Sylvie Testud
Sylvie Testud was born on January 17, 1971 in Lyon. Her parents separated when she was two years old. She spent her youth in the Lyon district of Croix-Rousse, raised by her mother, an accountant. In high school, she learned Chinese. Very early fascinated by the cinema, the young girl identifies in particular with the complexed teenager character embodied by Charlotte Gainsbourg in L'Effrontée. Having moved to Paris to study history, she soon embarked on acting by joining the free class at Cours Florent and then the Conservatory, where her teachers were Jacques Lassalle and Catherine Hiegel. She made her first screen appearance in 1994 in Couples et amants. She decided to become an actress during her youth, after having admired actresses in films. She then took acting lessons in Lyon with the actor and director Christian Taponard. In 1989, she moved to Paris to study history, as well as drama lessons in free classes at Cours Florent, then at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art for three years, with Jacques Lassalle and Catherine Hiegel for teachers. In the early 1990s, she obtained her first small roles in the cinema, then in feature films such as The Story of the Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed by Philippe Harel (1994), Le Plus Bel Age..., by Didier Haudepin (1995) or even Love, etc. by Marion Vernoux (1996). In 1997, Sylvie Testud experienced her first great success at the cinema in Germany with the film Beyond Silence by Caroline Link, for which she learned German, the clarinet and sign language. She is rewarded as best actress by the German Film Prize (the equivalent of the César for best actress). In 1998, she played her first major role in French cinema and enjoyed great success in France with the role of Béa in Karnaval, the first feature film by Thomas Vincent, for which she was nominated for the César for best female hope and received the Michael Simon Prize. She then began an important acting career with a preference for auteur cinema. In 2000, her performance in La Captive by Chantal Akerman (adaptation of the novel La Prisonnière by Marcel Proust) earned her a nomination as best actress at the European Film Prize. In 2001, she obtained, for her second nomination, the César for best female hope for the remarkable interpretation of Christine Papin, one of the Papin sisters, in Les Blessures assassines by Jean-Pierre Denis, based on a news item from 1933.
134 acting credits · 3 directing credits
Acting · 134
German Film Award
1951
C à vous
2009
28 minutes
2012
Capitaine Marleau
2015
On n'est pas couché
2006
Suspiria
2018
The Unexpected Getaway
2022
Too Close to the Sun
2015
The Unexpected Getaway
2012
LOL 2.0: Anne’s Golden Hour
2026
Maximilian and Marie De Bourgogne
2017
Un monde, un regard
2021
La Vie en Rose
2007
Vengeance
2009
Panique dans l'oreillette
2008
Kemps
2019
Rendez-vous in an Unknown Land
2004
Meet the Malawas
2019
Cocorico
2024
The Visitors: Bastille Day
2016
Cocorico 2
2026
The Round Up
2010
Lucky Luke
2009
Wedding Unplanned
2017
Final Portrait
2017
Runaway
2021
What Pauline Is Not Telling You
2022
A Day in the Life of French Cinema
2002
Eden
2019
Deutsch-Les-Landes
2018
Sur la dalle
2024
Knok
2024
Fear by the Lake
2020
Simone: Woman of the Century
2022
Tamara
2016
French Women
2014
The Grand Restaurant III
2021
Fear and Trembling
2003
The Captive
2000
Beyond Silence
1996
Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone
2014
Labyrinth
2003
Sagan
2008
24 Days
2014
Rebellion
2011
A Case for Kin
2023
Mumu
2010
The Grand Restaurant IV
2022
The Château
2001
Lourdes
2009
Annaluise & Anton
1999
I Love You Coiffure
2020
The Misadventures of Margaret
1998
Sentimental Education
1998
Marinette
2023
Mörderische Stille
2017
Marie's Song
1994
Champagne !
2022
The Night Clerk
2011
Wide Load
2019
A New Girl in Paris!
2018
Those Were the Days
1995
The Exchange Student
2016
Max
2013
The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed
1994
For a Woman
2013
I’m Going Home
2001
A Loving Father
2002
Club Première
2022
Cause toujours !
2004
Only Girls
2003
Flashback
2021
Two Women
2014
Disclaimer
2019
Life Kills Me
2002
96 heures
2014
The Vanishing Point
2007
La France
2007
L'Amour, la Mort, les Fringues
2011
Murderous Maids
2000
Tomorrow We Move
2004
Bad Connection
2000
À votre bon cœur, mesdames
2013
Des mains en or
2023
Kings for a Day
2018
Deux gouttes d'eau
2018
The Dark Room
2000
Legacy
2006
Women or Children First
2002
Thanks to my Friends
2015
Tout pour l'oseille
2004
Karnaval
1999
Roxana's Hands
2013
The Rebel, Louise Michel
2010
A Happy Man
2009
La vie est à nous !
2005
Ceux qui dansent sur la tête
2014
Scénarios sur la drogue
2000
Eat, for This Is My Body
2007
Sisters
2009
Stolen Tangos
2002
Fire in Paradise
1997
Everyman's Feast
2002
My Name Is Hmmm...
2013
Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara
2024
Victoire
2004
The Idiot
2008
Fan Club
2018
Arrête ton cinéma !
2016
A Song For Mama
2013
Quand sort la recluse
2019
Where Souls Go
2025
Les acteurs anonymes
2001
Can't Say No
2009
Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir
2022
Julies Geist
2001
The Two of Them
2024
Marée haute
1999
Defiant Souls
2019
Spiderwebhouse
2015
A Moment of Happiness
2002
In Heaven
1999
Words in Blue
2005
Tout un poème
—
Dead Man's Memories
2003
Sentiments provisoires
2010
Making of Tomorrow We Move
2004
Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show
2015
Arthur Honegger - Jeanne D'Arc Au Bucher
2007
Les Déferlantes
2013
Éternelles
1994
Proust and Signs: On Chantal Akerman's "La Captive"
2025
Tout le monde savait
2022
L'Heureux Stratagème
2021
