Timothée Chalamet Follows James Dean as Youngest Two-Time Oscar Best Actor Nominee
Timothée Chalamet, after netting a best actor Oscar nomination for his role in A Complete Unknown on Thursday, has become the youngest multiple best actor nominee since James Dean.
On Thursday, film historian Mark Harris on his Bluesky account noted Chalamet had become the first to nab two best actor nominations from the Academy before turning 30, but only after following Dean.
The Hollywood icon, who died in a car crash in 1955 when he was 24, that same year received an Oscar nomination as the young hero in Elia Kazan’s screen version of John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden. Dean got a second posthumous nom for 1956’s Giant movie. Dean had been driving in his Porsche Spyder when he got into a head-on collision on a California highway, causing his untimely death.
Dean also died a month before the release of his most memorable movie, Rebel Without a Cause, where he played disaffected, suburban teenager Jim in Nicholas Ray‘s generation defining film.
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Chalamet, 29, performed the role of a young Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s musical biopic, A Complete Unknown, which earned him his second Oscar nomination for best actor. His first Oscar nom came for his star turn in the 2018 drama Call Me by Your Name.
The Oscar nom for his role in Luca Guadagnino’s coming-of-age drama came when Chalamet was just 22, made him the youngest person in 80 years to be nominated for best actor at the time. The youngest best actor nominee, however, was 9-year-old Jackie Cooper, who was nominated in 1931 for his role in Skippy.
Mickey Rooney was also only 19 when he was nominated for Babes in Arms in 1940. At the same time, Chalamet remains the first person since the 1990s to become a multiple-nominee in the Academy Awards‘ annual best actor competition.
