Actor Deep Focus: Timothée Chalamet

“It’s no use, Jo, we gotta have it out. I’ve loved you ever since I’ve known you, Jo.”

Timothée Chalamet’s iconic proposal scene to Saoirse Ronan’s character, Jo, in “Little Women” has been viewed just short of five million times on YouTube, and is one of his most spellbinding performances.

But Chalamet didn’t start out starring in Academy Award-nominated Greta Gerwig masterpieces, he began much smaller and worked his way up.

Along the way, he’s achieved one of the most well-rounded filmographies in Hollywood, and he’s only 27 years old.

Chalamet was raised by his mother, former Broadway dancer Nicole Flender, who brought him up in a federally subsidized artists’ building in the heart of New York City.

He was inspired to pursue acting after seeing Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance in “The Dark Knight,” so he attended high school at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.

At this school, many of Chalamet’s infamous meme moments were born, including the viral “Statistics” video and his “Rising Stars 2012” performance as his rap alter-ego, Lil Timmy Tim.

He was fearless in front of the camera and booked his first role in a major motion picture in 2014. That film just so happened to be Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” the same man who directed Heath Ledger’s Joker in “The Dark Knight.”

Talk about a full-circle moment.

After “Interstellar,” Chalamet booked three smaller movies in 2015 but exploded onto the film scene because of these essential roles.

Billy Mitman in “Miss Stevens” (2016)

While the 2016 indie film “Miss Stevens” only brought in $4,611 at the box office, it included deeply moving performances from Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart and, of course, Chalamet.

It follows a high school English teacher, Miss Stevens (Lily Rabe), who volunteers to chaperone a drama competition in which three students are competing.

Chalamet’s character Billy is troubled and yearning for a companion, so he latches onto Miss Stevens and delivers a heartbreaking award-winning monologue at the drama competition when he realizes she will never be with him.

Elio Perlman in “Call Me By Your Name” (2017)

Luca Guadagnino’s romantic drama film “Call Me By Your Name” was unequivocally Chalamet’s “big break” moment in the industry.

He scored his first Best Actor Academy Award nomination for portraying Elio Perlman, a young Italian man who enters into a whirlwind affair with the older graduate student, Oliver (Armie Hammer).

The final scene of the film is Chalamet staring into a fireplace crying after Oliver leaves him to return to his normal life, and it’s a powerful example of how he doesn’t need to speak to deliver a moving performance.

Nic Sheff in “Beautiful Boy” (2018)

“Beautiful Boy” is the hardest film to watch in Chalamet’s filmography, but it would be doing him an extreme disservice to skip it.

The film tells the true story of teenager Nic Sheff and his father, David (Steve Carell), as they navigate Nic’s growing addiction to drugs.

Chalamet’s performance showcased both the good times Nic had with his dad when he was sober and the gut-wrenching moments where he almost lost his life from overdosing and running away.

Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence in “Little Women” (2019)

“Little Women” was Chalamet’s second time working with both director Greta Gerwig and co-star Saoirse Ronan, and the three of them create true magic together.

The film weaves seamlessly between the past and present of the March family, and Chalamet clearly differentiates how he plays young, lovesick Laurie and older, mature Laurie.

He also looks great in the iconic billowy white, period-piece shirt.

Paul Atreides “Dune” (2021)

With “Dune,” Chalamet finally got his big-budget blockbuster smash, which earned $402 million on a $165 million budget.

The sci-fi epic gave Chalamet space to thrive in the stunt-ridden action sequences, which he hadn’t been exposed to on the smaller indie projects.

“Dune” rounded out his filmography, and Chalamet will take on the role of Paul Atreides again in “Dune 2” coming out this March, which will be his first sequel.

Chalamet also has “Wonka” releasing this December, and a Bob Dylan biopic currently in pre-production. His career isn’t slowing down anytime soon, and it will be exciting to see what projects he books next.

Kaitlyn Murphy is a second-year student majoring in journalism. To contact her, email kvm6255@psu.edu.