Timothée Chalamet

Biography of

Timothée Chalamet

Timothée Chalamet looks like somebody accidentally turned an indie band’s lead singer into a Hollywood superstar. The bloke has the sort of cheekbones that belong in an art gallery and enough hair product to keep half of France in business. On paper, you’d expect him to spend his career playing brooding poets and lads who write sad songs in coffee shops. In reality, he’s quietly become one of the biggest stars on the planet.

His big breakthrough came with Call Me by Your Name, where he delivered a performance so good that Hollywood immediately started throwing awards and scripts in his direction. Suddenly, this skinny lad from New York was being talked about as the future of cinema, which is quite a lot of pressure when you still look young enough to be asked for ID at the pub.

Mind you, Timothée never really went down the obvious route. Instead of chasing endless superhero films, he bounced between weird little dramas and massive blockbusters. One minute he’s dealing with giant sandworms in Dune, the next he’s singing and dancing as Wonka, proving that somehow, against all odds, people were perfectly happy watching the world’s poshest chocolate salesman.

He’s also got a habit of working with directors who don’t exactly do boring. Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson… at this point, collecting legendary filmmakers seems to have become a hobby. Fair play to him. Most actors would kill for one of those names on their CV, never mind the lot.

What makes Chalamet so likeable, though, is that underneath all the fashion shows and red carpets, he still comes across like a slightly awkward film nerd who’s amazed all this actually happened. Which is probably why so many people have taken to him. He doesn’t feel manufactured. He feels like a lad who’s somehow wandered into Hollywood and decided to make himself comfortable.

Insomniacs Trivia

• Timothée originally wanted to be a professional footballer and is a massive supporter of French club Saint-Étienne. Somewhere deep down, there’s a version of him arguing with referees on a rainy Sunday morning.

• He attended the same performing arts school in New York as Ansel Elgort, and the two were classmates long before either became famous.

• For Dune, he spent months training and learning fight choreography, although he admitted he was slightly disappointed that riding giant sandworms isn’t actually part of the preparation.

Insomniacs Take

Timothée Chalamet has somehow made looking permanently sleep-deprived and ridiculously stylish into a superpower. He’s got that rare quality where he can carry a massive blockbuster one year and then disappear into some strange little drama the next without missing a beat. And let’s be honest, when Hollywood eventually starts looking for its next generation of proper movie stars, Timothée’s already sat at the front of the queue.

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