Timothee Chalamet (or should I say Lil’ Timmy Tim) has flooded the media recently. With his new film “A Complete Unknown”, released Christmas of last year, being a box office hit, the world can’t seem to get enough of him. But is he truly the classy French actor his name implies?
Born in an artistic capital of the world, New York City, he had the creative world at his fingertips. In middle school, he decided he wanted to focus on acting, taking inspiration from Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Through his application and acceptance to LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts — a school responsible for producing many well-known actors such as Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Paulson, and Adrien Brody — he was able to get on the path to stardom.
By his graduation in 2013, he had yet to be noticed as the rising talent he was. In 2014 he played a small role in Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar which critics praised for its superb casting. However, it wasn’t until his leading role in Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film Call Me By Your Name — the film where I fell in love with him — that Chalamet truly broke into the world of Hollywood. Since then, the actor has starred in many films including Beautiful Boy, the Dune series, and, most recently, A Complete Unknown.
Chalamet’s impeccable acting is not what sets him apart from others though. For many, his off-screen personality is even more appealing than his exemplary acting. Timothee Chalamet has a digital footprint that runs deep. Thanks to YouTube, Chalamet’s personality can be seen through videos from his youth. With the simple search “Timmy Tim” you can find Chalamet’s fantastic rap career that precedes his award-winning acting. There are videos of Chalamet dancing to Soulja Boy in 2008, singing a Chalamet original song for his high school statistics class, and performing a beautiful homage to Nicki Minaj for a LaGuardia High School talent show. As he gained fame, his personality began to tone down, but now it’s slowly rising once again.
In his most recent press tour for A Complete Unknown, Lil’ Timmy Tim is seen peeking through. The unconventional approach to promoting his film could be seen as a tribute to Bob Dylan as he is showing his true colors (a Dylan specialty). On this strange tour, Chalamet showed up at his own look alike contest in New York City, appeared at a band rehearsal at the University of Minnesota, and met up with internet comedian Britney Broski for an interview like no other. All of this led to Chalamet’s third appearance as host of SNL and his first appearance as musical guest, continuing to spread his comedic persona.
What we can expect to see from Chalamet in the future remains unknown. It’s safe to say that Chalamet is changing the mold for what is considered ‘good’ PR. His incredible acting and humorous personality makes him one of the best celebrities of our time — “a [true] statistical wonder, a statistical gem” (Quote from Lil’ Timmy Tim’s original song “Statistics”).
