Sylvie Testud
Acting · Crew · Directing
Born January 17, 1971, Lyon, Rhône, France
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.
Filmography
- 2026Cocorico 2 — Nicole Martin
- 2026Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara — Mathilde
- 2026LOL 2.0: Anne’s Golden Hour — Sylvie
- 2025Proust and Signs: On Chantal Akerman's "La Captive" — archive image
- 2025Where Souls Go — Stéphanie
- 2024Cocorico — Nicole Martin
- Knok — Blanche
- Sur la dalle — Froissy
- 2024The Two of Them — Sandrine
- A Case for Kin — Capitaine Caroline Flament
- 2023Des mains en or — Rose
- 2023Marinette — Régine Pierre, Saint-Memmie coach
- 2022Champagne ! — Joanna
- Le Figaro La Nuit
- 2022Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir — Sophie, Director
- 2022Simone: Woman of the Century — Marceline Rozenberg (1968 - 1979)
- 2022The Grand Restaurant IV
- 2022Tout le monde savait — Valérie Bacot
- What Pauline Is Not Telling You — major de gendarmerie Marie Hermann
- 2021Flashback — Olympe de Gouges
- 2021L'Heureux Stratagème — La Comtesse
- Runaway — Isabelle
- 2021The Grand Restaurant III — The nymphomaniac's friend
- Un monde, un regard
- Fear by the Lake — Alice Wagner
- 2020I Love You Coiffure — Geneviève (segment "L'Addition")
- 2019Defiant Souls — Enriqueta Faber / Enrique Faber
- 2019Disclaimer — Maïté
- Eden — Hélène
- 2019Meet the Malawas — Nathalie Dulac
- 2019Quand sort la recluse — le lieutenant Froissy
- Quand sort la recluse — le lieutenant Froissy
- 2019Wide Load — Jennifer
- 2018A New Girl in Paris! — Amandine
- Deutsch-Les-Landes — Odile
- 2018Deux gouttes d'eau — Valérie Laforge
- 2018Fan Club — Anna
- 2018Kings for a Day — Val
- 2018Suspiria — Miss Griffith
- 2017Final Portrait — Annette Giacometti
- Maximilian and Marie De Bourgogne — Charlotte de Savoye
- 2017Mörderische Stille — Elena
- 2017Wedding Unplanned — Clarisse
- 2016Arrête ton cinéma ! — Sybille, Novel, Screenplay
- 2016Tamara — Amandine
- 2016The Exchange Student — Eloïse
- 2016The Visitors: Bastille Day — Charlotte de Robespierre
- Capitaine Marleau — Salomé Revel
- 2015Spiderwebhouse — Sabine
- 2015Thanks to my Friends — Stéphane Brunge
- 2015Too Close to the Sun — Sophie Picard
- 201424 Days — Brigitte Farell
- 201496 heures — Marion Reynaud
- 2014Ceux qui dansent sur la tête — Catherine
- 2014French Women — Sam
- 2014Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone — Nadiège
- 2014Two Women — Elisaveta Bogdanovna
- 2013A Song For Mama — Sylvie
- 2013For a Woman — Anne
- 2013Les Déferlantes — Louise
- 2013Max — Nina
- 2013My Name Is Hmmm... — La mère de Céline
- 2013Roxana's Hands — Roxana Orlac
- 2013À votre bon cœur, mesdames — Lolita
- 2012Another Woman's Life — Director, Writer
- 2011L'Amour, la Mort, les Fringues
- 2011Rebellion — Chantal Legorjus
- 2011The Night Clerk — Sylvie Poncet
- 2010Mumu — Mumu
- 2010Sentiments provisoires — Hélène
- 2010The Rebel, Louise Michel — Louise Michel
- 2010The Round Up — Bella Zygler
- 2009A Happy Man — Catherine
- 2009Can't Say No — Adèle
- 2009Lourdes — Christine
- 2009Lucky Luke — Calamity Jane
- 2009Sisters — Sybille adulte, Novel
- 2009Vengeance — Irene Costello
- 2008Sagan — Françoise Quoirez dite Sagan
- 2008The Idiot — Darya Alexeyevna
- 2007Arthur Honegger - Jeanne D'Arc Au Bucher — Jeanne d'Arc
- 2007Eat, for This Is My Body — Madame
- 2007La France — Camille
- 2007La Vie en Rose — Simone 'Mômone' Berteaut
- 2007The Vanishing Point — Lucie Audibert
- 2006Legacy — Patricia
- 2005La vie est à nous ! — Louise Delhomme
- 2005Words in Blue — Clara
- 2004Cause toujours ! — Léa
- 2004Tomorrow We Move — Charlotte
- 2004Tout pour l'oseille — Prune
- 2004Victoire — Victoire
- 2003Dead Man's Memories — Das Mädchen
- 2003Fear and Trembling — Amélie
- 2003Labyrinth — Claude
- 2003Only Girls — Tina
- 2002A Loving Father — Virginia
- 2002A Moment of Happiness — L'institutrice
- 2002Everyman's Feast — Sophie
- 2002Life Kills Me — Myriam
- 2002Stolen Tangos — Alice / Paula
- 2002Women or Children First — Virginie
- 2001I’m Going Home — Ariel
- 2001Julies Geist — Julia
- 2001The Château — Isabelle
- 2000Bad Connection — Laurence
- 2000Murderous Maids — Christine Papin
- 2000Scénarios sur la drogue — Segment "Lucie"
- 2000The Captive — Ariane
- 2000The Dark Room — Azalaïs
- 1999Annaluise & Anton — Laurence
- 1999Gigantic — Thanks
- 1999In Heaven — Valeska
- 1999Karnaval — Béa
- 1999Marée haute
- 1998Sentimental Education — Julia
- 1998The Misadventures of Margaret — Young Nun
- 1997Fire in Paradise — Esther
- 1996Beyond Silence — Lara
- 1995Those Were the Days — Sylvie
- 1994Marie's Song — Marie
- 1994The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed — Girl at party offering food
- 1994Éternelles — Nathalie
- Tout un poème — Director, Screenplay
Appearances as themselves (14)
- Club Première — Self - Guest
- The Unexpected Getaway — Self
- Kemps — Self
- 2015Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show — Self
- 28 minutes — Self
- The Unexpected Getaway — Self
- C à vous — Self, Self - Guest
- Panique dans l'oreillette — Self
- On n'est pas couché — Self - Guest
- 2004Making of Tomorrow We Move — Self / Charlotte
- Rendez-vous in an Unknown Land — Self
- 2002A Day in the Life of French Cinema — Self
- 2001Les acteurs anonymes — Self (uncredited)
- German Film Award — Self