This year got off to a bang with the buzzy Atlanta-area set and shot Netflix series His Hers starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal, along with Andre Holland’s indie film The Dutchman. She’s been jetting from the set of the Obamas’ Netflix series All the Sinners Bleed for opportunities such as posing for Essence magazine’s “The Women of Sinners” cover and attending the season’s many awards shows. Win or lose, Terry’s Oscar success symbolizes more than a huge personal payoff on the leap of faith she took nearly 20 years ago. When she relocated to Atlanta, Oscar nominations like hers for Atlanta-based talent were pretty unfathomable. And now they won’t be. “For people who don’t believe that talent is in Atlanta,” she says, “they’re sleeping.” The 98th Academy Awards air Sunday, March 15 at 7 p.m. on ABC. The post Atlanta hairstylist Shunika Terry never thought she’d work in film. Now, she’s nominated for an Oscar. appeared first on Atlanta Magazine. ...read more read less