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.
Known For

C à vous

C à vous

Capitaine Marleau

28 minutes

On n'est pas couché

Suspiria

LOL 2.0: Anne’s Golden Hour

Too Close to the Sun
All Movies (113)
- Cocorico 22026 · as Nicole Martin
- LOL 2.0: Anne’s Golden Hour2026 · as Sylvie
- Where Souls Go2025 · as Stéphanie
- Proust and Signs: On Chantal Akerman's "La Captive"2025 · as archive image
- The Two of Them2024 · as Sandrine
- Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara2024 · as Mathilde
- Cocorico2024 · as Nicole Martin
- Marinette2023 · as Régine Pierre, Saint-Memmie coach
- Des mains en or2023 · as Rose
- The Grand Restaurant IV2022
- Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir2022 · as Sophie
- Simone: Woman of the Century2022 · as Marceline Rozenberg (1968 - 1979)
- Tout le monde savait2022 · as Valérie Bacot
- Champagne !2022 · as Joanna
- Flashback2021 · as Olympe de Gouges
- L'Heureux Stratagème2021 · as La Comtesse
- The Grand Restaurant III2021 · as The nymphomaniac's friend
- I Love You Coiffure2020 · as Geneviève (segment "L'Addition")
- Meet the Malawas2019 · as Nathalie Dulac
- Disclaimer2019 · as Maïté
- Quand sort la recluse2019 · as le lieutenant Froissy
- Wide Load2019 · as Jennifer
- Defiant Souls2019 · as Enriqueta Faber / Enrique Faber
- Suspiria2018 · as Miss Griffith
- Deux gouttes d'eau2018 · as Valérie Laforge
- Fan Club2018 · as Anna
- A New Girl in Paris!2018 · as Amandine
- Kings for a Day2018 · as Val
- Final Portrait2017 · as Annette Giacometti
- Wedding Unplanned2017 · as Clarisse
- Mörderische Stille2017 · as Elena
- Tamara2016 · as Amandine
- The Exchange Student2016 · as Eloïse
- The Visitors: Bastille Day2016 · as Charlotte de Robespierre
- Arrête ton cinéma !2016 · as Sybille
- Too Close to the Sun2015 · as Sophie Picard
- Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show2015 · as Self
- Thanks to my Friends2015 · as Stéphane Brunge
- Spiderwebhouse2015 · as Sabine
- Two Women2014 · as Elisaveta Bogdanovna
- Ceux qui dansent sur la tête2014 · as Catherine
- Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone2014 · as Nadiège
- French Women2014 · as Sam
- 24 Days2014 · as Brigitte Farell
- 96 heures2014 · as Marion Reynaud
- À votre bon cœur, mesdames2013 · as Lolita
- My Name Is Hmmm...2013 · as La mère de Céline
- Les Déferlantes2013 · as Louise
- For a Woman2013 · as Anne
- A Song For Mama2013 · as Sylvie
- Roxana's Hands2013 · as Roxana Orlac
- Max2013 · as Nina
- Rebellion2011 · as Chantal Legorjus
- The Night Clerk2011 · as Sylvie Poncet
- L'Amour, la Mort, les Fringues2011
- The Rebel, Louise Michel2010 · as Louise Michel
- Mumu2010 · as Mumu
- The Round Up2010 · as Bella Zygler
- Sentiments provisoires2010 · as Hélène
- Sisters2009 · as Sybille adulte
- Lucky Luke2009 · as Calamity Jane
- Lourdes2009 · as Christine
- Can't Say No2009 · as Adèle
- Vengeance2009 · as Irene Costello
- A Happy Man2009 · as Catherine
- The Idiot2008 · as Darya Alexeyevna
- Sagan2008 · as Françoise Quoirez dite Sagan
- The Vanishing Point2007 · as Lucie Audibert
- Arthur Honegger - Jeanne D'Arc Au Bucher2007 · as Jeanne d'Arc
- La France2007 · as Camille
- Eat, for This Is My Body2007 · as Madame
- La Vie en Rose2007 · as Simone 'Mômone' Berteaut
- Legacy2006 · as Patricia
- La vie est à nous !2005 · as Louise Delhomme
- Words in Blue2005 · as Clara
- Victoire2004 · as Victoire
- Cause toujours !2004 · as Léa
- Tout pour l'oseille2004 · as Prune
- Tomorrow We Move2004 · as Charlotte
- Making of Tomorrow We Move2004 · as Self / Charlotte
- Labyrinth2003 · as Claude
- Dead Man's Memories2003 · as Das Mädchen
- Only Girls2003 · as Tina
- Fear and Trembling2003 · as Amélie
- A Loving Father2002 · as Virginia
- Life Kills Me2002 · as Myriam
- A Day in the Life of French Cinema2002 · as Self
- Stolen Tangos2002 · as Alice / Paula
- Women or Children First2002 · as Virginie
- A Moment of Happiness2002 · as L'institutrice
- Everyman's Feast2002 · as Sophie
- Les acteurs anonymes2001 · as Self (uncredited)
- I’m Going Home2001 · as Ariel
- The Château2001 · as Isabelle
- Julies Geist2001 · as Julia
- The Dark Room2000 · as Azalaïs
- Murderous Maids2000 · as Christine Papin
- The Captive2000 · as Ariane
- Scénarios sur la drogue2000 · as Segment "Lucie"
- Bad Connection2000 · as Laurence
- In Heaven1999 · as Valeska
- Annaluise & Anton1999 · as Laurence
- Karnaval1999 · as Béa
- Marée haute1999
- The Misadventures of Margaret1998 · as Young Nun
- Sentimental Education1998 · as Julia
- Fire in Paradise1997 · as Esther
- Beyond Silence1996 · as Lara
- Those Were the Days1995 · as Sylvie
- Éternelles1994 · as Nathalie
- The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed1994 · as Girl at party offering food
- Marie's Song1994 · as Marie
- Tout un poème—
All TV Shows (22)
- Sur la dalle2024 · as Froissy
- Knok2024 · as Blanche
- A Case for Kin2023 · as Capitaine Caroline Flament
- The Unexpected Getaway2022 · as Self
- Club Première2022 · as Self - Guest
- What Pauline Is Not Telling You2022 · as major de gendarmerie Marie Hermann
- Un monde, un regard2021
- Runaway2021 · as Isabelle
- Fear by the Lake2020 · as Alice Wagner
- Kemps2019 · as Self
- Eden2019 · as Hélène
- Deutsch-Les-Landes2018 · as Odile
- Maximilian and Marie De Bourgogne2017 · as Charlotte de Savoye
- Capitaine Marleau2015 · as Salomé Revel
- The Unexpected Getaway2012 · as Self
- 28 minutes2012 · as Self
- C à vous2009 · as Self
- C à vous2009 · as Self - Guest
- Panique dans l'oreillette2008 · as Self
- On n'est pas couché2006 · as Self - Guest
- Rendez-vous in an Unknown Land2004 · as Self
- German Film Award1951 · as Self