Timothée Chalamet credits Lil B knighting him for launching his acting career

Timothée Chalamet has credited rapper Lil B for knighting him as a major contribution to the launch of his successful acting career.

• READ MORE:  ‘A Complete Unknown’ review: don’t think twice about seeing this brilliant Bob Dylan biopic

The Academy Award-nominated actor was the latest guest to be interviewed by Nardwuar on YouTube and during the chat, Chalamet took a moment to give rapper Lil B a shout-out after he was asked about being knighted by him.

“Lil B The Basedgod, I was telling this to Tyler, The Creator on set recently because Tyler had no idea I was knighted by Lil B, and then he said he could sense my aura and that it gave off somebody who had been knighted by Lil B,” he began.

He continued: “Lil B is like a hugely formative artist in my life and career. He dropped an album called ‘I’m Gay (I’m Happy)’ and the rollout was very ambiguous about his sexuality or the meaning of the album. I was just inspired from the sense of ‘Wow, this guy is just doing whatever the fuck he wants,’ and it was very cool for me at the time and this genre of hip-hop that he was just all over the place. Love Lil B, shoutout Lil B.

“Thank You Based God.”

Timothée Chalamet says his acting career took off once he was knighted by rapper Lil B at NYU.

(🎥 NardwuarServiette/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/je9BZRX1Cz

— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) December 26, 2024

timothée chalamet getting knighted by lil b the based god pic.twitter.com/aR9X0zfHC7 https://t.co/iWDoRLjaC9

— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) December 27, 2024

“I met him at NYU. I had $50 from a commercial I did, I bribed a kid to give me his ticket. I was in there alone, you know, front row to the right. I raised my hand and got called on by him and told him I wanted to ask out my crush and he invited me on stage and he knighted me and honestly, he said ‘That boy’s hand has been blessed’ and from there my acting career took off. Thank you Basedgod. I was struggling before that and then I was Oscar-nominated by the time I was 22. Shoutout Lil B, nothing possible without Lil B. Pray to the Basedgod.”

In a video clip of the moment, the Dune actor walked on stage and was knighted by the rapper. Chalamet then kissed his hand and walked off the stage as the crowd cheered and clapped for the two. “That’s my brother right there,” Lil B told those in attendance. “His hand is gold.”

Lil B has recently taken to X/Twitter to respond to the actor thanking him for attributing to his success and reshared a clip of knighting Chalamet with the tweet: “LEGACY AND LOVE! – Lil B.”

LEGACY AND LOVE! – Lil B https://t.co/F8qBhJWz4m

— Lil B THE BASEDGOD (@LILBTHEBASEDGOD) December 27, 2024

Chalamet’s portrayal as Elio Perlman in Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film Call Me By Your Name earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, making him the third-youngest nominee in the category and the youngest since 19-year-old Mickey Rooney in 1939.

Since then, he has received a slew of nominations for various accolades with the most recent being Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama at the 2025 Golden Globes for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

In NME’s four-star review of the film, Alex Flood wrote: “The most important (and often trickiest) job of any music movie is to get the music right. And this nails that. If you’re a Bob newbie, you’ll leave the cinema ready to dive into his back catalogue.

“If you’re already a fan, the next few weeks will be spent making playlists of lesser-known B-sides or reading the lore around a scene you weren’t familiar with. And that’s why it was a good idea to make this film – a mad idea, but a good one.”

In other news, earlier this month, Chalamet channelled Dylan directly himself at the A Complete Unknown premiere in New York City, complete with facial hair, blonde locks, leather jacket and grey scarf.

The actor also learned to play 30 songs from the Dylan catalogue in his years-long preparation for the film and took lessons from a vocal coach, a guitar teacher, a dialect coach, a movement coach and a harmonica tutor.

Dylan recently praised Chalamet’s efforts in the film and said “Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.”

He continued: “The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.”

Chalamet has since responded to the praise while quote-tweeting Dylan’s post. “Floored,” he wrote. “I am so grateful. Thank you Bob