Timothée Chalamet previously had doubts about becoming an actor.
The 29-year-old actor grew up in New York City, and while he was around many creative up-and-coming performers, he recognized the struggles many actors endure when trying to make it. While speaking with Anderson Cooper on a recent episode of 60 Minutes, Cooper and Chalamet visited a building in the Theatre District that Chalamet lived in — a rent-subsidized building filled with artists.
“This building truthfully made me scared of acting because it’s a tough lifestyle and a lot of people aren’t doing fantastically,” the actor said.
Cooper mentioned to Chalamet that he’d assume growing up in that kind of atmosphere would “encourage” him to pursue the arts. Instead, it was the opposite for Chalamet.
“It actually terrified me of becoming an actor,” the Wonka star recalled.
Even though his family was immersed in the arts, his mom was a dancer and his sister, Pauline Chalamet, also acted and is most known for her role in The Sex Lives of College Girls. The Oscar nominee shared with Cooper that his dad told him to “be normal.”
“It’s no place for a child. It really isn’t,” Chalamet said of acting as a kid. “The cameras and people going, ‘Hey, do the thing where we recognize you as cute in your own head.’”
However, Chalamet ultimately decided to pursue the arts and has become a household name. He’s received two Oscar nominations so far in his career for his work in 2017’s Call Me by Your Name and, mostly recently, last year’s A Complete Unknown, where he played Bob Dylan and received rave reviews for his performance.
The press tour for the biopic has gained a lot of attention on social media. Leading up to the film’s Christmas release, Dylan even tweeted about Chalamet, praising him for taking on the role. “Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me,” Dylan wrote on X.
While Dylan and Chalamet still haven’t met, Chalamet jokes that if he ever does meet the “Blowin’ In The Wind” singer, he would try to avoid talking about the movie in an attempt to “out Bob him” and talk about “the weather” or his “favorite sandwich.”