Timothée Chalamet is perhaps one of the most buzzworthy young people in Hollywood right now, especially considering his recent Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance in Call Me By Your Name. The 22-year-old actor was recently interviewed by one of his personal idols, Frank Ocean, over the phone for V Man magazine, and among the many nuggets of information Timothée disclosed for readers was how to actually pronounce his name.
It's understandable that most Americans would read "Timothée" and pronounce it "Tim-oh-thay" to account for the accent mark over the first "e" in his name. However, Timothée settled it once and for all when Frank asked him straight out of the gate, "Do people really call you Timothée all the way?"
"My whole life I was Timmy and then as I got older," Timothée replied. "It seemed like Timmy was youthing me out, so it’s been Timothée since. I tried Timo and Tim, too. The real pronunciation is Timo-tay, but I can’t ask people to call me that; it just seems really pretentious." It's sweet that Timothée doesn't want to sound pretentious, but c'mon, this is your name! Don't you want to, er, be called by your correct name (I'll see myself out), Timothée?
The young performer also opened up about acting in different languages. He told Frank, "When I act in French, it’s really shocking to me how it feels more grounding than acting in English. I grew up speaking French with my dad, but it’s not a language I have as much command over, so when I speak or act in French, the words mean so much to me; I’m so focused."
It's good to know that Timothée was able to settle the debate on just how to pronounce his name since it's likely that we'll likely be saying it a whole heck of a lot in the future when he becomes an even bigger movie star. With Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird comprising his 2017 film work and both earning Oscar nods, it's clear he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
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