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Sylvie Testud (born January 17, 1971) is a French actress, writer and director. Her film career began in 1991. She was later highly acclaimed, and has twice won César Awards. She grew up in La Croix-Rousse quarter of Lyon, an area with many Portuguese, Spanish and Italian immigrants – her mother herself, an immigrant from Italy in the 1960s. Her mother married a Frenchman but he left the family when Sylvie was just two years old. In 2003 when asked if she thought of trying to meet him she said: "I don't see what it would give me. Either the guy is nice, and I shall have lost thirty... MORE

Sylvie Testud (born January 17, 1971) is a French actress, writer and director. Her film career began in 1991. She was later highly acclaimed, and has twice won César Awards. She grew up in La Croix-Rousse quarter of Lyon, an area with many Portuguese, Spanish and Italian immigrants – her mother herself, an immigrant from Italy in the 1960s. Her mother married a Frenchman but he left the family when Sylvie was just two years old. In 2003 when asked if she thought of trying to meet him she said: "I don't see what it would give me. Either the guy is nice, and I shall have lost thirty years, or he is useless, and it is not worth the trouble." In 1985, aged 14, she saw Charlotte Gainsbourg in her role of the complex young girl in L'Effrontée, the film of Claude Miller, identified with her, and so took drama classes in Lyon with the actor and director Christian Taponard. In 1989, she moved to Paris and spent three years at the Conservatoire (CNSAD). In the early and mid 1990s, she landed her first small roles in films like L'Histoire du garcon qui voulait qu'on l'embrasse directed by Philippe Harel, and Love, etc. director, Marion Vernoux. In 1997 she had great success in Germany with LESS