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Sylvie Testud

French actress Sylvie Testud earned international recognition for her portrayal of Mômone, the best friend of singer Edith Piaf (Marion Cotillard) in the 2007 Oscar-winning biopic "La vie en rose." A native of Lyon, France, Testud was inspired to take up acting after seeing a young Charlotte Gainsbourg in the 1985 film "L'effrontée." After taking drama courses in her hometown, she began formal training at the Conservatoire Nationale d'Art Dramatique in Paris, eventually earning small roles in films directed by Philippe Harel and Marion Vernoux. But it was her performance in German filmmaker Caroline Link's "Jenseits der Stille" (1997), for which she learned sign language and the clarinet, that proved to be the actor's breakthrough success. Testud went on to find memorable roles in 1999's "Karnaval" and the spellbinding "Murderous Maids" (2000)--as notorious real-life French murderess Christine Papin. While her scene-stealing performance opposite Marion Cotillard in "La vie en rose" would earn her some clout as a potential Hollywood commodity, Testud, a two-time César Award-winner, remains best known to fans of French film; her portrayal of troubled French playwright Francoise Sagan in the 2008 biopic "Sagan" is considered among her finest work as an actor.