Photo by J.F. Tannen
David Arkay, third-place winner of the infamous Timothée Chalamet look-alike competition is encouraging the next generation of Stony Brook University students to find the value in pursuing their curiosity.
In October, curiosity led SBU alum Arkay into Washington Square Park in New York City, where he was met with a crowd of about 2,000 eager fangirls and fanboys, dozens of Chalamet doppelgangers and one golden opportunity.
Flyers promoting the now notorious look-alike competition popped up on street corners and electric poles across Lower Manhattan in the weeks leading up to the event. They stated a time, a place, a photo of the Dune: Part 2 actor and advertised a $50 cash prize for the winner. The flyers could have been made by any fourth grader with computer access, but perhaps the comical presentation is a contributor to the explosion of attention the event garnered across social media.
Arkay and his brother joked that the other should enter after hearing about the event on social media. Fate had it that Arkay was visiting friends in Manhattan on that Sunday afternoon. A growing interest for the contest led him astray from his group to investigate. He certainly didn’t predict the following series of events.
Thousands of fans and a handful of wannabe Chalamets had gathered in the less than 10-acre city park. The momentous occasion startled even the ringleader: NYC’s Cheeseball Man and stunt Youtuber Anthony Po.
It was shortly after Arkay strolled into the park that the New York City Police Department sauntered onto the scene, slamming the organizers with a $500 fine and demanding the event be shut down. The crowd rushed to nearby Mercer Playground to finish the event, in what many attendees referred to as the “Timothée pilgrimage.” It was in this chaos that Arkay launched his legendary bit.
Arkay – who looks nothing like Chalamet, and wasn’t part of the competition – snapped back at reporters shoving him aside for a closer look, reiterating that he was indeed part of the competition. Humored by their confusion and denial, he weaseled his way closer to the stage to enter himself officially. Arkay removed his glasses and acted out what he described as a “low-grade Timothée Chalamet impression,” comparable to a “hyper squirrel.”
To his surprise, the crowd enjoyed his improv attempt, cheering him through multiple rounds, all the way to the finals. His run to the top of the Chalamet pyramid was even more impressive considering that Arkay bears no resemblance to the famous actor.
Reporters of all kinds invaded Washington Square Park and Mercer Playground during the contest, many of whom were hoping to snag a shot of the real Chalamet’s brief surprise appearance. In the week following his podium placement, Arkay spotted shots of himself in publications spanning the internet. His favorite photo appearance: Vogue.
Arkay appears in the spotlight in videos all over TikTok, as well as clips shown in news broadcasts across the country. A friend in China forwarded an article about the competition that clearly flaunts Arkay’s face. The contest recap video posted to Po’s YouTube has since amassed over 1 million views.
People Arkay hadn’t spoken to in years flooded the new Chalamet-esque sensation’s phone with flurries of questions and to share every corner of the internet he had reached. The New York Jets gifted the contest finalists a VIP experience with front-row seats and a jumbotron shoutout.
“I’ve been trying to work my own way up in the world; this is just a small part of it in my eyes,” Arkay said, reflecting on his flurry of fame.“It’s one day or one week out of years of me working on stuff. It’s crazy how one small piece can be so significant.”
Flashes as an overnight internet sensation are not foreign to Arkay. In 2021, an episode of his podcast, “It’s Going to be Arkay (with David Arkay),” peaked at #22 on Spotify’s U.S. trending podcasts chart, thanks to a guest appearance by the infamous TikToker Joshua Block, best known by his handle, @worldoftshirts.
Both Long Islanders, Arkay chatted with Block after catching him out and about in public, eventually building enough of a friendship to convince him to sit in on an episode. At the time, Block was still an up-and-coming content creator, lauded for videos of himself singing to the public throughout NYC.
“It was just a small little thing I did for myself, and I was happy,” Arkay said.“The next morning… I was looking at my email… it was a banner [from Spotify] saying, ‘Congratulations, you are #42 on the U.S. trending podcast chart.’”
The podcast episode reached listeners from 37 countries, trailing one spot behind former Saturday Night Live comedian Dana Carvey’s podcast all the way up the chart.
Despite its abrupt success, Arkay let the podcast fizzle out after a few months. He felt that after achieving his end goal in only three months of producing the project, it was worth pivoting his energy towards the next potential “side quest,” or small mission akin to tasks in a video game.
An assortment of meet-cutes with media stardom speaks to the frequent side-quester’s adventurous outlook on life: “I don’t ever want to be known for one thing,” Arkay said. He applies meaning to every interaction, building his image into a collage of creativity.
Drawing inspiration from artists such as Tyler, the Creator, Arkay lets his sense of wonder and free will guide him to say yes to every escapade that dances into his field of view. Gleaming, he said, “[Look at] Tyler, the Creator… that’s living proof… you can really do it all if you want… it goes back to the Timothée Chalamet thing. If I want to be Timothée Chalamet, clearly I can.”
The mystery of the unknown in strangers excites Arkay. He advises that you truly never know who you’re dealing with. On one occasion, he rattled with a stranger in a bar about he and his brother’s past lead roles in a theater production of Monty Python’s Spamalot. The stranger divulged that he was a good friend of Eric Idle, an original Monty Python cast member, and chuckled at the thought of passing on the anecdote.
Arkay jumps outside of familiarity again and again, whether it results in him securing a third-place prize or just a funny memory. His biggest tip for others chasing their curiosity: maintain your authenticity.
“I truly believe that if you can be your genuine self, people will detect that, and people do value that,” he added. “I debated getting a wig for the look-alike contest but ultimately decided as going as myself. But look, it worked.”
No new adventures are set in stone for the immediate future, but Arkay aims to keep creating. His attention lately has been directed toward creating short film content, perhaps collaborating with some of the other look-alike finalists that he keeps in touch with.
“The Timothée thing, unfortunately, isn’t dead yet, but you gotta take advantage of every opportunity you get.”
SBU can now add “home of the third-best Timothée Chalamet look-alike” to its list of accolades – at least to hold the place until Arkay’s next adventure.
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