In a relatively short period, Oscar-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet has found a home on the silver screen, starring in a variety of projects and genres. Born in New York City in 1995, Chalamet began acting in commercials before landing a small role in 2014’s Woman & Children. He continued acting after that—both on screen and on stage—all while attending LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts and then Columbia University. Now, at age 28, he has continued to climb the acting ladder and is now considered one of the best actors of his generation. Below, we’ve rounded up his best-known works that have helped him reach that status, including Little Women, Dune, Wonka and more.
‘Call Me by Your Name’ (2017)
SYNOPSIS: During the summer of 1983 in Lombardy, Italy, Elio Perlman (Chalamet) meets a handsome man named Oliver (Armie Hammer) and soon becomes infatuated with him. Call Me by Your Name was Chalamet’s breakout role and he received an award nomination for Best Actor at the Oscars for his performance. It was directed by Luca Guadagnino.
CHARACTER: Elio Perlman
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “Nobody knows me, so it didn’t feel like too much of a risk because it didn’t feel like my performance in this sort of piece of work was being compared to anything else.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Netflix
‘Lady Bird’ (2017)
SYNOPSIS: A rebellious teenage girl named Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) tries to figure out who she is. In the film, Chalamet plays one of Lady Bird’s love interests. The comedy-drama was also Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut.
CHARACTER: Kyle Scheible
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “When I watched it back, I always felt like there were moments where I just played the antagonist, as opposed to finding the real human in that…But hopefully people can see that character as an antagonist that is genuinely suffering, has real emotions and is living a sad existence.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Max
‘Beautiful Boy’ (2018)
SYNOPSIS: After developing an addiction to meth, a teenager named Nic Sheff (Chalamet) must turn to his dad to help save both himself and his family.
CHARACTER: Nicolas ‘Nic’ Sheff
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “We talk about drug abuse as a moral failing. For us, that’s a hope for the movie: that it starts a conversation to see it not as a taboo … People are bracing for a really difficult ending or something that ends with a flourish—a montage of hope or something. But this is just scene after scene where we tried to do it as diligently as possible.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Amazon Prime Video
‘A Rainy Day in New York’ (2019)
SYNOPSIS: In this Woody Allen directed film, Chalamet stars as Gatsby Welles, a young teenager who spends a day with Ashleigh Enright (Elle Fanning) after a chance encounter.
CHARACTER: Gatsby Welles
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: Chalamet has remained rather close-lipped about his time on this film, and it is widely believed it’s because of Allen’s alleged sexual abuse. The actor also famously donated the money he earned from this film to Time’s Up, The LGBT Center In New York City and RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network).
WHERE TO STREAM: Philo.
‘The King’ (2019)
SYNOPSIS: After King Henry the V ascends to the throne, Prince Hal (Chalamet) learns just how hard growing up in a royal castle can be.
CHARACTER: Prince Hal
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “You want to become an actor [so you] can wield a sword, ride horses, and play an English king. It sounds absurd to say out loud. Even so that was exhilarating.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Netflix.
‘Little Women’ (2019)
SYNOPSIS: Directed by Greta Gerwig, this film follows four young women trying to grow up in America during the Civil War. Chalamet plays their neighbor and friend, Laurie.
CHARACTER: Theodore ‘Laurie’ Lawerence
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “I knew Little Women; I hadn’t read it, but I’ve read it since. I understood it to be a literary classic, but it’s crazy; day by day in the rehearsals, I get more imbued in the legend of it all. We’re shooting in the Massachusetts area where it was written, so we have a lot of people on the crew or that are just around [to whom] the book is very dear to their heart and to their youths, as well.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Hulu
‘Dune’: Part One (2021)
SYNOPSIS: A young man travels to a distant planet and becomes fascinated with their local culture.
CHARACTER: Paul Atreides
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “I was younger when I did it the first time and was kind of blindsided by how big that movie was. And now, as [character] Paul Atreides becomes more sure on his heels, I feel more sure on my heels, too.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Max
‘Don’t Look Up’ (2021)
SYNOPSIS: Two astronomers travel the world trying to warn the world of an incoming evil.
CHARACTER: Yule
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “By the time I got to set, I was buzzing. That was the day Jennifer [Lawerence] said was the most annoying day of her life, working with me and Leo. I exploded out of my room.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Netflix
‘Bones and All’ (2022)
SYNOPSIS: Two people with horrifying pasts fall in love while traveling across the United States of America.
CHARACTER: Lee
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “We basically shot in chronological order–my first scene with Maren [Taylor Russell] was the first thing you see in the movie, and my last scene with Maren is the last one you see. A benefit of doing on-the-road movies is that you have your crew, your director, producers, and your actors to hang out with.”
WHERE TO STREAM: MGM+
‘Wonka’ (2023)
SYNOPSIS: A man named Willy Wonka (Chalamet) tries to open up a chocolate factory despite threats from other manufacturers.
CHARACTER: Willy Wonka
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “This was the most physically challenging project I’ve ever done. I can’t say the singing and dancing comes easy. I’ve been around musical theater my whole life, and danced a little bit in high school, but this was on a different level. It’s different doing it on film. You’ve got to keep being in the center of the frame while dancing, you’ve got to rehearse for months, you’ve got to be on for every take—take 12 and all the other takes—and dance with professional dancers, who are icing their ankles. That’s how serious they were taking it. So it was a big challenge.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Max
‘Dune: Part Two’ (2024)
SYNOPSIS: Paul Atreides tries to help the Fremen fight the people trying to take over their planet, Arrakis.
CHARACTER: Paul Muad’Dib Atreides, Duke of Arrakis.
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “I’d say the difference is, in this story, there’s human life at stake. The role of an actor is never that consequential. Even if you’re making powerful work and people relate to it.”
WHERE TO STREAM: Max
‘A Complete Unknown’ (2024)
SYNOPSIS: It’s the early 1960s, and musician Bob Dylan is trying to make his way in the world. This film is based on a true story.
CHARACTER: Bob Dylan
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET’S THOUGHTS: “The trick that I think Bob mastered pretty quickly early on in the interpretation of the movie—I can’t speak for the guy in real life—is to protect that. And your experience with someone on the street who’s unfamiliar with your music or your art, somehow, will be of greater fuel in some moments in life than someone who’s sycophantic.”
WHERE TO STREAM: A Complete Unknown is playing in movie theaters nationwide.