Timothée Chalamet Biography: From Call Me by Your Name to Dune Stardom

Timothée Chalamet is an American and French actor best known for playing Elio Perlman in Call Me by Your Name and Paul Atreides in the Dune films. Born Timothée Hal Chalamet on December 27, 1995, in New York City, he went from teenage roles on television to becoming one of the most sought after leading men of his generation, with three Academy Award nominations before his 31st birthday.

Chalamet is famous for the speed and range of his rise. In a single year he could be a heartbroken teenager in an Italian summer romance, a witty teenager in a coming of age comedy, and a drug addicted son in a family drama. Then he became a blockbuster hero, a chocolate maker, Bob Dylan, and a table tennis hustler. Few actors of his age have moved so freely between small independent films and the biggest franchises in the world.

Who Is Timothée Chalamet

Timothée Chalamet is an actor who became a star by choosing the hardest roles he could find. His breakthrough came in 2017 with Call Me by Your Name, Luca Guadagnino’s film about a 17 year old boy who falls in love during a long Italian summer. Chalamet played Elio Perlman with such honesty that he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor at just 22, making him the youngest nominee in the category in nearly 80 years.

He did not slow down after that. In the same year he appeared in Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig’s warm comedy about a teenager in Sacramento, and in 2018 he played a young man struggling with addiction in Beautiful Boy. Then came Little Women in 2019, where he reunited with Gerwig to play Laurie, the charming neighbor who loves Jo March. Each role was different, and each one showed a new side of him.

The 2020s turned him into a blockbuster star. As Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films, he leads one of the biggest science fiction series of the decade. He sang and danced as Willy Wonka in Wonka in 2023, played Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown in 2024, and starred as the table tennis player Marty Mauser in Marty Supreme in 2025, a role that also earned him an Academy Award nomination and a producing credit. For another story of a young star who grew up on screen, see our Tom Holland biography.

Early Life

Chalamet was born in New York City and grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. His father, Marc Chalamet, is a French editor who worked for UNICEF, and his mother, Nicole Flender, is a former dancer and dance teacher. His older sister, Pauline Chalamet, is also an actor and dancer. The family home was full of art, language, and performance, and Chalamet grew up speaking both English and French.

As a boy, Chalamet spent summers in France with his father’s family in the small village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Those summers gave him a second language and a second culture, and he has often said that growing up between two countries shaped how he sees the world.

Acting came into his life through school. He first appeared on television as a child, with a small role in the crime series Law and Order in 2009, and then played the troubled son of a vice president in the drama series Homeland in 2012. His film debut came in 2014 with a small part in Men, Women and Children and a brief appearance in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. He was still a teenager, but he was already working with directors who would later define his career.

Education

Chalamet attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts in New York, one of the most famous arts schools in America. It was there that his interest in acting became serious. He studied drama, performed on stage, and learned the discipline of rehearsal and performance from teachers who expected a lot from their students.

After graduating from LaGuardia, Chalamet enrolled at Columbia University in New York. He did not stay long. Acting work was already pulling him away, and after a year he left to focus on his career full time. He later moved briefly to New York University, but the pull of film sets was stronger than the pull of the classroom, and his education continued on set instead, working with some of the best directors in the world.

His schooling still shows in his work. Chalamet prepares for roles with unusual care, learning new skills for each part, from playing the piano and guitar to speaking Italian for Call Me by Your Name.

Career

After Homeland, he appeared in the coming of age film Miss Stevens in 2016, where his performance as a troubled high school student first caught the attention of critics. Then came 2017, the year that changed everything.

Call Me by Your Name was released in 2017, and Chalamet’s performance as Elio Perlman made him a star overnight. He learned Italian for the role and played the piano on screen, and many critics called his final scene one of the great screen performances of the decade. The Academy Award nomination that followed made him the youngest Best Actor nominee since Mickey Rooney in 1939.

He followed that success with a run of acclaimed films. In 2018 he starred in Beautiful Boy as Nic Sheff, a young man fighting addiction, opposite Steve Carell. In 2019 he played Laurie in Little Women and the young King Henry V in The King. In 2021 he joined Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch and played Paul Atreides in Dune, the first part of Denis Villeneuve’s science fiction epic. Dune: Part Two followed in 2024 and became one of the biggest hits of the year.

In 2023, Chalamet showed a lighter side as Willy Wonka in the musical fantasy Wonka, which became a box office hit around the world. In 2024 he played Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, learning to sing and play guitar like the young Dylan, and earned another Academy Award nomination. In 2025 he starred in Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie’s sports comedy about a table tennis hustler, a role that brought him a third Best Actor nomination and his first as a producer. Dune: Part Three, the final film in the trilogy, is expected in December 2026. For another profile of a co-star from the Dune films, see our Zendaya biography.

Family

Family is central to Chalamet’s story. His father Marc was born in France and worked as an editor for UNICEF, while his mother Nicole grew up in New York and worked as a dancer and teacher. His older sister Pauline is an actor and dancer who has appeared in the television series The Sex Lives of College Girls. The siblings are close, and both have spoken about growing up in a household where art and performance were part of everyday life.

Chalamet’s French roots matter to him. He holds French citizenship through his father, and he has spoken in interviews about feeling at home in both countries. His summers in France as a boy gave him the language skills he later used in films, and his ability to move between cultures is part of what makes his performances feel so natural.

He keeps his private life mostly out of the spotlight. Chalamet has been in a relationship with reality television star and businesswoman Kylie Jenner since 2023. He rarely discusses his personal life in interviews, preferring to let his work speak for itself.

Age and Net Worth

Timothée Chalamet was born on December 27, 1995, which makes him 30 years old in 2026. He turns 31 at the end of the year. At 30, he already has three Academy Award nominations, a Golden Globe Award, and leading roles in some of the biggest films of the decade. He is still young, but his career already looks like that of a veteran.

His net worth is often quoted online, but no figure is confirmed by Chalamet himself. Any number you see should be treated as an unverified estimate only, because acting salaries, producing fees, and endorsement deals are not fully public. What is certain is that his run of hits, from Dune to Wonka to Marty Supreme, has made him one of the highest paid young actors in Hollywood.

More important than money is the position he now holds. Chalamet can choose almost any role he wants, and directors like Denis Villeneuve, Greta Gerwig, and Wes Anderson keep asking him back. For another story of a young actor who became a franchise leading man, see our Glen Powell biography.

How old is Timothée Chalamet?

Timothée Chalamet was born on December 27, 1995, in New York City, which makes him 30 years old in 2026. He turns 31 on December 27, 2026.

What is Timothée Chalamet most famous for?

He is most famous for playing Elio Perlman in Call Me by Your Name and Paul Atreides in the Dune films. He is also known for Lady Bird, Little Women, Wonka, A Complete Unknown, and Marty Supreme.

Has Timothée Chalamet won an Oscar?

As of 2026, Chalamet has not won an Academy Award, but he has been nominated three times for Best Actor, for Call Me by Your Name, A Complete Unknown, and Marty Supreme. He has won a Golden Globe Award and two Critics Choice Awards.

What is Timothée Chalamet working on next?

Dune: Part Three, the final film in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy, is expected in December 2026, with Chalamet returning as Paul Atreides. Marty Supreme, released in 2025, continues to earn him awards attention.

Sources

Key facts in this biography were checked against Wikipedia on Timothée Chalamet, Britannica on Timothée Chalamet, and The Movie Database on Timothée Chalamet. All wording here is original, and no source text has been copied.

Final Thoughts

Timothée Chalamet biography is a story of talent meeting courage. He could have played safe after Call Me by Your Name, but instead he chose the hardest roles he could find, from a drug addicted son to a science fiction hero to Bob Dylan. Each choice made him stronger, and each film added a new audience. At 30, with three Oscar nominations and the final Dune film on the way, he is already one of the defining actors of his generation. Whether he is playing a teenager in love or a table tennis hustler, Chalamet brings the same honesty to the screen. That is why his rise feels real, and why his next chapter is one to watch.