# Elsa Zylberstein

Elsa Zylberstein (born Elsa Florence Zylbersztejn, 16 October 1968) is a French actress. After studying drama, she began her film career in 1989, and has appeared in more than 60 films. She won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for I've Loved You So Long (2008).

## Early life

Zylberstein was born Elsa Florence Zylbersztejn in Paris to an Ashkenazi Jewish Polish father, Albert Zylbersztejn (born 1938), and a French Catholic mother, Liliane Chenard (born 1940). Her father is a physicist and her mother was a beautician for Dior. She has a brother, Benjamin (born c. 1970). Zylberstein felt both Jewish and Christian; now she is "attracted to Buddhist rites". She has practised classical dance since her childhood. After a Baccalauréat A3, she began university and studied English, but she was strongly attracted to artistic pursuits. She studied acting under Francis Huster at the Cours Florent on the advice of Charlotte Rampling, whom Elsa Zylberstein's father met by chance on a plane, and also works with a professor at the Actors Studio.

## Career

In 1991, Elsa Zylberstein appeared in Van Gogh, a film directed by Maurice Pialat. In 1992, she won the Michel Simon Prize and the first of her three nominations for the César Award for Most Promising Actress. In 1993, she played a student in Beau fixe, and won the Prix Romy Schneider.
She inspired young directors such as Pascale Bailly, Diane Bertrand and especially Martine Dugowson, who offered her the lead role alongside Romane Bohringer in Mina Tannenbaum (1994). She then appeared in Farinelli, Mr N., and Jefferson in Paris. She played Suzanne Valadon in Lautrec, and then Jeanne Hébuterne in Modigliani. Zylberstein played a Yiddish-language singer who falls in love with a gay clarinetist in Man Is a Woman, which also starred Antoine de Caunes. She also appeared in the films Time Regained, Love Torn in a Dream, and That Day, all three of which were directed by Raúl Ruiz.
In 2006 she played Mathilde, an Orthodox Jewish woman faced with marriage problems, in Little Jerusalem. She also appeared in J'invente rien, based on a novel by Christine Angot. In 2008, she was in two films which were each presented at the Berlin Festival: I've Loved You So Long, with Kristin Scott Thomas, and La Fabrique des sentiments.
In 2009, she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in I've Loved You So Long. The film was directed by Philippe Claudel and also starred Kristin Scott Thomas.
She has been a member of several festival juries, including the 1999 American Film Festival in Deauville, the 2010 British Film Festival in Dinard, the Beaune International Detective Film Festival (in both 2009 and 2015) and the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2021.
In 2020, she won the Best Acting Award for Tout nous sourit at the Alpe d'Huez Comedy Festival.

## Personal life

Zylberstein dated Antoine de Caunes between 1997 and 2005. She then dated Nicolas Bedos from 2005 to 2008. Later she dated Georges-Marc Benamou, advisor to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, although she is a staunch supporter of the Socialist Party.
In 2009, Zylberstein signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse case.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1989 | Baptême | Gabrielle | René Féret | |
| 1990 | Chillers | Isabelle | Maurice Dugowson | TV series (1 Episode) |
| 1991 | Génial, mes parents divorcent ! | Thomas's Sister | Patrick Braoudé | |
| 1991 | Van Gogh | Cathy | Maurice Pialat | Acteurs à l'Écran - Best Actress Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress |
| 1991 | La neige et le feu | | Claude Pinoteau | |
| 1991 | Alisée | Alisée | André Blanchard | |
| 1992 | Amoureuse | The Farsighted | Jacques Doillon | |
| 1992 | Beau fixe | Frederique | Christian Vincent | Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress |
| 1992 | Princesse Alexandra | Sister Ermenegilde | Denis Amar | TV movie |
| 1992 | La grande collection | Mercedes | Gérard Vergez | TV series (1 Episode) |
| 1993 | De force avec d'autres | Do | Simon Reggiani | |
| 1993 | La place d'un autre | Florence | René Féret (2) | |
| 1993 | Comment font les gens | Yvette | Pascale Bailly | Short |
| 1993 | L'orange amère | Fanny | Olivier Sadock | Short |
| 1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | The Telephone Girl | Simon Wincer & Carl Schultz | TV series (1 Episode) |
| 1994 | Mina Tannenbaum | Ethel Benegui | Martine Dugowson | Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress |
| 1994 | Farinelli | Alexandra | Gérard Corbiau | |
| 1995 | Jefferson in Paris | Adrienne de La Fayette | James Ivory | |
| 1996 | A Saturday on Earth | Claire | Diane Bertrand | |
| 1996 | Portraits chinois | Emma | Martine Dugowson (2) | |
| 1997 | Tenue correcte exigée | Lucie | Philippe Lioret | |
| 1997 | Metroland | Annick | Philip Saville | |
| 1997 | XXL | Arlette Stern | Ariel Zeitoun | |
| 1998 | Man Is a Woman | Rosalie Baumann | Jean-Jacques Zilbermann | Cabourg Film Festival - Best Actress |
| 1998 | Lautrec | Suzanne Valadon | Roger Planchon | |
| 1999 | Je veux tout | Eva | Guila Braoudé | |
| 1999 | Time Regained | Rachel | Raúl Ruiz | |
| 1999 | Bonne Nuit | Susan | | TV movie |
| 2000 | Là-bas... mon pays | Pierre Nivel's Wife | Alexandre Arcady | |
| 2000 | Love Torn in a Dream | Lucrezia / Jessica / Sultane | Raúl Ruiz (2) | |
| 2001 | Les fantômes de Louba | Louba | Martine Dugowson (3) | |
| 2001 | Un ange | Léa Pastore | Miguel Courtois | |
| 2001 | Not Afraid, Not Afraid | | Annette Carducci | |
| 2002 | Féroce | Zébulon | Gilles de Maistre | |
| 2002 | Jean Moulin | Antoinette | Yves Boisset | TV movie |
| 2003 | Monsieur N. | Albine de Montholon | Antoine de Caunes | |
| 2003 | That Day | Livia | Raúl Ruiz (3) | |
| 2003 | Three Blind Mice | Nathalie | Mathias Ledoux | |
| 2003 | Qui perd gagne ! | Angèle Berstein | Laurent Bénégui | |
| 2004 | Tomorrow We Move | Michèle | Chantal Akerman | |
| 2004 | Pourquoi (pas) le Brésil | Christine Angot | Laetitia Masson | |
| 2004 | Modigliani | Jeanne Hébuterne | Mick Davis | |
| 2005 | Little Jerusalem | Mathilde | Karin Albou | Nominated - Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress |
| 2005 | La cloche a sonné | Léa | Bruno Herbulot | |
| 2005 | Journées froides qui menacent les plantes | | Virginie Chanu | |
| 2006 | J'invente rien | Mathilde Mahut | Michel Leclerc | |
| 2006 | Le concile de pierre | Clarisse | Guillaume Nicloux | |
| 2006 | Petits meurtres en famille | Édith | Edwin Baily | TV Mini-Series |
| 2007 | Unknown Things | The Young Woman | Bruno Coppola | |
| 2007 | Childhoods | Ingmar Bergman's Mother | Safy Nebbou | |
| 2008 | La fabrique des sentiments | Éloïse | Jean-Marc Moutout | |
| 2008 | I've Loved You So Long | Léa | Philippe Claudel | César Award for Best Supporting Actress Chlotrudis Awards - Best Supporting Actress |
| 2008 | Nuit de chien | Maria de Souza | Werner Schroeter | |
| 2008 | Nucingen House | Anne-Marie | Raúl Ruiz (4) | |
| 2009 | La folle histoire d'amour de Simon Eskenazy | Rosalie | Jean-Jacques Zilbermann (2) | |
| 2009 | La double inconstance | Flaminia | Carole Giacobbi | TV movie |
| 2009 | Myster Mocky présente | Various | Jean-Pierre Mocky | TV series (1 Episode) |
| 2009 | Vénus & Apollon | Angie | Pascal Lahmani | TV series (8 Episodes) |
| 2010 | Roses à crédit | The Pharmacist | Amos Gitai | |
| 2011 | Un baiser papillon | Marie | Karine Silla | |
| 2011 | JC comme Jésus Christ | Herself | Jonathan Zaccaï | |
| 2011 | Les tribulations d'une caissière | Marie | Pierre Rambaldi | |
| 2012 | Plan de table | Catherine | Christelle Raynal | Alpe d'Huez International Comedy Film Festival - Best Acting |
| 2012 | Lines of Wellington | Sister Irmã Cordélia | Valeria Sarmiento | Nominated - CinEuphoria Awards - Best Ensemble |
| 2013 | À votre bon coeur mesdames | Sister Blandine | Jean-Pierre Mocky (2) | |
| 2014 | Gemma Bovery | Wizzy | Anne Fontaine | |
| 2015 | The Price of Desire | Romaine Brooks | Mary McGuckian | |
| 2015 | Un plus une | Anna Hamon | Claude Lelouch | Nominated - Lumières Award for Best Actress |
| 2015 | Amazon | Amazon Priestess | Jeno Udvardi | |
| 2016 | The Stalking Moon | Veronique Fournier | Antonio Galloro | |
| 2017 | Un sac de billes | Anna | Christian Duguay | |
| 2017 | Chacun sa vie et son intime conviction | | Claude Lelouch | |
| 2017 | À bras ouverts | Daphné Fougerole | Philippe de Chauveron | |
| 2018 | Bel Canto | | Paul Weitz | |
| 2019 | I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere | Hélèna | Arnaud Viard | |
| 2020 | Waiting for Anya | Jo's mother | | |
| 2021 | Simone Veil, A Woman of the Century | Simone Veil | | |
| 2022 | Bigbug | Monique | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Netflix |
| 2023 | Club Zero | Elsa's Mother | Jessica Hausner | |
| 2023 | Coup de chance | Caroline Blanc | Woody Allen | |
| 2024 | Finalement | | Claude Lelouch | |

## Theatre

| Year | Title | Author | Director | Notes |
| 1990 | Joko's Anniversary | Roland Topor | Jean-Louis Jacopin | Petit Odéon |
| 1991 | Eurydice | Jean Anouilh | Georges Wilson | Théâtre de l'Œuvre |
| 1993 | Pygmalion | George Bernard Shaw | Bernard Murat | Théâtre Hébertot |
| 1997–98 | Six Characters in Search of an Author | Luigi Pirandello | Jorge Lavelli | Théâtre de l'Eldorado |
| 2000 | Le Malin Plaisir | David Hare | Jacques Lassalle | Théâtre de l'Atelier |
| 2003 | Proof | David Auburn | Bernard Murat (2) | Théâtre des Mathurins |
| 2005 | Laissez-moi | Marcelle Sauvageot | Laetitia Masson | Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord |
| 2007 | Gamines | Sylvie Testud | Sylvie Testud | Théâtre national de Nice |
| 2009 | Le Démon de Hannah | Antoine Rault | Michel Fagadau | Théâtre des Champs-Élysées |
| 2011 | Le Temps qui passe | Karine Silla-Pérez | Vincent Pérez | Théâtre des Mathurins |
| 2012 | Les Derniers Jours de Stefan Zweig | Laurent Seksik | Gérard Gélas | Théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau |
| 2014 | Vita and Virginia | Eileen Atkins | Jean-Marie Besset | Festival NAVA |
| 2014 | Splendour | Géraldine Maillet | Catherine Schaub | Théâtre de Paris Globes de Cristal Award - Best Actress |