Video: Timothée Chalamet Shares How His Drama Teacher Shaped His Acting Career

Many prominent actors and performers credit their teachers with giving them the inspiration and space to hone their skills and build a path to success in the performing arts. A Complete Unknown star Timothée Chalamet is no exception.

During a recent segment on 60 Minutes, the Oscar-nominated actor recalled how Harry Shifman, a drama teacher at LaGuardia High School, significantly influenced Chalamet's acceptance following an impressive audition.

Shifman remembered how he might see students audition who could connect emotionally with an audience or students who have a certain style, but noted that "It's rare to see a kid at that age who has both of those things happening."

Despite a successful audition, the school initially didn't go forward with Chalamet's enrollment, until Shifman interrupted a meeting with the principal to advocate for Chalamet, telling her "This is a student we must have. This is a real actor."

Chalamet, who still keeps in contact with Shifman, said that his teacher's decision to push for his enrollment "was literally life-changing...It actually really moves me." Watch the segment with Chalamet, Shifman, and Anderson Cooper now.

Chalamet has received Oscar, SAG, Golden Globe, and Critics Choice Award nominations for his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. The actor began his career as a teenager in television productions, appearing in the drama series Homeland in 2012. In 2014 he made his film debut in the comedy-drama Men, Women & Children and appeared in Christopher Nolan's science fiction film Interstellar. Chalamet came to international attention with the lead role of a lovestruck teenager in Luca Guadagnino's coming-of-age film Call Me by Your Name (2017), earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Alongside supporting roles in Greta Gerwig's films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), he took on starring roles as drug addict Nic Sheff in the biographical drama Beautiful Boy (2018), Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's science fiction film Dune (2021), and a young cannibal in Guadagnino's romantic horror film Bones and All (2022), which he also produced. He also played the role of Willy Wonka in 2023's musical origin story, Wonka.