All about Timothée Chalamet’s parents
With big screen hits like “Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Women” and the blockbuster “Dune” films, Timothée Chalamet has become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand talents.
But long before the American-French actor started receiving rave reviews, he already had a couple of huge fans back home.
His parents, Marc Chalamet and Nicole Flender, have been cheering on the 28-year-old since the “A Complete Unknown” star was a complete unknown himself.
So who are the pair who have been by his side since the beginning? Read on to learn more about them.
How Marc Chalamet and Nicole Flender met
The couple haven’t publicly shared their love story or even details about their wedding, but their son once offered up a hint at how his parents came into each other’s lives.
When promoting his work in Wes Anderson’s 2021 dramedy, “The French Dispatch,” to RSNG.com, Timothée Chalamet compared the movie’s plot to his parents’ early days together.
“I loved ‘The French Dispatch’ because it really reminded me of my father’s heritage and how he met my mother,” he said of the film that revolves around the final days of a French news bureau. “My father was on a business trip to New York while he was working as a journalist for Le Parisien, the French newspaper. Now, he works at the United Nations. My mother was a dancer when she met my father, and now she’s working in real estate.”
It’s not just like the movie, but he added, “You could see the parallels.”
They have another child in showbiz
A star was born to Chalamet and Flender on Dec. 27, 1995 when they welcomed Timothée to the world, but he isn’t the only famous face in the family.
He has a sister named Pauline Chalamet, who’s three years older than him and a star in her own right.
Pauline’s credits include the 2020 Judd Apatow film “The King of Staten Island” and the Mindy Kaling-created Max series “The Sex Lives of College Girls.”
They didn’t name their son ‘Tim-oh-thee’
While “Timothée” doesn’t look like a typical Hollywood name, it certainly sounds like one when people pronounce it the same way they would “Timothy.”
There’s just one problem: That isn’t how it is meant to be said.
Like his father, the actor’s name is French.
“Honestly, it’s ‘Tim-oh-tay,’” Chalamet explained during a visit to “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” “But I would not oblige you to say it like that. It can be Timothy or Timmy or Doug or Alan. My parents cursed me with that.”
Mom ‘planted seeds’ for her kids’ careers
Flender attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, better known as the school that inspired the film and television series “Fame, and both of her children followed in her footsteps at the acclaimed institution.
But school was just one way she hoped to lead them to their callings.
“I took them to see many different plays and musicals when they were growing up, and I think seeing certain performances influenced them,” she told The Guardian. “The productions they’ve seen, and even growing up in New York, has informed who they are today.”
Although she told the publication she “planted seeds, and our lifestyle really inspired those interests,” she added that her kids “always had control of their careers.”
“I was encouraging, you know, but I wasn’t like ‘you better get this job,’” she said.
His parents’ favorite role
He’s played the chosen one of Arrakis, the swoon-worthy boy-next-door and one of pop culture’s greatest performers, but when it comes to the part his parents are most proud of, Timothée Chalamet points to his work in the 2023 musical “Wonka.”
“This is my mom and dad’s favorite project I’ve ever been in,” he told USA Today. “They’re thrilled. Ten years ago, this is what I thought I’d be in, tone-wise. My mom has been encouraging me to do a play for the last 10, 12 years. And my dad, too, he goes, ‘Wow. There’s a smile on your face, finally.’”
Good looks run in the family
Timothée Chalamet is an easy-on-the-eyes big screen heartthrob, and he knows exactly where he gets his handsome genes from.
When the “Dune” star paid a visit to the South Korean variety show “You Quiz on the Block,” he told hosts Yoo Jae-suk and Jo Se-ho that his father was in the studio, and as the camera cut to dad, he said, “He’s a good looking guy!”
His mom is his red carpet plus-one
From the Golden Globes to the Oscars, and at several awards season stops in between, Timothée has been seen alongside one reliable red carpet date again and again: his mother.
“I love being with my son,” Flender noted in an interview with The Guardian. “It’s as if we’re going to a party and he’s introducing me to some of his friends, his colleagues. Timmy is very personable.”
