If you're a movie lover you've probably seen a young actor pop up in multiple movies. He has a head of black curls and green eyes. He's in Dune, Wonka, and Beautiful Boy to name a few. His name is Timothee Chalamet and he's taking Hollywood by storm.
Timothee Chalamet was born to parents Nicole Flender and Marc Chalamet on December twenty-seventh, 1995. He has an older sister Pauline. (Who's an actress in her own right.)
Timothee began his career as a young actor on a Law and Order SVUepisode at age twelve. Timothee had very supportive parents who encouraged him to do what made him happy. His mother is a former Broadway dancer and works with the Coracan group as a real estate agent. She is of half-Russian-Jewish and half-Austrian-Jewish descent.
His father Marc is full French and is an editor for UNICEF. He is the nephew of Rodman Flender. Timothee grew up in NYC in a subsided apartment in Hell's Kitchen. He is bilingual in French and English and knows a little Italian. His family traveled to France every summer because of his French father. Timothee and Pauline have dual citizenship in France and the US. Timothee attended LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and Music. As well as Columbia and New York University.
One of Timothee's first official roles was in a few episodes of Homeland. His on-stage performances include The Talls and Prodigal Son. His first film role was a teen character in Men, Women, and Children. Then he starred as Matthew McConaughey's teen son in Interstellar.
Tim and his sister
Timothee's next two movies Love, the Coopers, and One and Two.
Two Indie movies that also didn't have much success despite him having slightly larger roles. He had a few other small roles before his big break with Luca Guadagnino's adaptation of the book. Call me By Your Name In 2017.
This role finally gave Timothee his big break. He was acting as a 17-year-old named Elio Pearlman. The movie takes place somewhere in northern Italy in 1983. He stars alongside Armie Hammer who plays Elio's love interest. The film received an award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Timothee's next main character role Hot Summer Nights has him playing Daniel Middleton. An asthmatic teen who gets shipped off to his aunt's Cape Cod home the summer his father passes away. It finds Daniel selling drugs with the local drug dealer teen Hunter. The movie takes place in 1991 before and during Hurricane Bob.
Timothee also started in Greta Gerwig's directing debut film LadyBird. This follows Christine "LadyBird" McPherson played by Saoirse Ronan as she struggles with her relationship with her mother in life following high school in 2002. Timothee plays Ladybird's love interest Kyile.
(He also would later star alongside Saorisoe again in Greta Gerwig's edition of Little Women as Laurie.)
Timothee's next big role is the story of Nic Sheff. Based on the novels Tweak by Nic and Beautiful Boy by his father David Sheff. It follows the father and son's journey through Nic's struggle with substance abuse. Steve Carell plays David Sheff.
The movie is a great representation of substance abuse and the battle that doesn't just show the drug abuser's struggles but their family as well. Movies that show more than just the basic arc of substance abuse and how it affects more than one person are so important. Timothee had to lose a total of fifteen pounds to play the role of Nic Sheff. Then according to Timothee, he ended up losing up to eighteen pounds for the role. Then when he had to regain weight to play Nic at a healthy stage trying to eat was a struggle. In an Interview with W Magainze. Timothee mentions how hard it was to eat a simple meal of spaghetti. He also had multiple visits with doctors to make sure he was healthy enough.
"I lost 18 pounds [for the role]. It was supposed to be 15, but at a certain point you think you can just start eating the same again, but your body is really not ready for it. The first week of scenes we shot out of order, but it was kind of the stuff that would’ve been his worse physically. Then I had a week off after that where I was conceivably to put on a lot of weight and look like a healthy Nic. I went to get spaghetti like that first night, and I was like, “This is not happening!” I couldn’t get it down."
Timothee also explained how he visited with real-life addicts as well as Nic Sheff to get a better understanding of what he needed to do to be as authentic as possible for the role. Timothee describes this movie as more of a recovery movie than a drug movie. This story is gut-wrenching in so many ways and it's a story that needed to be told. Nic Sheff ended up having a total of thirteen relapses. (Only 3 to 4 are shown in the film.)
Nic and David Sheff
(Some of the relapses were horrifically fatal). Nic is sober and married and was eventually diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. He is on medication and doing much better than he was. Nic and David both believe that if Nic's bipolar disorder had been discovered when he was young. A lot of his issues could have been prevented or resolved much faster.
Nic is also a co-producer who's worked on shows like Thirteen Reasons Why. Nic is also the author of the books Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines, Schizo, and We all fall: Living with Addiction
After Beautiful Boy. Timothee got the role of a young Prince Henry in the Netflix movie. The King. The movie follows a young Henry and his rise to becoming King of England. It is a historical drama loosely based on the Shakespeare plays of Henriad. The film received the awards for Best Production and Best Costume Design.
Timothee has signed on with Warner Brothers still working them as an actor and future producer. He broke box office records with Wonka and Dune 2. A feat not seen since John Travolta with Grease and Saturday Night Fever. Timothee's first time at producing took place with another Luca Guadagnino book to film adaption Bones and All. Where Timothee stars as Lee.
Timothee has so much range as an actor and his growth is seen throughout every movie he makes. He has had three nominations for the Oscars and Academy Awards. With each movie he does he shows how much he can do as an actor. Timothee loves his fans and will always take the time to meet them. His family is also very supportive. His father joined him during the filming of Dune 2 in Jordan as well as the Dune 2 press tour.
He also starred alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2021 Netflix film Don't Look Up. As Yule.Timothee's career is blossoming and I can't wait to see what he does next. He has become the talk of Hollywood not just as an actor but as a fashion Icon and he works hard to be as successful as possible. It is great to see a young actor become successful if that is their goal.
Timothee is grateful for where he came from and all the hard work he has put in to reach where he is now. Yes, he is related to famous directors, However, he built his success on his own. He proves time and time again how capable he is as an actor and that's great to see. I hope he will be recognized by the Academy or the Oscars someday for all his hard work.
