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But how, exactly, would one pronounce your name?
Thats because Tim Baltz is actually Timothee Baltz.
What is your name?My name is Timothee Joseph Baltz.
Is there an accent?Technically, theres an accent.
I would never use it.
The accent would get so confusing.
Why is that your name?My mom emigrated from France when she was in her late 20s.
She definitely didnt think anything of it.
To her, it was completely normal.
Where did you grow up?I grew up in Joliet, Illinois.
How would people react to that spelling of your name?Just a lot of confusion.
I remember peers not really understanding and pointing to an alphabet chart and pointing to the letter Y.
Do you not know that this letter exists?
Its supposed to be spelled like this.
When someones pronouncing it with a Y instead of two Es, I can hear it.
If they like them, thats something special.
If they dont like it, its something bad, and youll be othered.
I know that sounds really ridiculous, but its probably true.
Also, if youre getting teased for something that minor, youre like,This is so stupid.
Then I went by Timmy.
Then people would call me Timmy B. a lot.
We would go stay with family, friends, and things like that.
So it was a very family-oriented not rural, but a small-town experience of France.
Did you stay with Tim through college?Yeah.
When you started in comedy, did you reconsider what youd go by?My middle name is Joseph.
Then when I started doing comedy, there already was a legend of Chicago improv comedy named T.J. Jagodowski.
So I was like,Damn, it happened again.So I just kept going by Tim.
I never really considered going by Timothee.
Ive always been pretty low-key about my French background.
Its always just been a hidden surprise, where people are like, Wait, you speak fluent French?
You got to be kidding me.
You literally just talk about NBA basketball and Tom Petty all the time.
Am I Timothee Joseph Baltz?But I felt established as Tim already.
I filled out my W-2, and I just put my full name on it absentmindedly.
I probably asked someone, Do you need my full name on this?
and they said Yeah.
So I just put Timothee.
That was the year I auditioned forSNL.
But wait, Im 31.
I shouldnt do that.
The only other time this has happened is theres this French basketball player named Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
That got me really excited.
I really wanted him to be a big deal.
What has it been like for you?Its great!
It feels like normalization of that spelling.
Before, when I presented my ID someplace, Id see them looking at it with confusion.
Now theres almost like an excitement and a clocking of another one.
Does it ever feel like his success is taunting you?
Ive always had a foot on both continents.
And then in French, be like, Hey, have you had the crab cakes tonight?
And watch them be like, Wait, what?
I didnt really know anyone who grew up between the two countries.
Instead hes famous and awesome.
Especially the first half of the movie, I was really drawn by his portrayal.
That ability to just be casual because his mind is so focused on the genius that hes pursuing.
Yeah, Im very much rooting for him to win that.
Specifically, because of your names?Yeah, definitely.
I mean, I wanted Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to be all-NBA.
So a lot is riding on Chalamet right now.
Imagine you are a kid again in Joliet, Illinois, but its 2025 and Timothee Chalamet is famous.
Do you think youll go by Timothee?Yeah, its probably normalized, so maybe I do.
Any final thoughts about your names?I love the normalization of it.
It would be very fun to speak French with him someday.
Ive gotten close to meeting Bradley Cooper, and Ive seen him do press in France.
Thats always been electric to see.
Ive always been a little too French here, and definitely a little too American there.
People see my face and theyre just like, Hey, youre American.
Ill speak perfect French, and it will not matter.
I was lucky to have a lot of different influences.
