Chalamet is bilingual in English and French,[b][18] and holds dual United States and French citizenship due to his French father.[19] Growing up, Chalamet spent summers in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon,[20] a small French village two hours from Lyon, at the home of his paternal grandparents. He stated that his time in France led to cross-cultural ambiguities over his identity.[21][22] Chalamet attended PS 87 William T. Sherman School for elementary school, and MS 245 The Computer School for middle school, later transferring to the selective Delta program at MS 54 Booker T. Washington Middle School, which he described as miserable due to the lack of a creative outlet within the school's academically rigorous environment.[23][24]
Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008) inspired Chalamet to pursue a career in acting.[25] He applied to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. His acceptance into the school was a turning point in his appreciation for acting.[26] His sophomore-year drama teacher at LaGuardia[27] was so impressed by his audition that he insisted on Chalamet's acceptance into the school, even though he had been rejected in the interview (due to his middle school record),[28] saying: "I gave him the highest score I've ever given a kid auditioning."[29] During high school, Chalamet dated Madonna's daughter Lourdes Leon, a fellow student, for a year.[5] He starred in school musicals as Emcee in Cabaret and Oscar Lindquist in Sweet Charity, graduating in 2013.[30][31] Chalamet is also a YoungArts alumnus.[32]
As a child, Chalamet appeared in several commercials and acted in two horror short films called Sweet Tooth and Clown, before making his television debut on an episode of the long-running police procedural series Law & Order (2009), playing a murder victim.[20] This was followed by a minor role in the television film Loving Leah (2009). In 2011, Chalamet made his stage debut in the Off-Broadway play The Talls, a coming-of-age comedy set in the 1970s, in which he played a sexually curious 12-year-old. The chief theatre critic of New York Daily News wrote: "Chalamet hilariously captures a tween's awakening curiosities about sex."[41][42] In 2012, he had recurring roles in the drama series Royal Pains and the thriller series Homeland, in which Chalamet played Finn Walden, the rebellious son of the Vice President. Along with the rest of the cast, he was nominated for a SAG Award for Best Ensemble.[43]
In 2014, Chalamet made his feature film debut in a minor role in Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children.[44] That same year, he played the role of Tom Cooper, the son of Matthew McConaughey's character, in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.[45] The film received positive reviews, with critics praising the cast's performances, and grossed over $700 million worldwide.[46][47][48] A decade later, Chalamet stated that Interstellar was his favorite film he had ever been in, but shared that at the time he was disappointed because it didn't boost his career as he had assumed it would.[49] Also in 2014, Chalamet had a supporting role in Worst Friends, a comedy which had a limited theatrical release and received positive reviews.[50] In 2015, Chalamet co-starred in Andrew Droz Palermo's fantasy thriller One & Two, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it received mixed reviews, before its limited theatrical release.[51][52][53] His next role was playing the teenage version of James Franco's character, Stephen Elliott, in Pamela Romanowsky's The Adderall Diaries.[54] In his final role of 2015, Chalamet played Charlie Cooper, the sullen grandson of Diane Keaton and John Goodman's characters in the Christmas comedy Love the Coopers, which received negative reviews.[55]
In his second film of 2017, Chalamet played Daniel, a gawky teenager who gets swept up in the drug-dealing business over the course of a summer, in Elijah Bynum's directorial debut, Hot Summer Nights. It received a limited theatrical release the following year and generated mixed reviews from critics, though Chalamet received praise from K. Austin Collins of Vanity Fair, who called the "sensitivity" in his performance "something special".[79][80][81] Later that year, he played Kyle Scheible, a rich hipster in a band and a love interest of Saoirse Ronan's character in Lady Bird, the solo directorial debut of Greta Gerwig.[82] Critics praised the ensemble cast, with Ty Burr of The Boston Globe taking particular note of Chalamet's "hilarious" performance.[83] In his final film of 2017, Scott Cooper's western Hostiles, Chalamet played a young soldier named Philippe DeJardin, alongside Christian Bale.[21]
In 2018, Chalamet joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[84] Later that year, Chalamet portrayed Nic Sheff, a teenager addicted to methamphetamine who shares a strained relationship with his father, the journalist David Sheff (portrayed by Steve Carell), in the drama Beautiful Boy. Directed by Felix Van Groeningen, the film is based on a pair of memoirs—the elder Sheff's memoir of the same name and Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff.[85]Owen Glieberman of Variety drew comparisons with Chalamet's performance in Call Me by Your Name, stating that "Nic, in his muffled millennial James Dean way, [as] skittery and self-involved" is a transformation from the "marvelous directness" he displayed in the role of Elio Perlman.[86] He received nominations for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA award ceremonies.[87]
In 2021, Chalamet portrayed a student revolutionary in Wes Anderson's ensemble comedy-drama The French Dispatch.[103][104] The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it generated positive reviews.[105] Anderson wrote the role with Chalamet in mind.[106] Brianna Zigler of Paste found him to be "perfectly attuned to Anderson's highly specified wavelength".[107] Chalamet starred as the main character Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's film adaptation of the science fiction novel Dune, which premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.[108] Villeneuve stated that Chalamet was his only choice to play the role: "I needed that for the audience to believe this young man will be able to lead a whole planet."[109] Chalamet received positive reviews for his performance, with The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney praising his "magnetic pensiveness [that] gives the coming-of-age element some heart" and Lewis Knight of Daily Mirror writing that "Timothée Chalamet completes his ascension to Hollywood leading man status".[110][111]Dune earned over $400 million worldwide to emerge as one of the year's highest-grossing films.[112] In his final role of the year, Chalamet played a skater punk in Adam McKay's Netflix ensemble comedy film Don't Look Up.[113] It received mixed reviews from critics.[114]Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times found Chalamet "sweetly sincere" in his small part.[115] The ensemble cast of the film was nominated for a SAG Award.[116]
Chalamet reunited with Guadagnino in the road film Bones and All (2022), in which he starred alongside Taylor Russell as cannibal drifters.[117] The project marked his first production venture, and Chalamet credited Guadagnino for mentoring him through the process.[118]Bones and All premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. Leila Latif of IndieWire praised the chemistry between Chalamet and Russell and took note of his "near-peerless ability to gently weep",[119] and Jon Frosch of The Hollywood Reporter added that "Chalamet reminded us why he's the best actor of his generation".[119][120] That same year, Chalamet lent his voice to the Netflix adult animated musical special Entergalactic.[121]
In 2023, Chalamet hosted Saturday Night Live for a second time.[122] He then portrayed Willy Wonka in the musical film Wonka, directed by Paul King, for which Chalamet was paid $9 million.[123] He was King's only choice for the role, stating that he cast the actor without an audition after seeing his high school performances on YouTube that proved his singing and dancing skills.[124] Chalamet sang seven songs for the film's soundtrack.[125]Slant Magazine's Derek Smith commended Chalamet for "imbuing Wonka [with] a warmth and tenderness that’s in perfect unison with the vibrant and bizarre world that King creates here".[126] His performance earned him another nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.[127]Wonka grossed over $634 million worldwide to rank as the eight highest-grossing film of 2023.[128][129]
The following year, Chalamet reprised the role of Paul Atreides in the sequel to Dune, titled Dune: Part Two.[130][131]Variety reported that the box-office success of Wonka and Dune: Part Two established Chalamet as a major star.[132] Soon after, he signed a deal with the studio Warner Bros. to star in and produce more films.[133]Dune: Part Two grossed over $714 million worldwide to rank as the highest-grossing film with Chalamet in a starring role and the fifth highest-grossing film of 2024.[134][135] In his second project of the year, Chalamet produced and portrayed Bob Dylan in the biopic A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold. It was filmed and released in 2024, five years after he began preparing to play the part.[136][137][138] Dylan himself responded positively to Chalamet's casting.[139] To stay immersed in the role, Chalamet remained aloof on set and was referred to as "Bob Dylan" on the call sheet.[140] Even so, he did not deem it method acting.[141] For the film's accompanying soundtrack, he sang 40 Dylan songs, while also playing guitars and harmonicas.[142]BBC Culture's Caryn James wrote that Chalamet "is brilliant here and completely believable, better than the film itself. He sings and plays guitar and harmonica with apparent ease, and creates a thoroughly convincing avatar of Dylan".[143] He received nominations for the Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for Best Actor.[144][145][146][147]
Several media publications consider Chalamet to be among the most talented actors of his generation.[149][150] Remarking upon his performance in Beautiful Boy,Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "he might be the male actor of his generation."[151] In 2018, he appeared in Forbes's 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list.[152]
Chalamet has been described by the media as a sex symbol[153][154][155] and a fashion icon,[156] with his hair, jawline, and androgynous looks highlighted as his trademarks.[157][158]The New York Times grouped Chalamet into a label it called "noodle boys", noted for their "sinewy" appearance and who served as an "alternative image of white masculinity" in American pop culture.[159]Vogue named Chalamet the most influential man in fashion in 2019 and credits him for continuing "to ply the boundary between traditional masculinity and femininity," writing "those fashion choices are all the more impressive considering that Chalamet styles himself."[160] In 2020, Men's magazine GQ ranked Chalamet as the best-dressed man in the world,[161] and in 2023, he was voted Most Stylish Man of The Year by GQ's readers.[162] He briefly attended a Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest in Washington Square Park in late 2024,[163] helping to kickstart a large increase in the prevalence of celebrity look-alike contests that year.[164][165]
Chalamet served as one of the co-chairs of the 2021 Met Gala, alongside singer Billie Eilish, professional tennis player Naomi Osaka and poet Amanda Gorman. The event was part of the Costume Institute's exhibit In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.[166] That same year, Chalamet became a brand ambassador for Cartier.[167] He also collaborated with Haider Ackermann to design a hoodie with 100% of the proceeds going to French organization Afghanistan Libre, which is centered around preserving the rights of women in Afghanistan.[168] They first met in Paris in 2017 at the request of Chalamet's agent Brian Swardstrom, who wanted Ackermann to style him for his first red carpet, at that year's Berlin International Film Festival.[169][170] They have since maintained a close friendship and creative partnership.[170][171][172] Chalamet also had a close relationship with late designer Virgil Abloh.[173][174]
At the 94th Academy Awards, Chalamet wore a sequined Louis Vuitton jacket from Nicolas Ghesquière's womenswear collection without a shirt; W declared that he had "rewritten the gentleman's Oscar dress code for good," highlighting the boundary-pushing outfit that "blurred the lines of fashion's traditional gender divide."[175] He subsequently appeared on the cover of the October 2022 print edition of British Vogue, becoming the first solo male to do so in the magazine's history.[176][177]
In 2023, Chalamet became the face of Chanel's men's fragrance Bleu de Chanel,[178] taking over from the late French actor Gaspard Ulliel. The advertising campaign starring Chalamet and shot by photographer Mario Sorrenti was released in June, followed by a campaign film directed by Martin Scorsese which premiered in May 2024.[179][180][181] He reportedly received $35 million for his involvement in the campaign.[182] That same year, Chalamet worked with Cartier to create a costume necklace and collaborated with Nike on a pair of Dunk Lows; both items were influenced by his character of Willy Wonka.[183][184]
Personal life
Chalamet splits his time between New York City and California.[185][186] Despite significant media attention and public interest, he rarely discusses the romantic aspects of his personal life.[177] As of April 2023, he is in a relationship with American socialite Kylie Jenner.[187][188]
Chalamet is an avid sports fan; in his youth, he aspired to be a professional soccer player.[20] He is childhood friends with now-professional soccer player, Alex Muyl.[189] Chalamet is also a lifelong supporter of the Saint-Étienne French soccer team and the New York Knicks basketball team.[190][191] Appearing on ESPN's College GameDay as its guest picker for the 2024 college football conference championships, he impressed viewers with his analysis of the matchups, gaining specific attention for his pick of Ohio to upset the Miami RedHawks in the MAC Championship.[192] The Bobcats would go on to rout the RedHawks, 38–3.[193]
Chalamet was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performances in Call Me by Your Name and A Complete Unknown.[74][147] His other accolades include four Golden Globe Award nominations for his roles in Call Me by Your Name, Beautiful Boy, Wonka and A Complete Unknown,[200] and nominations at the BAFTA Film Awards and SAG Awards for his performances in Call Me by Your Name, Beautiful Boy and A Complete Unknown.[76][77][87][144][146]
Notes
^Chalamet, when speaking English, uses the pronunciation of "Timothy",[1][2] as he finds approximating the French pronunciation [timɔteʃalamɛ] "really pretentious" and "too much of an obligation".[3]
Drell, Cady (July 13, 2018). "This Week in Timothée Hal Chalamet, July 13 Edition". Marie Claire. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019. ...from France, where incidentally, Timothée Chalamet's father was born. (That's why Timmy has dual citizenship and speaks fluent French...
^West, James (March 31, 2018). "Back in the day with Timothée Chalamet". HERO Magazine (published April 30, 2015). Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2018. I'm at Columbia University in New York, majoring in cultural anthropology.
^ abMcConaughey, Matthew (June 2, 2017). "Timothée Chalamet". Interview. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2017. Anyway, I did a year at Columbia, and I just kind of floundered. Maybe it wasn't the right place for me. [...] Columbia takes a wholehearted academic commitment that I think I have in me, but it was just not where my mind was at the time. [...] It was just hard.
^Jacobs, Matthew (July 24, 2018). "What It Was Like To Meet Timothée Chalamet Before He Was A 'Sex Symbol'". HuffPost. Archived from the original on November 3, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021. 'I thought he was gonna be a big actor one day,' Bynum said. 'What I don't think anyone expected was he was going to become this kind of international sex symbol that came out of nowhere.'