Pauline Chalamet: Timothée Chalamet’s Older Sister and Her Own Acting Career
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Timothée Chalamet is trending in the United States on 14 November 2026 as the press tour for Dune: Part Three gathers pace, and as a prank he filmed with Zendaya and Anya Taylor-Joy for the BBC’s Children in Need appeal aired on 13 November. The actor’s older sister, Pauline Chalamet, has spent the same week in the spotlight for a different reason: her own career, from a decade of ballet training to a starring role in The Sex Lives of College Girls and a part in The Devil Wears Prada 2, has made her a star in her own right.
| Full name | Pauline Hope Chalamet |
| Born | 25 January 1992, New York City, United States (age 34) |
| Citizenship | United States and France |
| Education | Bard College, theatre and political science (graduated 2014) |
| Occupation | Actress and producer |
| Famous anchor | Timothée Chalamet (younger brother) |
| Partner | Rhys Raiskin (director) |
| Children | One daughter, born September 2024 in Paris |
| Net worth | Not publicly verified |
| Height | Not publicly verified |
| Social media | Not publicly verified |
Growing Up in Manhattan Plaza, Between New York and France
Pauline Chalamet was born in New York City, the first child of Nicole Flender and Marc Chalamet, and grew up in Manhattan Plaza, the federally subsidised artists’ building in Hell’s Kitchen. Her mother is a third-generation New Yorker, a former Broadway dancer who later became a real estate broker at the Corcoran Group. Her father is French, an editor for UNICEF and a former New York correspondent for Le Parisien. (Wikipedia)
Summers were spent in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, in Haute-Loire, at the house of her paternal grandparents, and she grew up bilingual in English and French. She was named after the Éric Rohmer film Pauline at the Beach. Chalamet has described her family as “very middle-class”, a long way from the Hollywood world her younger brother would later enter.
A Decade of Ballet, Ended by a Biking Accident
As a child, Pauline took piano lessons and, from 2001, classes at the School of American Ballet. At the age of 10, she danced in a Broadway production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and she also trained at Studio Maestro and the Rosella Hightower dance school in Mougins, in the south of France. She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, where she majored in drama and graduated in 2010.
A biking accident in 2010 ended any chance of a professional dancing career. She has pointed to seeing Liev Schreiber perform in Talk Radio in 2006 as a pivotal moment in her decision to act, a path she had long resisted while dance came first.
Bard College, Paris and the Long Road to Acting
Pauline applied to Bard College, where she double-majored in theatre and political science and graduated in 2014. While studying, she worked at the school library and helped out at a farm to pay off her student loans, and she interned at the International Crisis Group. For a while she thought of becoming a human-rights lawyer, but quickly discarded the idea.
After college, she worked odd jobs, including bartending, copyediting and babysitting, while writing in her free time. She decided to move to Paris without her family’s knowledge, signing a lease before telling them. She attended Cours Florent, then won an acting apprenticeship at the Studio Théâtre d’Asnières in 2016, where she regained her interest in acting.
Kimberly Finkle: The Breakout in The Sex Lives of College Girls
Pauline’s acting career had begun early, with a small role at the age of seven in the soap opera One Life to Live in 1999, followed by a part as a lead ballerina in Royal Pains in 2009. From 2016 she worked in short films in Paris, writing and directing several herself, and she won a Best Actress award at the IndieX Film Fest section of the Los Angeles International Film Festival for Comme des Grands.
Her feature film debut came in Judd Apatow’s comedy The King of Staten Island in 2020, where she played Joanne. That same year, Variety reported on 14 October 2020 that she had been cast as Kimberly Finkle, the valedictorian of a working-class public high school, in Mindy Kaling’s comedy The Sex Lives of College Girls for HBO Max. The series premiered on 18 November 2021 and ran until 2025, with Pauline in the main role throughout.
She has since appeared as Paola in the French series Split (2023) and as Leah in Nathan Silver’s comedy Between the Temples (2024). In 2025 she produced and starred in the short film Tell Me More alongside Ruth Negga and Irène Jacob, directed by her partner Rhys Raiskin.
Gummy Films: Producing Her Own Stories
In 2019, Pauline co-founded the production company Gummy Films with Rachel Walden and Luca Balser. Through the company she co-produced and starred in the dark comedy What Doesn’t Float (2023), and co-produced the short Lemon Tree, which premiered during Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
Her work behind the camera extends to advocacy. As a member of the Creative Coalition, she joined other actors on Capitol Hill to meet members of Congress and argue for funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, a case she also made in an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter.
Sister, Partner and Mother: Life Beyond Her Brother’s Spotlight
Pauline is in a relationship with director Rhys Raiskin, and in September 2024 it was confirmed that she had given birth to a daughter earlier that month in Paris. Her daughter’s name has not been publicly reported. As of 2024, she split her time between Paris and Los Angeles.
The siblings remain close, and both attended LaGuardia High School. Like Erin Darke, who built her own acting career alongside a famous partner, Pauline has carved out a path that stands apart from her brother’s fame. Her uncle Rodman Flender and aunt Amy Lippman are husband-and-wife filmmakers, so the creative streak runs through both sides of the family. Vivienne Jolie, another child of famous parents forging her own path, shows the same pattern of a famous family name paired with independent work.
Pauline Chalamet’s Net Worth and What Comes Next
Pauline Chalamet’s net worth is not publicly verified, and no reliable public estimate exists, so this article does not put a figure on it. Her income comes from acting and producing, including her Gummy Films work, but the details of her earnings are private.
What comes next is clearer. She plays Ilana Poole in The Devil Wears Prada 2, the sequel to the 2006 comedy-drama, and she appears in Steve Pink’s thriller Terrestrial as Maddie. Meanwhile her brother’s Dune: Part Three, the film behind this week’s trending searches, opens in cinemas on 18 December 2026 in North America, with a Korean release on 16 December.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Pauline Chalamet?
Pauline Hope Chalamet is an American and French actress and producer, best known as Kimberly Finkle in The Sex Lives of College Girls. She is the older sister of actor Timothée Chalamet.
How old is Pauline Chalamet?
She is 34, born on 25 January 1992 in New York City.
What is Pauline Chalamet known for?
Her breakout role as Kimberly in The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021–2025), her feature debut in The King of Staten Island (2020), and co-founding the production company Gummy Films.
Is Pauline Chalamet married?
No marriage has been publicly confirmed. Her partner is director Rhys Raiskin, and the couple welcomed a daughter in September 2024.
What is Pauline Chalamet’s net worth?
Not publicly verified. No reliable public estimate of her personal net worth exists.
Are Pauline and Timothée Chalamet close?
The siblings grew up together in Manhattan Plaza in New York and both attended LaGuardia High School. Pauline has described the family as “very middle-class” and built her career largely in Paris, away from her brother’s Hollywood spotlight.
Myth-Busting
- Myth: Pauline Chalamet is Timothée Chalamet’s younger sister. Fact: she is his older sister, born in January 1992, nearly four years before Timothée, who was born on 27 December 1995.
- Myth: Pauline rode her brother’s fame into acting. Fact: she began acting at seven in 1999, trained as a dancer for a decade, studied at Bard College and built her career in Paris before her breakout role in 2021.
- Myth: Pauline Chalamet is married to Rhys Raiskin. Fact: reports describe Raiskin as her partner, and no marriage has been publicly confirmed.
