How world has fallen in love with new Wonka Timothee Chamalet, the heartthrob who was dating celebs before he was famous
HE is the Hollywood star who has taken over the pure imagination of women everywhere.
And now Timothee Chalamet has the starring role in family-friendly movie Wonka, it seems mums are the new target audience for the hot New Yorker.
Timothee, 27, Oscar nominated for his performance in the indie drama Call Me By Your Name, had developed a reputation for appearing in serious movies but his turn as the young Willy Wonka is sure to turn him into a household name.
He is dating Kim Kardashian’s half sister Kylie Jenner, 26, who demonstrated her dedication to her new man by flying to London for the premiere of Wonka, which was released last week and is now a box office smash.
But this is not the first time the high-cheekboned star has been romantically linked to the offspring of other celebrities.
He has dated Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose, 24, and Madonna’s daughter Lourdes, 27.
Kylie’s parents are Olympic gold medal winner Caitlyn Jenner and businesswoman Kris Jenner.
It is unlikely, though, that Timothee will be sharing intimate details of his life, like Kylie did on the fly-on-the-wall series Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
The private actor did not seem pleased to have been caught on video kissing his girlfriend this week and doesn’t discuss his private life.
But old pals from his drama school days say Timothee, who likes to wear flamboyant clothes, might put his ambitions above romance.
Caitlin Gann, his main co-star in 2012 production of Sweet Charity at New York’s LaGuardia performing arts school, told The Sun: “Him and Lourdes dated a little bit, I think he was really focused on his career, I don’t think he was going to let dating in high school get in the way of what his dreams were.
“He was determined and he had a lot of drive.”
The son of French journalist Marc Chalamet and American dancer-turned-estate agent Nicole Flender, he grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood in Manhattan’s West Side.
He appeared in adverts from the age of four, including ones for car oil and clothes detergent, before making his acting debut in an episode of the long-running US TV show Law & Order in 2009 aged 14.
That meant he had a considerable head start on his fellow students at LaGuardia, the school made notorious by the 1980 film Fame.
His older sister Pauline, 31, an actress who appeared in 2020 film The King of Staten Island and is in the ITVX series The Sex Lives of College Girls, had already studied at the same school and Timothee’s mum encouraged him to succeed.
Lindsey Spohler, who was in a production of Sweet Charity with Timothee, says: “She helped him in terms of his education and pushed him to be a successful actor.”
Even before Timothee graduated he had a gaggle of female fans in the school.
‘A little Justin Bieber’
Lindsey recalls: “When he walked into the basement of the school where the drama department is he would light up the hallway.
“He was like a little Justin Bieber.
“The girls always loved Timmy and they were jealous of getting to work with him. To everyone he was a celebrity before he got famous and girls were infatuated by him, not just his talents or that he was cute.”
Timothee might want to forget some of those early performances, though.
There are videos of him rapping on stage at LaGuardia in a way that could damage his street cred.
Every year he would do a bit on stage at the school as his hip-hop persona Little Timmy.
Former drama teacher Harry Shifman says: “Little Timmy was maybe his secret passion, he could make it as a rap star.”
But the students enjoyed it.
Lindsey comments: “We had this talent show every year called Rising Stars and he became a staple.
“He did this rap and he had people dance behind him and everyone was always excited for Timmy Tim.
“He would have all these girls and guys doing hip-hop dancing behind him.”
Lindsey remembers Timothee dating Lourdes, who was a year below him.
She says: “We all did Sweet Charity.
“They both spoke French fluently and would always speak in French and it was almost like a secret language.
“They had a great young love and I enjoyed being friends with them as a couple.
“The relationship ran its course, I don’t think it turned sour.”
Timmy and Lourdes would always speak in French and it was almost like a secret language. They had a great young love.
Lindsey Spohler
According to Lourdes, Timothee was her first relationship.
She said: “We were a little item. My first boyfriend.”
By the age of 15, Timothee had an agent and at 17 he went to Columbia University in New York before ‘dropping out’.
In 2012 he secured a regular part as the son of the vice president in the hit CIA drama series Homeland and two years later was cast in director Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi movie Interstellar.
His major breakthrough arrived playing the young summer love of Armie Hammer’s character in the Oscar-nominated Call Me By Your Name.
Timothee was nominated for best actor at the 2018 Academy awards, losing out to Gary Oldman for his role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.
Not long afterwards, Lily-Rose Depp appeared to fall for him while they were making the Netflix movie The King, based on William Shakespeare’s plays Henry IV and Henry V.
They were spotted kissing in the rain in New York in October 2018, shortly after the shoot finished.
But the romance only lasted for 18 months, with them both having intense work schedules.
The actor demonstrated his dedication to the job by losing 18lb for the role of a young drug addict in Beautiful Boy in 2018.
And he is used to making eye-catching style statements.
For red carpet events he has turned up in a rose print suit and worn a sequin hoodie.
That is another trait that has attracted female suitors.
In the summer of 2020 he started dating Eiza Gonzalez, best known for her starring role in TV series From Dusk Till Dawn.
But it was short-lived and his next major romance seems to be with Kylie, which began in April this year.
The reality-TV star had only broken up with long-term partner Travis Scott a few months earlier.
She has two children with the 32-year-old rapper who she had been seeing on and off for six years.
There was a lot of scepticism about the rumours that Timothee and Kylie were an item until the clip of them kissing provided proof.
Some of his obsessed fans did not take well to the evidence.
One site, Club Chalamet, posted a message on X/Twitter saying, “If you’re feeling distressed by the video, it’s OK.”
Fans fear that Timothee will suddenly start appearing in the Kardashians reality show.
But that seems unlikely, given the demand for his services in Hollywood.
In 2021 he appeared in three movies, the Netflix hit Don’t Look Up in which he snogged Jennifer Lawrence’s character, director Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, as well as Dune.
He is the lead hero in sci-fi epic Dune, the sequel of which will be out next year, starring Florence Pugh and Zendaya.
He was like a little Justin Bieber. The girls always loved Timmy and they were jealous of anyone getting to work with him.
Lindsey Spohler
Undoubtedly, though, it is taking over from Johnny Depp and Gene Wilder as the eccentric chocolate obsessed Willy Wonka that is his biggest moment yet.
The musical Wonka is a prequel to the previous films and explores how Willy went from selling sweets in a candy store to owning his own factory.
There were high hopes for the new movie because it is directed by Paul King who made the critically-acclaimed Paddington movies, and it is receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Paul said he cast Timothee as Roald Dahl’s most famous creation because he is “the most incredible actor of his generation”.
If he lives up to that praise, there will be no stopping the young actor.
And it will come as little surprise to those people who knew him before he was famous.
LaGuardia’s drama teacher Shifman concludes: “I believe he was always ambitious in terms of knowing that he wanted to be successful as an actor.
“He was determined to do so. I know that he set a goal for himself and he was determined to achieve it.”
Baby-faced heart-throb
By Sinead McIntyre, Fabulous Magazine Editor
MAYBE it’s because the first time I saw him he was playing Laurie in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, one of my favourite characters in one of my all-time favourite childhood books.
I wept as Saoirse Ronan’s Jo told him she didn’t love him and rejoiced as he got together with Florence Pugh’s Amy despite having read the book about a dozen times.
And at that moment I fell hook, line and sinker for Timothee Chalamet.
And I’m not the only one.
Women around the world are obsessed with the floppy-haired, baby-faced heart-throb.
Perhaps we all just want to mother him, at 27 he is almost half my age.
One look from those gorgeous green eyes sets my heart aflutter.
Which is funny, considering I am married to a shaven-headed Scotsman.
But I defy any female who has seen Timothee in the Bleu de Chanel ads not to be gripped by Chalamania.
For starters, those cheekbones could cut glass.
He reminds me of a young Johnny Depp – minus the drinking, drugs and chaotic personal life.
And maybe that is the attraction. In a time of global upheaval, Timothee seems to represent innocence and has an air of old-fashioned charm and kindness.
And maybe that is exactly what we all need right now.