Timothée Hal Chalamet (born December 27, 1995) is an American and French actor. Known for his work in a diverse range of films, he is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Actor Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Critics' Choice Awards, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards, six BAFTAs, and a Grammy Award. His films as a leading actor have grossed over US$2.3 billion worldwide.
Chalamet began his career in television, appearing in the drama series Homeland. In 2014, while a student at Columbia University, he made his film debut in the comedy-drama Men, Women & Children and appeared in Christopher Nolan's science fiction film Interstellar. Chalamet came to international attention with the lead role of a lovestruck teenager in Luca Guadagnino's coming-of-age film Call Me by Your Name (2017), earning him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, and becoming the third-youngest nominee in the category. He gained further recognition for his supporting roles in Greta Gerwig's films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), as well as for portraying Nic Sheff in the biopic Beautiful Boy (2018).
Chalamet began leading big-budget films, starring as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's Dune trilogy and Willy Wonka in the musical fantasy film Wonka (2023). He earned consecutive Academy Award nominations for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in the biographical drama A Complete Unknown (2024) and his starring role as a table tennis player in Josh Safdie's sports comedy film Marty Supreme (2025). The former also earned him the SAG Award for Best Actor, while the latter won him the Critics' Choice Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, making him the youngest recipient of each award.
On stage, Chalamet starred in John Patrick Shanley's autobiographical play Prodigal Son in 2016, for which he won a Lucille Lortel Award and gained a nomination for a Drama League Award. Offscreen, he has been labeled as a sex symbol and a fashion icon.
Timothée Hal Chalamet was born on December 27, 1995, and grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen. He and his parents lived in a rental apartment in Manhattan Plaza, a federally subsidized building reserved for artists under the Mitchell–Lama program. His mother, Nicole Flender, is of Russian Jewish and Austrian Jewish descent. She has worked as a Broadway dancer, dance teacher and French teacher, and is currently a real estate agent. Chalamet's father, Marc Chalamet, is from Nîmes, France. He is a New York correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Parisien and an editor for UNICEF. Chalamet's paternal grandmother was originally from Brantford, Ontario. On his mother's side, Chalamet is a nephew of Rodman Flender and Amy Lippman, a husband-and-wife filmmaking duo. His older sister, Pauline Chalamet, is an actress, and has described their family as being "very middle-class".
Chalamet is bilingual in English and French, and holds dual United States and French citizenship. Growing up, Chalamet spent summers in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small French village two hours from Lyon, at the home of his paternal grandparents. He 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. He described his experience at the school as "miserable" due to the lack of a creative outlet within the school's academically rigorous environment.
Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008) inspired Chalamet to pursue a career in acting, and he applied to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Although his application was rejected based on his interview, a drama teacher was so impressed by his audition that he insisted on Chalamet's acceptance to the school. The teacher, who would later instruct Chalamet during his sophomore year, said he gave Chalamet the highest score he had ever given a prospective student. During high school, Chalamet dated Madonna's daughter Lourdes Leon, a fellow student, for a year. He starred in school musicals as Emcee in Cabaret and Oscar Lindquist in Sweet Charity, and graduated in 2013. Chalamet is also a YoungArts alumnus.
Chalamet attended Columbia University for a year, majoring in cultural anthropology. He later transferred to New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study to pursue his acting career more freely, having found it difficult to assimilate into Columbia after filming Interstellar. He eventually dropped out of New York University to focus on his acting career and avoid student debt.
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. 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." 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.
In 2014, Chalamet made his feature film debut in a minor role in Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children. That same year, he played the role of Tom Cooper, the son of Matthew McConaughey's character, in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. The film received positive reviews, with critics praising the cast's performances, and grossed over $700 million worldwide. A decade later, Chalamet stated that Interstellar was his favorite film he had ever been in up to that point, but shared that at the time he was disappointed because it didn't boost his career as he had assumed it would. Also in 2014, Chalamet had a supporting role in Worst Friends, a comedy which had a limited theatrical release and received positive reviews.
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. His next role was playing the teenage version of James Franco's character, Stephen Elliott, in Pamela Romanowsky's The Adderall Diaries. 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.
In 2016, Chalamet starred as Jim Quinn in the autobiographical play Prodigal Son at Manhattan Theatre Club. Handpicked by its playwright and director John Patrick Shanley and producer Scott Rudin, Chalamet portrayed a younger Shanley, a misfit Bronx kid in a prestigious New Hampshire prep school set in 1963. His performance was praised and won him the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play, in addition to a nomination for the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. Chalamet also co-starred opposite Lily Rabe in Julia Hart's Miss Stevens as the troubled student Billy Mitman. Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter described Chalamet's act as "compelling" and "startling", with his character's speech from Death of a Salesman as among the best he has ever seen. Stephen Holden of The New York Times compared him to James Dean.
After being attached to the project for three years, Chalamet starred in Luca Guadagnino's Call Me by Your Name, based on the novel of the same name by André Aciman. The story revolves around Elio Perlman, a young man living in Italy during the 1980s, who falls in love with Oliver (Armie Hammer), a university student who has come to stay with his family. In preparation, Chalamet learned to speak Italian, as well as to play the piano and guitar. Call Me by Your Name premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim; critics particularly highlighted Chalamet's performance.