Elsa Zylberstein

Elsa Zylberstein (born Elsa Florence Zylbersztejn, 16 October 1968) 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 (2008).

Early life

Zylberstein was born Elsa Florence Zylbersztejn in Paris to an Ashkenazi Jewish Polish father, Albert Zylbersztejn (born 1938), and a French Catholic mother, Liliane Chenard (born 1940). Her father was a physicist and her mother was a beautician for Dior. She has a brother, Benjamin (born c. 1970). 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.