Sylvie Testud
Known for: Acting
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
Series
C à vous
Self
2009
Series
C à vous
Self - Guest
2009
German Film Award
Self
1951
Series
28 minutes
Self
2012
Series
The Unexpected Getaway
Self
2022
Series
On n'est pas couché
Self - Guest
2006
Series
Capitaine Marleau
Salomé Revel
2015
Series
The Unexpected Getaway
Self
2012
Le Figaro La Nuit
2022
Series
Un monde, un regard
2021
Series
Rendez-vous in an Unknown Land
Self
2004
Film
Suspiria
Miss Griffith
2018
Series
Panique dans l'oreillette
Self
2008
Series
Kemps
Self
2019
Series
Maximilian and Marie De Bourgogne
Charlotte de Savoye
2017
Series
What Pauline Is Not Telling You
major de gendarmerie Marie Hermann
2022
Series
Club Première
Self - Guest
2022
Film
24 Days
Brigitte Farell
2014
Series
Deutsch-Les-Landes
Odile
2018
Film
Vengeance
Irene Costello
2009
Film
La Vie en Rose
Simone 'Mômone' Berteaut
2007
Film
The Visitors: Bastille Day
Charlotte de Robespierre
2016
Film
Too Close to the Sun
Sophie Picard
2015
Film
Legacy
Patricia
2006
Film
LOL 2.0: Anne’s Golden Hour
Sylvie
2026
Series
Eden
Hélène
2019
Film
Everyman's Feast
Sophie
2002
Film
Final Portrait
Annette Giacometti
2017
Film
The Round Up
Bella Zygler
2010
Film
Cocorico 2
Nicole Martin
2026
Series
Fear by the Lake
Alice Wagner
2020
Series
Runaway
Isabelle
2021
Film
96 heures
Marion Reynaud
2014
Film
Karnaval
Béa
1999
Film
Lucky Luke
Calamity Jane
2009
Film
Wide Load
Jennifer
2019
Film
Sagan
Françoise Quoirez dite Sagan
2008
Film
I’m Going Home
Ariel
2001
Film
Simone: Woman of the Century
Marceline Rozenberg (1968 - 1979)
2022
Series
Quand sort la recluse
le lieutenant Froissy
2019
Film
Two Women
Elisaveta Bogdanovna
2014
Film
French Women
Sam
2014
Film
L'Heureux Stratagème
La Comtesse
2021
Film
Meet the Malawas
Nathalie Dulac
2019
Film
Eat, for This Is My Body
Madame
2007
Film
Rebellion
Chantal Legorjus
2011
Series
A Case for Kin
Capitaine Caroline Flament
2023
Film
For a Woman
Anne
2013
Film
Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show
Self
2015
Film
Cocorico
Nicole Martin
2024
Film
Bad Connection
Laurence
2000
Film
Wedding Unplanned
Clarisse
2017
Film
Where Souls Go
Stéphanie
2025
Film
Murderous Maids
Christine Papin
2000
Series
Knok
Blanche
2024
Film
À votre bon cœur, mesdames
Lolita
2013
Film
My Name Is Hmmm...
La mère de Céline
2013
Film
Scénarios sur la drogue
Segment "Lucie"
2000
Film
The Exchange Student
Eloïse
2016
Film
The Misadventures of Margaret
Young Nun
1998
Film
A Day in the Life of French Cinema
Self
2002
Series
Sur la dalle
Froissy
2024
Film
Quand sort la recluse
le lieutenant Froissy
2019
Film
The Captive
Ariane
2000
Film
The Two of Them
Sandrine
2024
Film
Max
Nina
2013
Film
Des mains en or
Rose
2023
Film
Marinette
Régine Pierre, Saint-Memmie coach
2023
Film
The Grand Restaurant III
The nymphomaniac's friend
2021
Film
Labyrinth
Claude
2003
Film
Tout pour l'oseille
Prune
2004
Film
Sentiments provisoires
Hélène
2010
Film
Beyond Silence
Lara
1996
Fan Club
Anna
2018
Film
Annaluise & Anton
Laurence
1999
Film
I Love You Coiffure
Geneviève (segment "L'Addition")
2020
Film
Champagne !
Joanna
2022
Film
Fire in Paradise
Esther
1997
Film
Lourdes
Christine
2009
Film
Victoire
Victoire
2004
Film
Tamara
Amandine
2016
Film
Spiderwebhouse
Sabine
2015
Film
Life Kills Me
Myriam
2002
Film
L'Amour, la Mort, les Fringues
2011
Film
In Heaven
Valeska
1999
Film
Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara
Mathilde
2026
Film
A New Girl in Paris!
Amandine
2018
Film
Tomorrow We Move
Charlotte
2004
Film
Kings for a Day
Val
2018
Film
Thanks to my Friends
Stéphane Brunge
2015
Film
Fear and Trembling
Amélie
2003
Film
Those Were the Days
Sylvie
1995
Film
Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone
Nadiège
2014
Film
A Happy Man
Catherine
2009
Film
Roxana's Hands
Roxana Orlac
2013
Film
Marie's Song
Marie
1994
Film
La vie est à nous !
Louise Delhomme
2005
Film
The Grand Restaurant IV
2022
Film
Les Déferlantes
Louise
2013
Film
The Vanishing Point
Lucie Audibert
2007
Film
Only Girls
Tina
2003
Film
Words in Blue
Clara
2005
Stolen Tangos
Alice / Paula
2002
Julies Geist
Julia
2001
Film
Proust and Signs: On Chantal Akerman's "La Captive"
archive image
2025
Film
The Château
Isabelle
2001
Film
Flashback
Olympe de Gouges
2021
Film
Sisters
Sybille adulte
2009
Film
Disclaimer
Maïté
2019
Film
Ceux qui dansent sur la tête
Catherine
2014
Film
Mumu
Mumu
2010
Film
A Song For Mama
Sylvie
2013
Film
Can't Say No
Adèle
2009
Film
Arrête ton cinéma !
Sybille
2016
Film
Deux gouttes d'eau
Valérie Laforge
2018
Film
Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir
Sophie
2022
Film
The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed
Girl at party offering food
1994
Film
A Moment of Happiness
L'institutrice
2002
Film
Making of Tomorrow We Move
Self / Charlotte
2004
Film
The Night Clerk
Sylvie Poncet
2011
Film
Mörderische Stille
Elena
2017
Film
The Rebel, Louise Michel
Louise Michel
2010
Film
A Loving Father
Virginia
2002
Film
Women or Children First
Virginie
2002
Film
La France
Camille
2007
Film
Tout le monde savait
Valérie Bacot
2022
Film
Sentimental Education
Julia
1998
Film
Arthur Honegger - Jeanne D'Arc Au Bucher
Jeanne d'Arc
2007
Film
Les acteurs anonymes
Self (uncredited)
2001
Film
The Idiot
Darya Alexeyevna
2008
Film
Cause toujours !
Léa
2004
Film
The Dark Room
Azalaïs
2000
Film
Defiant Souls
Enriqueta Faber / Enrique Faber
2019
Film
Dead Man's Memories
Das Mädchen
2003
Éternelles
Nathalie
1994
Tout un poème
Film
Marée haute
1999