Sylvie Testud
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1971-01-17
Place of Birth
Lyon, Rhône, France
Sylvie Testud
Biography
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.
Also Known For
Fan Club
Sep 19, 2018
Beyond Silence
Dec 18, 1996
La Vie en Rose
Feb 14, 2007
Annaluise & Anton
Mar 11, 1999
Scénarios sur la drogue
May 16, 2000
Flashback
Nov 11, 2021
Fear and Trembling
Mar 12, 2003
Labyrinth
Sep 09, 2003
L'Heureux Stratagème
Oct 15, 2021
A Happy Man
Feb 27, 2009
Lucky Luke
Oct 21, 2009
The Round Up
Mar 10, 2010
Lourdes
Sep 11, 2009
Sagan
Jun 11, 2008
Marée haute
Jan 30, 1999
The Château
Jan 16, 2001
The Vanishing Point
Nov 28, 2007
Sisters
Dec 16, 2009
Murderous Maids
Nov 22, 2000
Mumu
Mar 24, 2010
The Captive
Sep 27, 2000
A Moment of Happiness
Mar 06, 2002
Vengeance
May 20, 2009
Life Kills Me
May 26, 2002
Tout pour l'oseille
May 12, 2004
The Night Clerk
Mar 01, 2011
Champagne !
Jun 08, 2022
Only Girls
Jun 11, 2003
La France
Sep 21, 2007
Rebellion
Nov 16, 2011
La vie est à nous !
Dec 07, 2005
Cause toujours !
Jul 28, 2004
Women or Children First
Mar 20, 2002
A Loving Father
Nov 13, 2002
Tomorrow We Move
Mar 03, 2004
Victoire
Dec 22, 2004
The Rebel, Louise Michel
Apr 07, 2010
Eat, for This Is My Body
Sep 10, 2007
The Dark Room
Nov 29, 2000
Words in Blue
Mar 22, 2005
Karnaval
Mar 03, 1999
Marinette
Jun 07, 2023
Legacy
Sep 20, 2006
A Song For Mama
Mar 27, 2013
Max
Jan 18, 2013
Dead Man's Memories
Jul 06, 2003
Stolen Tangos
Apr 18, 2002
Cocorico
Feb 07, 2024
For a Woman
Jul 03, 2013
Les Déferlantes
Sep 12, 2013
My Name Is Hmmm...
Oct 07, 2013
Roxana's Hands
Mar 20, 2013
Fire in Paradise
Dec 10, 1997
96 heures
Apr 23, 2014
Des mains en or
Jun 07, 2023
Tout un poème
Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir
Oct 18, 2022
French Women
Jun 04, 2014
Everyman's Feast
Jan 25, 2002
Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone
Oct 08, 2014
Ceux qui dansent sur la tête
Oct 24, 2014
The Idiot
Aug 07, 2008
Two Women
Nov 23, 2014
Spiderwebhouse
Feb 08, 2015
Elles deux
Oct 12, 2024
The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed
Mar 23, 1994
24 Days
Apr 30, 2014
The Misadventures of Margaret
Dec 23, 1998
The Visitors: Bastille Day
Mar 23, 2016
The Grand Restaurant IV
Dec 15, 2022
Les acteurs anonymes
Oct 10, 2001
Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara
Jun 14, 2024
Arrête ton cinéma !
Jan 13, 2016
Too Close to the Sun
Sep 09, 2015
Julies Geist
Jan 01, 2001
I’m Going Home
May 13, 2001
The Exchange Student
Aug 24, 2016
Tamara
Oct 26, 2016
Making of Tomorrow We Move
Jan 01, 2004
Suspiria
Oct 26, 2018
Thanks to my Friends
May 06, 2015
Can't Say No
Jul 15, 2009
Mörderische Stille
Jan 09, 2017
Marie's Song
Jan 08, 1994
Wedding Unplanned
Apr 26, 2017
Final Portrait
Aug 03, 2017
Kings for a Day
May 02, 2018
A New Girl in Paris!
Jul 04, 2018
Bad Connection
May 12, 2000
L'Amour, la Mort, les Fringues
Feb 26, 2011
Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show
Jan 01, 2015
Disclaimer
Nov 27, 2019
Deux gouttes d'eau
Oct 19, 2018
Arthur Honegger - Jeanne D'Arc Au Bucher
Oct 30, 2007
Wide Load
Mar 13, 2019
Defiant Souls
Mar 07, 2019
Quand sort la recluse
Apr 10, 2019
À votre bon cœur, mesdames
Dec 04, 2013
Meet the Malawas
Dec 25, 2019
Sentiments provisoires
Jan 01, 2010
Éternelles
May 01, 1994
In Heaven
Sep 16, 1999
Sentimental Education
Jan 01, 1998
I Love You Coiffure
Dec 21, 2020
Those Were the Days
Sep 13, 1995
The Grand Restaurant III
Feb 03, 2021
Simone: Woman of the Century
Oct 12, 2022
Where Souls Go
Nov 14, 2025
A Day in the Life of French Cinema
May 20, 2002
Tout le monde savait
Oct 04, 2022
Cocorico 2
Apr 08, 2026
Proust and Signs: On Chantal Akerman's "La Captive"
Oct 09, 2025
C à vous
Sep 07, 2009
Runaway
Sep 23, 2021
The Unexpected Getaway
Oct 31, 2012
What Pauline Is Not Telling You
Mar 09, 2022
28 minutes
Jan 09, 2012
Maximilian and Marie De Bourgogne
Mar 01, 2017
Kemps
Dec 23, 2019
Deutsch-Les-Landes
Nov 01, 2018
A Case for Kin
Apr 08, 2023
German Film Award
Jun 06, 1951
Eden
May 02, 2019
Club Première
Oct 19, 2022
Knok
Apr 12, 2024
Capitaine Marleau
Sep 15, 2015
Fear by the Lake
Jan 09, 2020
Panique dans l'oreillette
Sep 06, 2008
Rendez-vous in an Unknown Land
Dec 26, 2004
Sur la dalle
Oct 21, 2024
On n'est pas couché
Sep 16, 2006
C à vous
Sep 07, 2009
