Timothée Chalamet

Timothée Chalamet (born December 27, 1995, New York City, New York, U.S.) American actor known for his sensitive portrayals of complex characters in independent films and blockbusters and for his artful humour in ensemble comedies.

Chalamet grew up in Manhattan, in an apartment that he shared with his mother, a former Broadway dancer and actress; his French-born father, who worked on publications at UNICEF; and his elder sister, Pauline, a ballet dancer and actress (who gained recognition in 2021 when she was cast in the HBO series The Sex Lives of College Girls). They lived in the same building as Chalamet’s maternal grandmother, who had also been a Broadway dancer. He spoke French fluently and spent summers outside of Lyon, France.

Chalamet began acting at a young age, appearing in commercials and plays. Like his mother and his sister, he attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, New York City. During this time he landed minor parts on television and made his Off-Broadway debut in The Talls (2011). In 2012 he had recurring roles on the TV series Royal Pains and Homeland. After graduating from high school in 2013, Chalamet joined the cast of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014), in which he played the younger version of Casey Affleck’s character. He subsequently enrolled in college, first attending Columbia University, New York City, and then New York University, but he eventually dropped out to focus on acting. Chalamet landed a few roles in feature films, including The Adderall Diaries (2015) and Miss Stevens (2016).

Chalamet’s breakthrough came in 2017 when he starred in Call Me by Your Name, an adaptation of André Aciman’s 2007 novel about first love. He played Elio, a cosmopolitan teenager living in Italy during the 1980s, who falls for his father’s summer intern, Oliver. Chalamet’s performance garnered rave reviews and legions of fans. He also became the youngest performer in 80 years to receive an Academy Award nomination for best actor. A succession of films quickly followed, including Lady Bird, Hostiles, and Hot Summer Nights (all 2017). Chalamet then appeared opposite Steve Carell in Beautiful Boy (2018), a drama based on a pair of memoirs by a father and son about drug addiction.

His next film, A Rainy Day in New York, directed by Woody Allen, was scheduled for release in 2018, but it was delayed after the rise of the Me Too movement revived sexual abuse accusations against Allen. That year Chalamet announced that he would donate his salary from the film to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, the LGBT Center in New York, and RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). The movie eventually opened in Europe in 2019 and in the United States the following year.

In 2019 Chalamet starred in Netflix’s The King, based on William Shakespeare’s Henriad cycle. That year he also reunited with Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig, playing Laurie in her adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Chalamet was then cast as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s interpretation of Dune, Frank Herbert’s 1965 science-fiction epic. The release of the film, however, was delayed because of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic, which prevented viewers from going to cinemas. It finally appeared in 2021, and Chalamet’s turn as a lead actor carrying a big-budget movie gained mostly positive reviews. Also in 2021 Chalamet joined the ensemble casts of Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch and Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up.

In addition to receiving acclaim for his acting, Chalamet was also lauded for his red carpet fashion. He was described as ushering in a new generation of masculinity that embraced emotional vulnerability and gender-fluid attire. Since Chalamet did not work with a stylist, his choices were his own, and he favoured such designers as Haider Ackermann, Alexander McQueen, and Stella McCartney. A few of Chalamet’s more daring looks included a Louis Vuitton sequin harness that he sported at the 2019 Golden Globes and a cropped shimmering jacket from Vuitton’s women’s wear line, under which he wore nothing, at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony. Chalamet’s surprising looks thus made him a fitting choice to cohost the 2021 Met Gala, the annual benefit for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.