Known for both his incredible acting skills and his incredible fashion sense and good looks, Timothée Chalamet is one of the biggest young stars in Hollywood. His meteoric rise from dramatic, indie roles to star-studded, big-name blockbusters has been incredibly impressive. Chalamet’s range continues to prove to be his best strength, allowing him to step into roles that are dramatic, whimsical, action-packed, and much more. So, we set out to rank the 5 best movies starring Timothée Chalamet below.
5. Little Women
Little Women is Chalamet’s second collaboration with director Greta Gerwig. In it, he plays Laurie, the love interest of Amy March, played by Florence Pugh. Here, he delivers a performance that is both full of charm and also immense vulnerability. It being a period piece also helps showcase the range he possesses, able to adapt his style to the already existing source material. In a film full of stars, like Pugh, Saiorse Ronan and Emma Watson, Chalamet is able to carve out his own space and deliver an incredibly memorable performance.
4. Beautiful Boy
In Beautiful Boy, Timothée Chalamet plays a boy struggling with drug addiction as he and his father David (Steve Carrell) navigate his attempts at sobriety. It’s an incredible performance that earned him numerous acting nominations, including a “best supporting actor” nomination from both the Golden Globes, BAFTA’s and SAG Awards. While Beautiful Boy isn’t loved by critics overall, sporting a 68% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s elevated by Chalamet’s incredible performance, which stands as a clear highlight of the film.
3. Lady Bird
In what is Chalamet’s least involved role on this list, 2017’s Lady Bird sees the young star play Kyle Schieble, a young, rich, naive hipster love interest for Saiorse Ronan’s main character. While Chalamet isn’t in it for very long, when he is he’s absolutely captivating. He’s able to portray the sort of free flowing, “anti-establishment” lifestyle that his character tries to create in incredibly convincing fashion. His immense charm is also on full display here.
2. Dune/Dune Part 2
This may be cheating, but we don’t care. In our number two spot, we put both Dune and Dune Part 2, because Chalamet perfectly captures the entirety of Paul Atreides’ character from naive, young royal to leader of the Fremen and reluctant “savior” of Arrakis. This may very well be Chalamet’s most iconic role, as both Dune films have received immense acclaim for their adaptation of the original, iconic Frank Herbert novel. From intense action sequences to more mellow, dramatic scenes, there’s so much to love about his performance as the “Lisan al gaib”.
1. Call Me By Your Name
There’s no role more deserving for the top spot on our list than Chalamet’s breakthrough role in Luca Guadagnino’s coming of age romance film Call Me By Your Name. In it, Chalamet plays Elio Perlman, a young boy living with his family in Northern Italy. Chalamet meets his father’s visiting grad student Oliver and the two begin a secret romance that ignites the screen. As it stands, this is the only role that has earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and there was immense praise for Chalamet’s incredibly human performance as Elio. Chalamet, with his nomination, became the third youngest Best Actor nominee ever. If there is one film to define his skill on screen, it is certainly this one.
