All About Timothée Chalamet's Parents, Marc Chalamet and Nicole Flender
Get to know the ‘Wonka’ star’s parents, Marc Chalamet and Nicole Flender
Throughout Timothée Chalamet’s meteoric rise to fame, his parents have been his biggest supporters.
The Dune actor’s parents, Marc Chalamet and Nicole Flender, welcomed him in 1995 and raised him alongside his older sister Pauline in New York City. While both kids have found success with acting, Flender told The Guardian in March 2022 that she would’ve supported her children no matter what profession they chose.
“I’m happy that they’re successful and safe and healthy, and I would feel that way no matter what their profession was,” she said.
After his Oscar-nominated performance in Call Me By Your Name in 2018, Timothée spoke with ABC News about how much he values his parents’ constant support.
“My parents have been proud. ... I got really, really lucky with my parents,” he said.
So, who are Timothée Chalamet’s parents? Here’s everything to know about Marc Chalamet and Nicole Flender.
They met in New York City
Though it’s unknown when Marc and Flender tied the knot, they first met in N.Y.C.
During a 2022 interview with RSNG, Timothée shared a glimpse into his parent’s relationship while discussing his film The French Dispatch, which centered around journalists in France.
“I loved The French Dispatch because it really reminded me of my father’s heritage and how he met my mother,” he said. “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. But you could see the parallels.”
They have two children together
Marc and Flender are parents to two children. They welcomed their daughter Pauline in January 1992, and three years later expanded their family with Timothée on Dec. 27, 1995.
Pauline also has a successful acting career. She starred in The King of Staten Island in 2020 and has a lead role in The Sex Lives of College Girls.
In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2021, the actress said she is “in awe of the work” her brother’s done and that he “has come to almost every screening of a short film I’ve written or directed or acted in.”
They raised Timothée and Pauline in an artist colony
Marc and Flender raised their children in the Manhattan Plaza in Hells Kitchen, New York. The building housed many famous people throughout the years, from Tennessee Williams to Alicia Keys.
Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald in November 2022, Pauline said that she “had so many great neighbors” while living there, and it was “a building that so many artists in New York strive to live in.”
“The building imposed rehearsal hours where you were allowed to practice piano or, like, my parents had this board we kept under the living room couch that they’d take out when I wanted to tap dance,” she said. “I took it for granted. I mean, there was a period of my life where I resented my parents for living in this building full of kooky people. I’d be like, ‘It’s embarrassing!’ Now I’m like, it’s not really embarrassing, it was pretty cool.”
During an interview with The Guardian in March 2022, Flender revealed that her mother lived one floor away from their family and often helped care for Pauline and Timothée.
“I think the kids were just happy to have the friends that they had in the building and being able to grow up next to the swimming pool and tennis courts,” she said about her children’s experience in the building.
Flender is a real estate agent, dancer and actress
According to her 2022 interview with The Guardian, Flender has a background in the arts. She majored in dance at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in N.Y.C., and later studied French at Yale University on a ballet scholarship before switching to musical theater.
As a child, she danced with the New York City Ballet and later went on to perform in several Broadway musicals, including Fiddler on the Roof and Hello Dolly, according to her Corcoran Group profile.
She also previously worked as an English teacher in Paris and wrote behind-the-scenes stories about her Broadway experience for newspapers like The Boston Herald before becoming a real estate agent for the Corcoran Group.
Marc is a journalist
Marc is a successful journalist who started his career working for the Associated Press in Paris, according to his LinkedIn. In September 1987, he founded a news agency called News of America, which was in business for 13 years until 2000.
He’s also held positions at UNICEF and the United Nations, but most recently became the N.Y. correspondent for Le Parisien in August 2019.
Flender encouraged her children’s artistic interests
Flender’s love for the arts seemingly runs in the family, as her brother, Robert Flender, is a director, and her father, Harold Flender, was a screenwriter. Speaking with The Guardian in March 2022, she said she exposed Pauline and Timothée to the arts from a young age.
“I took them to see many different plays and musicals when they were growing up, and I think seeing certain performances influenced them,” Flender said. “The productions they’ve seen and, even growing up in New York, has informed who they are today."
Despite her encouragement of her children’s artistic interests, Flender also shared that she didn’t force them into their acting careers. “I planted seeds, and our lifestyle really inspired those interests, but they always had control of their careers,” she said. “I was encouraging, you know, but I wasn’t like ‘You better get this job.’ ”
However, even though she supported Timothée’s acting career, Flender told The Guardian she initially didn’t agree with the Bones and All actor’s decision to leave college.
“I always encouraged him to pursue his passion and dreams. However, I did not want him to leave Columbia. I had gone to Yale and I just felt college would help him be a well-rounded individual. But we didn’t know that he was going to become Timothée Chalamet,” she said. “He definitely made the right decision for himself because look where he is now.”
Flender often walks the red carpet with Timothée
Timothée often brings his mother as his date to award shows and movie premieres. She accompanied him to the Oscars in 2018 and the Golden Globes in 2019, where Timothée was nominated for best actor and supporting actor in a motion picture, respectively. Flender was also by her son’s side for the premiere of Bones and All at the BFI London Film Festival in 2022.
“I love being with my son. It’s as if we’re going to a party and he’s introducing me to some of his friends, his colleagues,” she told The Guardian in 2022. “Timmy is very personable.”
Timothée played a failed prank on Flender as a child
During an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show in January 2019, Timothée shared that he “had things to make up for” after playing a failed prank on his mom as a child. The actor went on to explain that he and his mom used to go on cruises together, and on one particular trip, he locked her out on the balcony while she was naked.
“I thought it’d be funny if I actually left the room, gave it a minute or two. And I waited like three minutes and I didn’t have my key card after, I realized,” he said. “I ran the length of the ship a couple times and was weeping. Finally got a key card and when I came back in ... she had covered herself with [the balcony’s footrest]. I was really devastated. She saw how devastated I was.”
Timothée is very close with his parents
Speaking with Harry Styles for i-D magazine in 2018, Timothée opened up to the singer about his close relationship with his parents and their mutual support.
“I think the most precious thing I get from my parents – and I try and give it back to them as much as I can – is their love and support,” he said. “I hope that doesn’t sound cheesy, but it’s true. In your late teens, early twenties you suddenly realize that your parents are human. That doesn’t mean I don’t get really great advice from them, because I do. But you reach a certain age and you take control of your own life.”
Timothée added, “My mom recently put this photo up of her and my dad at the L.A. premiere of Beautiful Boy, and its heart-shattering in a great way, they’re just beaming with pride. It’s almost overwhelming.”
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.