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