One day Timothée Chalamet had small-ish roles in projects like Homeland and Interstellar, and the next, he was the Oscar-nominated up-and-comer that seemingly every director wanted to work with, thanks to his emotional turn as Elio in Call Me by Your Name.
His role in Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 coming-of-age drama that also starred Armie Hammer made Chalamet the youngest person in 80 years — he was 22 at the time — to be nominated for best actor at the Academy Awards. At the time, The Hollywood Reporter senior reviews editor Jon Frosch wrote that Chalamet gave “the performance of the year” in the film.
Following Call Me by Your Name, Chalamet began landing roles in higher-profile projects like Oscar nominees Lady Bird and Little Women, as well as Wes Anderson’s 2021 film The French Dispatch. It wasn’t long before the actor scored his arguably biggest role as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune — a part he reprises in the film’s upcoming sequel, Dune: Part Two.
That same year, Chalamet also starred in Netflix’s climate change title, Don’t Look Up, in which he acted alongside a star-studded group that included Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance and Jonah Hill.
Chalamet and Guadagnino reunited for another coming-of-age film: 2022’s Bones and All. The director’s tender cannibal love story follows Chalamet and Taylor Russell as they road-trip across the country together.
Last year was set to be massive for the actor — not only did he have the buzzy sequel for Dune but also Wonka, Warner Bros.’ prequel of the beloved chocolatier. However, due to the actors strike, Dune: Part Two was pushed to 2024 so that its star-studded cast — which also features Zendaya, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler — would be able to embark on the film’s press tour. And that they have.
Below, THR rounds up some of Chalamet’s most popular films and one of his highly anticipated ones.
‘Call Me by Your Name’
This Oscar-winning film is set in northern Italy in 1983 and chronicles the romantic relationship between 17-year-old Elio (Chalamet) and 24-year-old Oliver (Armie Hammer). Oliver also happens to be the graduate student assistant to Elio’s father, Samuel (Michael Stuhlbarg). For the film, Chalamet received his first — and so far only — Academy Award nomination.
‘Lady Bird’
Chalamet encompasses the bad boy archetype with his role of Kyle in Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, for which she received her first and only Oscar nomination for directing (so far). His cultivated, mysterious persona sees him playing bass in a band, smoking hand-rolled cigarettes and reading outside a coffee shop. He goes on tangents about how he “doesn’t like money” and warns Saoirse Ronan’s Lady Bird that if she gets a cellphone, the government will use it to spy on her.
‘Little Women’
In Little Women, The Oscar-nominated actor takes on the role of Laurie, a friend of the March family, who had a close relationship with them all — Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Beth (Eliza Scanlen) and Amy (Florence Pugh), who became his wife. Toward the beginning of the film, he befriends Jo first and falls in love with her, eventually proposing, but she refuses and tells him that she loves him as a brother. When he takes off to Europe, following the heartbreak, he stumbles upon Amy, and the two connect and get married.
‘The French Dispatch’
For his barely 20 minutes onscreen in The French Dispatch as Zeffirelli, Chalamet returns to the bad-boy, cigarette-smoking kid he similarly portrayed in Lady Bird. His character is a rebellious student activist, who leads a liberation movement for which he is working on his own manifesto. In the film, he stars opposite Frances McDormand, Léa Seydoux Lyna Khoudri and Mohamed Belhadjine.
‘Dune’
Chalamet took on the role of beloved sci-fi hero Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune film. Frank Herbert’s novel series, which the project was based on, tells the story of a noble family — House Atreides — who becomes embroiled in a war for control over Arrakis’ most valuable asset: spice. In the meantime, the family’s heir, Paul, becomes troubled by dark visions and embarks on a mission to find the Fremen, who may be the only hope to put an end to the foreboding future he keeps seeing in his mind.
‘Don’t Look Up’
In Don’t Look Up, Chalamet’s Yule falls in love with Jennifer Lawrence’s Kate as she and fellow astronomer Leonardo DiCaprio’s Randall Mindy go on a media tour to warn mankind that there’s a comet approaching Earth that will destroy the planet. After Yule and Kate kiss, the skater punk declares his Christian faith, eventually leading a group of people in prayer in the movie.
‘Bones and All’
Bones and All follows Chalamet’s Lee, a young cannibal, and Taylor Russell’s Maren, who’s abandoned by her father (André Holland) because of her habit of eating people. When Maren and Lee encounter each other, they hit the road on a cross-country trip through America in the 1980s and begin a passionate romance. During a press conference at the film’s world premiere, Chalamet explained that he was excited to work with Luca Guadagnino again following Call Me by Your Name because he wanted to “tell a story that was grounded” and “about people that are disenfranchised in every way possible.”
‘Wonka’
Chalamet transforms into a young Willy Wonka in Warner Bros.’ prequel of the beloved character, Wonka. The actor showed off his singing chops in the movie musical, which director Paul King praised, noting that Chalamet’s voice reminded him of Bing Crosby. “There’s quite a range because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion, and he can do it all,” he said. Like many people, when the Oscar-nominated actor first heard about the film, he was worried it may have been a “cynical money grab,” but when he read the script he was certain it was something special.
‘Dune: Part Two’
Dune: Part Two is being regarded by those who have seen it as “one of the best sci-fi films for generations,” and there’s no denying Chalamet is a part of that. For the sequel, Chalamet reunited with Little Women co-star Florence Pugh, who praised his work on the film, portraying main character Paul Atreides. “Just being able to watch my friend rise to the unbelievable occasion of being this quite brilliant lead, and not only dealing with playing Paul but dealing with what it’s like to be the actor that’s playing Paul and meaning so much to so many, it was a really, really beautiful experience,” she told THR at Dune 2‘s New York premiere.
‘A Complete Unknown’
Chalamet is set to star as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, a biopic based on the music icon’s life. The film will follow a young Dylan as he shakes up the folk music scene when he plugs in his electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, according to the description. While not much else is known about the project, as it is still in pre-production, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro round out the cast thus far. Chalamet will also get another chance to hone his vocal skills for the film, as director James Mangold confirmed that he will do his own singing for the film.
