While Timothée Chalamet is now frequently photographed off set and on the red carpet alongside Kylie Jenner, his mom says his teenage years looked nothing like his current Hollywood life.
The Marty Supreme star became a worldwide name in 2017 after playing Elio Perlman in Call Me by Your Name, quickly earning heartthrob status. But before the awards buzz and blockbuster roles, he had a very different creative outlet.
Years ahead of his international breakthrough, video surfaced of Chalamet onstage at New York’s LaGuardia High School. The clip, which later went viral, shows him performing under the nickname Lil Timmy Tim, delivering an original rap that transitions into Nicki Minaj’s Roman Revenge.
Even if that rap era never turned into a full music career, his mother has since reflected on what he was like back then.
“You know, he was a rap artist at a high school so he did his own thing,” Nicole Flender said to PEOPLE at the American Ballet Theatre’s Spring Gala on May 20.
Flender also suggested that music wasn’t the only way he expressed himself growing up. While her daughter pursued ballet, she said Chalamet had his own approach to dance, explaining: “Timmy did his own dancing.”
She’s discussed his high school persona before, too. “Everybody loved it,” she previously told Business Insider.
Despite the Lil Timmy Tim nickname, his mom had far less stage-ready alternatives for him, recalling that to her he was ‘Tiny Tim’ or ‘Toothless Tim.’
And his interests apparently didn’t stop at performing. Flender has said he was also skilled at chess and Tae Kwon Do. After his work in Marty Supreme, he can now add table tennis to his growing list of talents.
More recently, talk about his rapping resurfaced when rumors circulated that he was secretly behind anonymous rapper EsDeeKid.
Asked about it at the time, Chalamet leaned into the speculation, answering with ‘no comment’.
He later appeared to put the idea to rest by sharing a video of himself rapping alongside the mysterious artist.
“It’s Timothée Chalamet chillin’, tryin’ to stack $100 million,” he could be heard saying on the track.
For now, Chalamet is likely focused on what’s next, including the anticipated Dune: Part Three—though fans will no doubt keep hoping Lil Timmy Tim makes an unexpected comeback.