'I was just a crazy kid in high school...' Timothee Chalamet opens up on his life in Hell's Kitchen
Timothee Chalamet has shared details on what he was like as a youngster growing up in the Manhattan Plaza in Hell's Kitchen, New York, a building which was also home to a young Alicia Keys.
Timothee Chalamet has admitted to being a "crazy kid in high school" when he was growing up in Hell's Kitchen.
The 29-year-old actor lived with his family in the federally subsidised artists' building Manhattan Plaza in Hell's Kitchen under the Mitchell–Lama programme, a block which also housed a young Alicia Keys and a young Samuel L. Jackson.
Chalamet - whose older sister Pauline Chalamet is an actress, while his mother Nicole Flender is a former Broadway dancer - admits at school he was only interested in acting and was quite a handful.
Appearing on the 'Nardwuar The Human Serviette' podcast, he shared: "The building I grew up in in Hell's Kitchen was basically an arts block and was also home to a young Alicia Keys and Samuel L. Jackson.
"They built it as regular apartments but, back then, the mafia was so infiltrated in Hell's Kitchen, they cut a deal with the federal government so they provided low-income arts housing for all these crazy artists to grow up in.
"I was just a crazy kid in high school. Shout out to everyone who had patience for me at that time."
Chalamet's passion for acting paid off and he is now one of the most in-demand actors around with lead roles in 'Dune', 'Wonka' and Call 'Me by Your Name'.
He will next be seen playing Bob Dylan in the music biopic 'A Complete Unknown', and Timothee has described it as the "greatest honour" so far in his career.
He said: "I get to be the voice of Bob Dylan, and that is the greatest honour of my life, truly.
"This is the movie I am the most proud of in my career.
"Dylan deserves to get this attention."
For five years, Chalamet worked tirelessly to channel his inner Dylan, and he even learned to play the guitar and harmonica.
He revealed: "When I took this role, I went to Bob Dylan's childhood home and saw all the original Sun Records he had.
"It took me five years to learn to play the guitar.
"All the downtime in between filming, I would just play.
"I also learned how to play harmonica for the role.
"It is the perfect thing to pull out at a party and make everyone go, 'Oh my God!'"
As a result of his hard work, Dylan praised Chalamet's performance on the social media platform X, something which Timothee found "deeply validating".
The actor told 'Extra': "He's a man of few words.
"He's probably said fewer words publicly in his life than I've said in this interview alone, so to get some sort of … affirmation - deeply validating.
"Everything we do in life, we want our heroes to, should they even know about us, affirm us, so the fact that he did, it's more than I could ever ask for, and hopefully he doesn't delete it."
