

Sylvie Testud
Actor · Director · WriterSylvie 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.
More details at TMDB
KNOWN FOR
FILMOGRAPHY
ACTOR113

Cocorico 2
2026
Nicole Martin

LOL 2.0: Anne’s Golden Hour
2026
Sylvie

Where Souls Go
2025
Stéphanie

Proust and Signs: On Chantal Akerman's "La Captive"
2025
archive image

Cocorico
2024
Nicole Martin

The Two of Them
2024
Sandrine

Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara
2024
Mathilde

Marinette
2023
Régine Pierre, Saint-Memmie coach

Des mains en or
2023
Rose

Champagne !
2022
Joanna

Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir
2022
Sophie

The Grand Restaurant IV
2022

Simone: Woman of the Century
2022
Marceline Rozenberg (1968 - 1979)

Tout le monde savait
2022
Valérie Bacot

Flashback
2021
Olympe de Gouges

L'Heureux Stratagème
2021
La Comtesse

The Grand Restaurant III
2021
The nymphomaniac's friend

I Love You Coiffure
2020
Geneviève (segment "L'Addition")

Disclaimer
2019
Maïté

Wide Load
2019
Jennifer

Defiant Souls
2019
Enriqueta Faber / Enrique Faber

Quand sort la recluse
2019
le lieutenant Froissy

Meet the Malawas
2019
Nathalie Dulac
- Fan Club
Fan Club
2018
Anna

Suspiria
2018
Miss Griffith

Kings for a Day
2018
Val

A New Girl in Paris!
2018
Amandine

Deux gouttes d'eau
2018
Valérie Laforge

Mörderische Stille
2017
Elena

Wedding Unplanned
2017
Clarisse

Final Portrait
2017
Annette Giacometti

The Visitors: Bastille Day
2016
Charlotte de Robespierre

Arrête ton cinéma !
2016
Sybille

The Exchange Student
2016
Eloïse

Tamara
2016
Amandine

Spiderwebhouse
2015
Sabine

Too Close to the Sun
2015
Sophie Picard

Thanks to my Friends
2015
Stéphane Brunge

Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show
2015
Self

96 heures
2014
Marion Reynaud

French Women
2014
Sam

Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone
2014
Nadiège

Ceux qui dansent sur la tête
2014
Catherine

Two Women
2014
Elisaveta Bogdanovna

24 Days
2014
Brigitte Farell

A Song For Mama
2013
Sylvie

Max
2013
Nina

For a Woman
2013
Anne

Les Déferlantes
2013
Louise

My Name Is Hmmm...
2013
La mère de Céline

Roxana's Hands
2013
Roxana Orlac

À votre bon cœur, mesdames
2013
Lolita

The Night Clerk
2011
Sylvie Poncet

Rebellion
2011
Chantal Legorjus

L'Amour, la Mort, les Fringues
2011

The Round Up
2010
Bella Zygler

Mumu
2010
Mumu

The Rebel, Louise Michel
2010
Louise Michel

Sentiments provisoires
2010
Hélène

A Happy Man
2009
Catherine

Lucky Luke
2009
Calamity Jane

Lourdes
2009
Christine

Sisters
2009
Sybille adulte

Vengeance
2009
Irene Costello

Can't Say No
2009
Adèle

Sagan
2008
Françoise Quoirez dite Sagan

The Idiot
2008
Darya Alexeyevna

La Vie en Rose
2007
Simone 'Mômone' Berteaut

The Vanishing Point
2007
Lucie Audibert

La France
2007
Camille

Eat, for This Is My Body
2007
Madame

Arthur Honegger - Jeanne D'Arc Au Bucher
2007
Jeanne d'Arc

Legacy
2006
Patricia

La vie est à nous !
2005
Louise Delhomme

Words in Blue
2005
Clara

Tout pour l'oseille
2004
Prune

Cause toujours !
2004
Léa

Tomorrow We Move
2004
Charlotte

Victoire
2004
Victoire

Making of Tomorrow We Move
2004
Self / Charlotte

Fear and Trembling
2003
Amélie

Labyrinth
2003
Claude

Only Girls
2003
Tina

Dead Man's Memories
2003
Das Mädchen

A Moment of Happiness
2002
L'institutrice

Life Kills Me
2002
Myriam

Women or Children First
2002
Virginie

A Loving Father
2002
Virginia
- Stolen Tangos
Stolen Tangos
2002
Alice / Paula

Everyman's Feast
2002
Sophie

A Day in the Life of French Cinema
2002
Self

The Château
2001
Isabelle

Les acteurs anonymes
2001
Self (uncredited)
- Julies Geist
Julies Geist
2001
Julia

I’m Going Home
2001
Ariel

Scénarios sur la drogue
2000
Segment "Lucie"

Murderous Maids
2000
Christine Papin

The Captive
2000
Ariane

The Dark Room
2000
Azalaïs

Bad Connection
2000
Laurence

Annaluise & Anton
1999
Laurence

Marée haute
1999

Karnaval
1999
Béa

In Heaven
1999
Valeska

The Misadventures of Margaret
1998
Young Nun

Sentimental Education
1998
Julia

Fire in Paradise
1997
Esther

Beyond Silence
1996
Lara

Those Were the Days
1995
Sylvie

The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed
1994
Girl at party offering food

Marie's Song
1994
Marie
- Éternelles
Éternelles
1994
Nathalie
- Tout un poème
Tout un poème







