
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
