Biography
Sylvie Testud is a French actress born on 17 January 1971 in Lyon. She grew up in the Croix-Rousse district of the city, raised by her mother after her parents separated when she was two. She moved to Paris to study history before training as an actress at the free classes of Cours Florent and then at the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, where her teachers included Jacques Lassalle and Catherine Hiegel.
Testud made her screen debut in the mid-1990s. Her performance in the German film Beyond Silence (1996) brought her early recognition abroad. In France she gained wider notice with roles in Karnaval (1998) and as Ariane in Chantal Akerman's The Captive (2000). She played Simone 'Mômone' Berteaut in La Vie en Rose (2007).
She has received two César Awards: Most Promising Actress for Murderous Maids (2000) and Best Actress for Fear and Trembling (2003). Testud has also worked as a writer and director.
