Timothée Chalamet

Timothée Hal Chalamet (born December 27, 1995) is an American actor. He has received several accolades throughout his career, including nominations for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Critics' Choice Movie Awards. Chalamet began his acting career in short films and commercials, before appearing in the television drama series Homeland in 2012. Two years later, he made his feature film debut in the comedy-drama Men, Women & Children and subsequently appeared in the science-fiction film Interstellar.

Chalamet's breakthrough came in 2017 with his role as Elio Perlman in Luca Guadagnino's coming-of-age romantic drama Call Me by Your Name, after which he appeared in the coming-of-age films Hot Summer Nights and Lady Bird as well as the western film Hostiles. His performance in Call Me by Your Name earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor; at 22 years old, it made him the third-youngest nominee in the category. He then played Nic Sheff in the autobiographical drama Beautiful Boy (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Film Award. In 2019, Chalamet starred as Henry V of England and Theodore "Laurie" Laurence in the period dramas The King and Little Women, respectively. In 2021, he played the lead role of Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's epic science fiction film Dune.

Quotes

My world had flipped. But if I kicked it with my friends, things could still feel the same. I was trying to marry these two realities. But I don't even think I knew that was what I was doing. That dissonance was real. And thank God. Because I feel like if I'd caught up to it immediately, I would've been a psychopath or something.
- "The Making (and Remaking) of Timothée Chalamet" in GQ Magazine (15 October 2020)

I am content being alive now, no matter how fucked up our political and societal present is. I think regardless of who you are, when you are tempted by the romanticism of the past, you forget how fucked up so much of it was. Take the worse state of health care as a banal example. Or, far more seriously, how the US was before the civil rights movement—and after it, for that matter, too.
- "Timothée Chalamet on the role of the artist in a time of social unrest and how sci-fi futures can explain the world around us" in Document Journal (December 2020)

My whole life I was Timmy and then as I got older, it seemed like Timmy was youthing me out, so it’s been Timothée since. I tried Timo and Tim, too. The real pronunciation is Timo-tay, but I can’t ask people to call me that; it just seems really pretentious.
- "Throwback Thursday: Frank Ocean Interviews Timothée Chalamet" in VMAN39 (16 April 2020)

I try to be super careful. The danger is you can end up focusing more on what’s going on off-camera than on-camera. You don’t want to be entertaining for the sake of being entertaining. The work should be the work. If it resonates, it’s going to resonate, and then people are naturally curious about how you got to that destination. It can’t be about how you’re getting to it.
- "Throwback Thursday: Frank Ocean Interviews Timothée Chalamet" in VMAN39 (16 April 2020)

I think an Oscar nomination does open doors. I have been fortunate to have had some incredible roles since the movie. [Whether] the nomination had anything to do with that, I don’t know – I just know I am incredibly grateful to be getting the work that I am.
- "Interview: Timothée Chalamet on being a young Hollywood actor" in SilverKris (13 December 2019)

I don’t know if it’s a pressure, I do feel it’s a responsibility though. I was talking about this with Steve Carell, about how there was a general complacency in previous generations that everything was going along nicely and that ratcheted the stakes up really high. People our age are so much more engaged, and I think that’s a good thing.
- "Harry Styles Interviews Timothée Chalamet About Fame, Masculinity & Eating Peaches" in Highsnobiety (2018)

I think that’s fair, well, I don’t know if it’s fair but I think people are entitled to their own reaction.
- "Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet on drugs, disillusionment and playing father and son" in The Guardian (13 December 2018)

I just told my parents I was going alone. I’ve always felt like there was less creative space on sets with guardians. I just felt independent at a young age.
- "Timothée Chalamet is Hollywood’s next big thing with ‘Call Me by Your Name’ and ‘Lady Bird’" in Los Angeles Times (17 November 2017)

I almost think the chemistry, as opposed to the physical mechanics of the actual kissing or a sex scene is more palpable in the lack of contact.
- "Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer on friendship, the Oscars and that peach scene" in GQ Magazine (17 September 2017)

From a young actor’s perspective, you learn a new set of skills in any movie. I’m only six years away from drama high school. At 23 or 24 you’re learning every day. I was lucky not knowing any of the actors prior, really. There was this unifying ulterior motive to make the movie great. It felt good. Things have to be utilitarian. It’s the healthiest way to approach art and creativity, you know. No ego.
- "Timothée Chalamet On Dune: ‘I Felt A Deep Desire To Be Involved’" in Empire (24 August 2021)

He’s kind of exorcist in front of the camera where you feel that there’s a force behind him that suddenly comes to the surface. I was dancing behind the camera. I think I had tears in my eyes.
- Denis Villeneuve, film director, "Denis Villeneuve Had ‘Tears In My Eyes’ Watching Timothée Chalamet’s Performance In ‘Dune’" in ET Canada (15 September 2021)

He’s somebody you want to be around. He’s somebody you want to talk to. He’s such a committed actor and takes it seriously but at the same time is entirely open.
- Steve Carell, actor, "Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet on bonding for the film ‘Beautiful Boy’" in Boston.com (10 October 2018)