Library of the Performing Arts Unearths Video Showing 6-Year-Old Timothée Chalamet in “Romeo & Juliet” Ballet After His Oscar Loss
Library of the Performing Arts Unearths Video Showing 6-Year-Old Timothée Chalamet in “Romeo & Juliet” Ballet After His Oscar Loss
Jack SmartTue, March 17, 2026 at 10:58 PM UTC
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Timothée Chalamet via The Library for the Performing Arts/InstagramCredit: The Library for the Performing Arts/Instagram -
The New York Public Library’s Library of the Performing Arts shared a clip to Instagram of a young Timothée Chalamet appearing in a ballet production of Romeo & Juliet
He can be seen in a leotard and wings among other ballet performers onstage
The throwback moment from the library’s archive follows Chalamet’s controversial comment in a Feb. 24 conversation that “no one cares about” ballet or opera
Ballet has always been a part of Timothée Chalamet’s life.
In a clip shared to Instagram by the New York Library of the Performing Arts on Tuesday, March 17, the Oscar nominee can be seen participating in a ballet production. At apparently 6 years old, Chalamet can be seen in a leotard and cupid-like wings, hoisting a bow as if about to shoot an arrow.
The “little archival moment for” Chalamet, now 30, shows a moment from when he “took the stage in the ballet Romeo & Juliet, choreographed by Jacques d’Amboise, captured here in footage preserved at NYPL’s Library for the Performing Arts,” the post's caption read.
Timothée Chalamet at the 98th Academy Awards on March 15Credit: ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty
“From ballet to opera and beyond, the Library for the Performing Arts is home to recordings, photographs, programs, and archives documenting the performing arts,” the caption continued.
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The post follows a public outcry over the Marty Supreme star’s controversial remarks about opera and ballet. Chalamet joined Matthew McConaughey for a filmed Feb. 24 Variety and CNN town hall at the University of Texas at Austin, where he commented, "I don't want to be working in ballet or opera, or you know, things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive,' even though it's like, no one cares about this anymore.”
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Seeming to anticipate backlash to his remark, the Dune star quickly added, “All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason."
Chalamet's mother, Nicole Flender, and older sister, Pauline Chalamet, both studied at the School of American Ballet, while his grandmother, Enid Flender, was a professional dancer with the New York City Ballet. The Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts graduate has previously spoken about growing up backstage at ballet productions at New York's Koch Theatre.
Chalamet’s comments circulated just before the 98th Academy Awards ceremony on March 15, where his work in ping-pong drama Marty Supreme earned Chalamet a Best Actor nod. The win ultimately went to Sinners star Michael B. Jordan.
Matthew McConaughey and Timothée Chalamet on 'Variety & CNN Town Hall'Credit: Variety/Youtube
Many entertainment industry heavyweights criticized his insistence that “no one cares about” the old art forms, including ballet stars Misty Copeland and Tiler Peck; opera singers Andrea Bocelli and Isabelle Leonard; and the Metropolitan Opera. Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, Karla Sofía Gascón, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Jamie Lee Curtis, Charlie Puth, Steven Spielberg and more have also weighed in.
Among Chalamet’s upcoming screen projects is reprising his role as Paul Atreides in sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Three, set for release in theaters on Dec. 18.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
