Sylvie Testud

**Sylvie Testud** (born January 17, 1971) is a French actress, writer and director. She started acting in films in 1991. She has since won two César Awards for her performances.

## Biography

She grew up in the La Croix-Rousse quarter of Lyon, France. Her mother immigrated from Italy in the 1960s and married a Frenchman. He left the family when Sylvie was just two years old.

In 1985, when Testud was 14, she started taking acting classes in Lyon with the actor and director Christian Taponard. In 1989, she moved to Paris and studied for three years at the Conservatoire (CNSAD). In the early and mid 1990s, she began to have small roles in films. She acted in _L'Histoire du garcon qui voulait qu'on l'embrasse_ (directed by Philippe Harel) and _Love, etc._ (directed by Marion Vernoux). In 1997 she had an important role in Caroline Link's _Jenseits der Stille_. This film was a great success in Germany. She had to learn German, sign language, and the clarinet for this film. In 1998, she played Béa in Thomas Vincent's _Karnaval_. This was her first important role in a French film. In 2000, she performed in Chantal Akerman's _La Captive_. In 2001 she won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for her role in _Les Blessures assassines_ (English title: _Murderous Maids_).

In 2003, she wrote the book _Il n'y a pas beaucoup d'etoiles ce soir_ about her life as an actress.

One of her most important performances was in the film _Stupeur et tremblements_ in 2003. She was awarded a César Award for Best Actress and a Prix Lumière award for best actress for her performance in this film. In 2007, she acted in _La Vie en Rose_. This film won two Academy Awards.

She became _Chevalier_ (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite in March 2009.

She has two children. Her son, Ruben, was born on 15 February 2005. Her daughter, Esther, was born in January, 2011.

## Selected filmography

|style="background: #CCCCCC;"|Year|style="background: #CCCCCC;"|Title|style="background: #CCCCCC;"|Role|style="background: #CCCCCC;"|Director|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1995|_Those Were the Days_|Sylvie|Didier Haudepin|||||
|1996|_Beyond Silence_|Lara|Caroline Link|||||
|rowspan=2|1998|_Karnaval_|Béa|Thomas Vincent||||
|_The Misadventures of Margaret_|the young nun|Brian Skeet||||||
|1999|_Annaluise & Anton_|Laurence|Caroline Link|||||
|rowspan=4|2000|_La Captive_|Ariane|Chantal Akerman||||
|_Drug Scenes_ (episode "Lucie")|Lucie|Guillaume Nicloux (episode)||||||
|_Sade_|Renée de Sade|Benoît Jacquot||||||
|_Murderous Maids_|Christine Papin|Jean-Pierre Denis||||||
|2001|_I'm Going Home_|Ariel|Manoel de Oliveira|||||
|rowspan=2|2002|_Everyman's Feast_|Sophie|Fritz Lehner||||
|_A Loving Father_|Virginia|Jacob Berger||||||
|rowspan=2|2003|_Fear and Trembling_|Amélie|Alain Corneau||||
|_Sole Sisters_|Tina|Pierre Jolivet||||||
|2004|_Words in Blue_|Clara|Alain Corneau|||||
|2006|_La Vie en rose|Mômone|Olivier Dahan|||||
|2007|_La France_|Camille|Serge Bozon|||||
|2008|_Sagan_|Françoise Sagan|Diane Kurys|||||
|rowspan=3|2009|_Lucky Luke_|Calamity Jane|James Huth||||
|_Vengeance_|Irène Thompson|Johnnie To||||||
|_Lourdes_|Christine|Jessica Hausner||||||
|rowspan=2|2010|_The Round Up_|Bella Zygler|Roselyne Bosch||||
|_Mumu_|Ms. Mulard|Joël Séria||||||
|2011|_L'Ordre et la Morale_|Chantal Legorjus|Mathieu Kassovitz|||||
|2012|_The Scapegoat_|Bela|Charles Sturridge|||||

## Other websites

- Sylvie Testud  at Actricesdefrance.org
- CSOJ - Alain Badiou Sylvie Testud appears on an episode of the French television program _Ce Soir_ (En direct, channel 3) featuring militant philosopher Alain Badiou. The topic of this episode is "_Faut-il réinventer l'amour?''" (Should we reinvent love?). Ms. Testud appears 46:18 minutes into the program and talks with Badiou and the program host for about 24 minutes (no commercials, this show is in French).

## Infobox (person)

- **image**: Sylvie Testud 2011.jpg
- **caption**: in 2011
- **name**: Sylvie Testud
- **birth place**: Lyon, Rhône, France
- **yearsactive**: 1991–present
- **occupation**: Actress, director, writer