By: Tiffany Chang
You might vaguely remember him playing Matthew McConaughey’s son in Interstellar (2014), or his appearance in the critically acclaimed coming-of-age film, Lady Bird (2017). But this year, after being the youngest Best Actor Oscar-nominee in almost 80 years at 22 for his exceptional performance in Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name (2017), American actor Timothée Chalamet is quickly rising to Hollywood stardom.
While watching him on-screen, the saying “age is just a number” definitely rings true. His evident ability to project dramatic emotion in such a beautiful way has not only earned him an Academy Award nomination, but also won him Best Male Lead at the 2018 Independent Spirit Awards as well as Breakthrough Performance at the National Board of Review. After seeing Call Me By Your Name, I immediately thought his portrayal of Elio Perlman was some of the best acting I had ever witnessed. It is hard to believe that someone only three years my senior possesses this incredible talent.
As a graduate of the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Performing Arts, his educational background further allowed him to make his mark in theatre, including the production Prodigal Son (2016) at the Manhattan Theatre Club, with one review from a Time Out New York critic stating that “Timothée Chalamet is a revelation, [giving] one of the most impressive stage debuts I’ve seen in years.”
Needless to say, Chalamet isn’t taking a hiatus any time soon. Other films he has lined up are Beautiful Boy (2018) starring alongside funny man Steve Carell where he personates a teen drug addict, to be released this fall, and The King, a Shakespeare-adapted Netflix project in the works.
I am in awe of this actor and would not hesitate to consider him a generational phenomenon. On the whole, I predict Timothée Chalamet becoming a household name in the near future.
