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.
112 movies · 22 shows
Cocorico 2
2026·5.7
LOL 2.0: Anne’s Golden Hour
2026·6.1
Where Souls Go
2025·4.5
Proust and Signs: On Chantal Akerman's "La Captive"
2025·0.0
The Two of Them
2024·6.0
Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara
2024·7.3
Cocorico
2024·5.6
Marinette
2023·6.5
Des mains en or
2023·5.5
The Grand Restaurant IV
2022·8.0
Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir
2022·7.4
Simone: Woman of the Century
2022·7.9
Tout le monde savait
2022·0.0
Champagne !
2022·5.2
Flashback
2021·5.9
L'Heureux Stratagème
2021·0.0
The Grand Restaurant III
2021·5.3
I Love You Coiffure
2020·3.8
Meet the Malawas
2019·4.4
Disclaimer
2019·4.7
Quand sort la recluse
2019·5.9
Wide Load
2019·4.2
Defiant Souls
2019·6.1
Suspiria
2018·6.9
Deux gouttes d'eau
2018·6.2
Fan Club
2018·0.0
A New Girl in Paris!
2018·6.4
Kings for a Day
2018·5.7
Final Portrait
2017·6.0
Wedding Unplanned
2017·6.1
Mörderische Stille
2017·5.5
Tamara
2016·6.4
The Exchange Student
2016·5.4
The Visitors: Bastille Day
2016·4.2
Arrête ton cinéma !
2016·4.6
Too Close to the Sun
2015·5.7
Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show
2015·5.7
Thanks to my Friends
2015·5.1
Spiderwebhouse
2015·5.9
Two Women
2014·6.1
Ceux qui dansent sur la tête
2014·5.3
Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone
2014·5.6
French Women
2014·5.7
24 Days
2014·6.6
96 heures
2014·5.4
À votre bon cœur, mesdames
2013·5.0
My Name Is Hmmm...
2013·5.5
Les Déferlantes
2013·5.1
For a Woman
2013·5.9
A Song For Mama
2013·4.9
Roxana's Hands
2013·4.5
Max
2013·5.8
Rebellion
2011·6.7
The Night Clerk
2011·5.8
L'Amour, la Mort, les Fringues
2011·7.0
The Rebel, Louise Michel
2010·5.9
Mumu
2010·5.8
The Round Up
2010·7.5
Sentiments provisoires
2010·6.0
Sisters
2009·5.2
Lucky Luke
2009·4.5
Lourdes
2009·6.6
Can't Say No
2009·0.0
Vengeance
2009·6.6
A Happy Man
2009·4.6
The Idiot
2008·6.5
Sagan
2008·6.2
The Vanishing Point
2007·5.6
Arthur Honegger - Jeanne D'Arc Au Bucher
2007·0.0
La France
2007·6.4
Eat, for This Is My Body
2007·3.3
La Vie en Rose
2007·7.4
Legacy
2006·6.6
La vie est à nous !
2005·5.7
Words in Blue
2005·6.6
Victoire
2004·3.0
Cause toujours !
2004·5.0
Tout pour l'oseille
2004·4.9
Tomorrow We Move
2004·5.9
Making of Tomorrow We Move
2004·0.0
Labyrinth
2003·6.6
Dead Man's Memories
2003·4.9
Only Girls
2003·6.3
Fear and Trembling
2003·6.5
A Loving Father
2002·5.6
Life Kills Me
2002·5.3
A Day in the Life of French Cinema
2002·7.0
Stolen Tangos
2002·6.0
Women or Children First
2002·6.0
A Moment of Happiness
2002·5.3
Everyman's Feast
2002·4.0
Les acteurs anonymes
2001·6.5
I’m Going Home
2001·6.8
The Château
2001·5.0
Julies Geist
2001·10.0
The Dark Room
2000·4.6
Murderous Maids
2000·6.2
The Captive
2000·5.7
Scénarios sur la drogue
2000·6.0
Bad Connection
2000·6.3
In Heaven
1999·9.0
Annaluise & Anton
1999·7.2
Karnaval
1999·6.2
Marée haute
1999·8.0
The Misadventures of Margaret
1998·5.1
Sentimental Education
1998·7.0
Fire in Paradise
1997·5.3
Beyond Silence
1996·6.9
Those Were the Days
1995·5.8
Éternelles
1994·9.0
The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed
1994·3.5
Marie's Song
1994·5.3