10 Things You Didn't Know About Timothée Chalamet
Indie film darling Timothée Chalamet took his first crack at a lead role and a big budget production with Dune: Part One in 2021.
Nearly 40 years after the box office bomb of the same name, novelist Frank Herbert's sci-fi saga was reimagined for the silver screen as two flicks — with the film’s second installment to hit theaters in November 2023.
Chalamet’s turn as young hero Paul Atreides follows his acclaimed work in Call Me by Your Name, Lady Bird and Little Women.
Here are 10 things you don’t know about the actor.
1. His first name is pronounced “Ti-mo-tay."
But he says it’s “pretentious” to ask people to say it that way.
2. He has dual American and French citizenship.
This is thanks to his New York-born mom and father, who's from Nimes.
3. He spent his summers as a child in France.
He grew up in Manhattan but spent his childhood summers at the home of his paternal grandparents and a small French village two hours away from Lyon.
4. Before making it big, he appeared in 'Law & Order.'
Around age 13, he played a murder victim and a 2009 episode of Law & Order.
5. He got cut from his middle school basketball team.
He didn't make the cut as a player for his middle school basketball team — and instead served as their mascot.
6. He dated Madonna's daughter.
While attending NYC’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts, he dated fellow student Lourdes Leon — Madonna’s oldest daughter.
7. He had a pet turtle.
His first pet was a turtle named Urdle.
8. He lost out on the role of Spider-Man.
He unsuccessfully auditioned to play the lead in Spider-Man: Homecoming, a part that ultimately went to Tom Holland, and admits, “I left sweating in a total panic.”
9. He's fluent in English and French.
But for his Oscar-nominated role and Call Me by Your Name, he had to learn Italian.
10. He co-chaired the 2021 Met Gala.
And he did so alongside singer Billie Eilish, poet Amanda Gorman and tennis ace Naomi Osaka.
