Highest rated as cast or director
Beyond Silence
1996
La Vie en Rose
2007
For a Woman
2013
24 Days
2014
Final Portrait
2017
The Round Up
2010
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.
Acted in 116
2020s
- 2026
Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara
Mathilde
- 2025
Where Souls Go
Stéphanie
Proust and Signs: On Chantal Akerman's "La Captive"
archive image
- 2024
Sur la dalle
Froissy · 2 episodes
The Two of Them
Sandrine
Knok
Blanche · 6 episodes
- 2023
Des mains en or
Rose
A Case for Kin
Capitaine Caroline Flament · 5 episodes
- 2022
The Grand Restaurant IV
Movie
Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir
Sophie
Tout le monde savait
Valérie Bacot
- 2021
L'Heureux Stratagème
La Comtesse
The Grand Restaurant III
The nymphomaniac's friend
- 2020
I Love You Coiffure
Geneviève (segment "L'Addition")
Fear by the Lake
Alice Wagner · 6 episodes
2010s
- 2019
Disclaimer
Maïté
Eden
Hélène · 6 episodes
Quand sort la recluse
le lieutenant Froissy
Quand sort la recluse
le lieutenant Froissy · 2 episodes
Wide Load
Jennifer
Defiant Souls
Enriqueta Faber / Enrique Faber
- 2018
Deutsch-Les-Landes
Odile · 10 episodes
Deux gouttes d'eau
Valérie Laforge
A New Girl in Paris!
Amandine
Kings for a Day
Val
- 2017
- 2016
The Exchange Student
Eloïse
- 2015
Thanks to my Friends
Stéphane Brunge
- 2014
Two Women
Elisaveta Bogdanovna
Ceux qui dansent sur la tête
Catherine
Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone
Nadiège
96 heures
Marion Reynaud
- 2013
À votre bon cœur, mesdames
Lolita
My Name Is Hmmm...
La mère de Céline
A Song For Mama
Sylvie
Roxana's Hands
Roxana Orlac
53Max
Nina
- 2011
Rebellion
Chantal Legorjus
The Night Clerk
Sylvie Poncet
L'Amour, la Mort, les Fringues
Movie
- 2010
The Rebel, Louise Michel
Louise Michel
62Mumu
Mumu
2000s
- 2009
Sisters
Sybille adulte
Lourdes
Christine
Can't Say No
Adèle
A Happy Man
Catherine
- 2008
The Idiot
Darya Alexeyevna
- 2007
The Vanishing Point
Lucie Audibert
Arthur Honegger - Jeanne D'Arc Au Bucher
Jeanne d'Arc
La France
Camille
Eat, for This Is My Body
Madame
- 2006
Legacy
Patricia
- 2005
La vie est à nous !
Louise Delhomme
Words in Blue
Clara
- 2004
Victoire
Victoire
Cause toujours !
Léa
Tout pour l'oseille
Prune
Tomorrow We Move
Charlotte
- 2003
Labyrinth
Claude
Dead Man's Memories
Das Mädchen
Only Girls
Tina
Fear and Trembling
Amélie
- 2002
A Loving Father
Virginia
Life Kills Me
Myriam
Women or Children First
Virginie
A Moment of Happiness
L'institutrice
Everyman's Feast
Sophie
- 2001
I’m Going Home
Ariel
The Château
Isabelle
- 2000
The Dark Room
Azalaïs
Murderous Maids
Christine Papin
The Captive
Ariane
Scénarios sur la drogue
Segment "Lucie"
Bad Connection
Laurence
1990s
- 1999
In Heaven
Valeska
Annaluise & Anton
Laurence
Karnaval
Béa
Marée haute
Movie
- 1998
The Misadventures of Margaret
Young Nun
Sentimental Education
Julia
- 1997
Fire in Paradise
Esther
- 1996
- 1995
Those Were the Days
Sylvie
- 1994
The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed
Girl at party offering food
Marie's Song
Marie
Wrote 3
2010s
- 2016
- 2012
Another Woman's Life
Writer
2000s
- 2009
Sisters
Novel
Directed 2
2020s
- 2022
Maman, ne me laisse pas m'endormir
Director
2010s
- 2012
Another Woman's Life
Director
Appearances13
2020s
- 2022
Club Première
Self - Guest · 1 episode
2010s
- 2019
Kemps
Self · 1 episode
- 2015
Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show
Self
- 2012
2000s
- 2009
- 2008
Panique dans l'oreillette
Self · 1 episode
- 2006
- 2004
Rendez-vous in an Unknown Land
Self · 1 episode
Making of Tomorrow We Move
Self / Charlotte
- 2002
A Day in the Life of French Cinema
Self
- 2001
Les acteurs anonymes
Self (uncredited)
Thanked in the credits1
1990s
- 1999
