Rising star Timothée Chalamet caught everyone’s hearts as Elio in Call Me By Your Name. His role got him Best Actor nominations at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, and an Oscar nod might be next. Not to mention that he’s also getting recognition for his supporting role in Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird.
Aside from his acting, what’s also gotten people swooning even more are his looks and charisma. Whether you’ve seen any of his films or not (you really should), you’ll still find yourself rooting for him because of the following reasons.
#1 He can do a great interview
For Variety’s “Actors on Actors” segment, Timothée was paired with Get Out actor Daniel Kaluuya. Although it’s more of a conversational video between stars, Timothée was praised for asking good questions and how enthusiastic he was all throughout. Now we want him to do ALL the movie interviews.
#2 Young nerd at heart
The meaning of “nerd” is subjective, but Timothée showed just how much he still cherishes his childhood interests. He excitedly told W Magazine about dressing up as Yu-Gi in the anime Yu-Gi-Oh and Spider-Man on crutches (“…all the Spider-Man guys were getting injured at Broadway”) for Halloween.
#3 He loves his mom SO MUCH
In the same W interview, Timothée recounted how his mom bought him the explicit version of 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’. “To this day, thank you, mom! There were 15 explicit 50 Cent songs playing in my room from the ages of seven to nine,” he said. “The best mom. I have the best mom in the world.”
Timothée also brought his mom as his date to the 2018 SAG Awards. We also see where he got his good genes from.
#4 The hip-hop persona
The 50 Cent albums seemed to have influenced Timothée to create a rap alter-ego. James Corden asked about it and Timothée revealed that his names varied from “Lil Tim” and “Lil Timmy Tim.” He also seemed embarrassed about the question and almost ran away from the interview couch.
But Ellen DeGeneres took the cake when she unearthed Timothée’s high school project where he rapped statistics equations. Again, he looked embarrassed while co-star Armie Hammer cheered.
But hey, he still loves hip-hop, naming Kid Cudi and Cardi B as two of his favorites. Here’s a clip of him and his mom jamming to “Bartier Cardi.”
#5 An advocate in fighting sexual misconduct
Recently, people questioned why Timothée agreed to star in Woody Allen’s newest film A Rainy Day in New York. As many would know, the director was accused of molesting his daughter Dylan Farrow and it’s still one of the most-talked-about scandals in Hollywood.
In an Instagram post, Timothée explained that he will not profit from the film. “I am going to donate my entire salary to three charities: TIME’S UP, The LGBT Center in New York, and RAINN. I want to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the brave artists who are fighting for all people to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
Additionally, he also spoke up at the SAG Awards about how the Time’s Up movement is resonating with men. You’re doing amazing, sweetie.
#6 His dedication to Call Me By Your Name
The film is based in Italy and Timothée’s character, Elio, is a music lover. According to V Magazine, he learned how to play the guitar and piano for the film, as well as how to speak Italian. If you’ve seen the movie, you’d swear that he’s a pro at all these skills.
#7 Fluent in another language
Now that we’re on the topic languages, Timothée is half-French. So here’s a video of him speaking in perfect French during a red carpet interview.
#8 Already has an impressive model portfolio
Models.com listed down all of Timothée’s magazine covers and editorials from titles like The New York Times Style Magazine, GQ, and W Magazine. If you simply can’t get enough of him, go look up all his magazine features. Right now, we’re wondering if he’ll do more modeling stints in the future.
Art by Lara Intong
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