For most A-list actors, success doesn’t come overnight. It can take decades of work to be considered one of Hollywood’s greatest talents. That’s what makes Timothée Chalamet so impressive. At the age of 23, he’s leading the pack of Tinseltown’s next generation of celebrated artists.
Chalamet’s breakout role was in 2017’s Call Me By Your Name. He played protagonist Elio Perlman, an introspective teenager experiencing unrequited love. His performance earned him an Oscar nomination and heaps of acclaim. Chalamet is also known for his electric, scene-stealing work in Lady Bird and Beautiful Boy. Both critics and fans alike are following this Hollywood wunderkind’s career with bated breath and rapt excitement.
It’s a testament to the actor’s talent that his star rose as fast as it did. Despite having more success than most actors twice his age, Chalamet did not become an instant leading man. The road to Chalamania is paved with bit parts and indie flicks that never found an audience.
Here are 10 Movies and TV Shows You Forgot Timothée Chalamet was in.
Law & Order (2009)
It’s a rite of passage for many an A-lister to appear in the Law & Order franchise, especially at the start of their careers. Jennifer Garner, Bradley Cooper, and Amanda Seyfried all guest-starred on the show before becoming household names. This long-running police procedural was a natural fit for New York native Timothée Chalamet’s first professional role.
A 13-year-old Chalamet only appears in one brief scene. He plays as Eric Foley, a boy who wants to play Xbox with his friend. Eric’s housekeeper refuses to keep the illicit video-gaming a secret from Eric’s parents, so his friend leaves. Things only go downhill for Eric from there as he turns up murdered in the next scene. Chalamet’s Law & Order appearance is hardly a career-defining moment for the actor, but everyone has to start somewhere.
Homeland (2012)
Timothée Chalamet officially graduated from one-time guest star to recurring player. On Homeland, Showtime’s hit spy drama, Chalamet plays the vice president’s rebellious son, Finn Walden. Finn is also the love interest of Dana Brody (Morgan Saylor), one of the show’s most hated characters. Though Chalamet is undeniably convincing as a spoiled daredevil, his storyline is not particularly beloved.
Fans of Homeland typically tune in for espionage and intrigue, not teen romance. After eight episodes of joyriding mischief, Finn dies in a bomb explosion. Despite being killed off, this would lead to a string of troubled teen roles for the capable Chalamet.
Men, Women & Children (2014)
Men, Women & Children is director Jason Reitman’s sixth feature film. It’s an ensemble piece about the internet and how it defines, and sometimes damages, our relationships. Timothée Chalamet plays Danny Vance, a high school football player. Unfortunately, MW&C would not be the breakout hit Chalamet likely hoped it would be. Even with a lauded director and big stars like Adam Sandler, the film was a dud both commercially and critically. It earned a poor score of 31% on Rotten Tomatoes. To make matters worse, many of Chalamet’s scenes wound up on the cutting room floor.
On the bright side, Men, Women & Children gave Chalamet the opportunity to reunite with former schoolmate Ansel Elgort. The two attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, an apparent breeding ground for young Hollywood talent.
Interstellar (2014)
Though Timothée Chalamet may not have been a household name yet, he was certainly garnering attention from top-notch directors. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Interstellar is a sci-fi film in which Chalamet plays Tom, the teenage son of an ex-NASA pilot (Matthew McConaughey). In addition to McConaughey, Interstellar also features the talents of several Hollywood juggernauts including Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. The film would become Chalamet’s most profitable work to date, grossing over $485 million at the global box office.
However, much like Men, Women & Children, Chalamet found some of his meatier scenes cut from Interstellar. In an Actors on Actors interview for Variety, Chalamet tells Emma Stone that after seeing the film’s final cut, he “wept for an hour.” Chalamet would go on to divulge other big-budget films he didn’t even get cast in at all. For every Hollywood success story, there are a dozen tales of failure. Even though Chalamet’s Interstellar role may have been slashed, it would still prove to be a major stepping stone for his career.
The Adderall Diaries (2015)
Many actors find their breakout roles in commercial film, but Timothée Chalamet bucks that trend. He’s found most of his success in the world of independent cinema. Alas, The Adderall Diaries would not become the film that Chalamet will be remembered for. In it, Chalamet plays the younger version of writer Stephen Elliott (James Franco). Chalamet’s role exists in mainly in flashback, as present-day Stephen discovers the truth around traumatic memories of his father.
The film, based on Stephen Elliott’s memoir, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, was released on DirecTV and had a limited theatrical run. It was panned by critics across the board, receiving a lowly 21% on Rotten Tomatoes. The real Stephen Elliott criticized the film for straying so far from the memoir that he’s “not sure why calling the character Stephen Elliott was necessary.” The Adderall Diaries may not have helped Chalamet’s career, but it certainly didn’t hurt it either, which is a relief for an emerging actor.
Love the Coopers (2015)
Timothée Chalamet would not be decking the halls with awards for Love the Coopers, a Christmas comedy about a dysfunctional family. Chalamet plays the grandson of long-time married couple Sam and Charlotte (John Goodman and Diane Keaton), who are getting a divorce but want to wait until after the holidays to tell their loved ones.
Love the Coopers was a critical bomb, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 18%. Critics considered it to be an uninspired drop in the eggnog bucket of Hollywood Christmas movies, with the film’s major problem being its persistent sappiness. It’s not difficult to see where the critics are coming from, especially since Love the Coopers is narrated by the family dog. Even with the likes of the talented Chalamet, Santa put this movie on the naughty list.
Miss Stevens (2016)
This little indie film that could is the one that moved the needle for Timothée Chalamet. He plays Billy Mitman, an angsty teen who attends a drama competition with his teacher (Lily Rabe) and two other students (Anthony Quintal and Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart). Though centered around its titular protagonist, Chalamet is the leading male character. No major scenes cut to ribbons and left on the cutting room floor. No bloated ensemble casts. This is Chalamet’s meatiest role to date.
Miss Stevens premiered at the SXSW Film Festival before receiving a limited release. Though in this respect the film has a similar origin story to The Adderall Diaries, the critics’ response could not be more different. Collectively, they gave Miss Stevens a whopping 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Chalamet was praised, in particular for his explosive monologue scene. Finally, Chalamet’s star was officially on the rise.
Hot Summer Nights (2017)
In spite of its steamy title, Hot Summer Nights left critics cold. Timothée Chalamet stars in the lead role of Daniel Middleton, a naïve teen who gets swept up in the Cape Cod drug scene. At this point in his career, Chalamet was already famous for Call Me By Your Name, so parallels were drawn between the two films as both find the actor involved in a coming-of-age romance. Apparently, Maika Monroe is no Armie Hammer, as Hot Summer Nights received a less-than-favorable Rotten Tomatoes score of 43%.
Not even Chalamet’s ubiquitous charm could save the film. Like many of his other indie features, Hot Summer Nights was part of the SXSW lineup, followed by a DirecTV and limited theatrical release. After that it was largely forgotten, becoming a lukewarm footnote in Timothée Chalamet history.
Hostiles (2017)
In 2017, Timothée Chalamet was quite the film festival darling. He was promoting Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, and Hostiles. The latter is a Western film in which Chalamet plays Private Philippe Desjardins, a French-speaking member of a security detail tasked with safely returning a Cheyenne war chief and his family back home.
While there was much buzz around CMBYN and Lady Bird, Hostiles prevented Chalamet from starring in a 2017 hat trick of acclaimed films. Hostiles received decent reviews, with a respectable Rotten Tomatoes score of 71%. However, a tumbleweed may as well have blown by in the cinemas. Hostiles earned barely over $40 million internationally. When it comes to the Western genre, Timothée Chalamet might very well decide it’s time to hang up his spurs.
A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
When it comes to an actor’s bucket list of directors they want to work with, Timothée Chalamet is checking off names at a breakneck pace. In 2017, henceforth known as the Year of the Chalamet, the actor was thrilled to work with Woody Allen in the auteur director’s 48th feature film. The plot revolves around a young couple (Chalamet and Elle Fanning), besieged by bad weather during a weekend in New York.
There’s no telling what the premiere will look like, as many of the film’s stars made a point to donate their salaries to the Time’s Up foundation. Timothée Chalamet is among them. Though Chalamet took a bit of heat for working with the controversial director, he emerged largely unscathed. His future projects include a remake of Dune, Greta Gerwig’s Little Women adaptation, and Find Me, a sequel to Call Me By Your Name.
