Elsa Zylberstein

Elsa Zylberstein 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.

Early life

Zylberstein was born Elsa Florence Zylbersztejn in Paris to an Ashkenazi Jewish Polish father, Albert Zylbersztejn, and a French Catholic mother, Liliane Chenard. Her father was a physicist and her mother was a beautician for Dior. She has a brother, Benjamin. 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. 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 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

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	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