Biography

Sylvia Kristel

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Sylvia Kristel was born on September 28, 1952 in Utrecht, Netherlands. She first came to international attention in the early 1970s with Emmanuelle (1974) for director Just Jaeckin. Then two more sequels followed in which she also starred. Included in her credits are a long list of European films including the film Julia (1974), in which she played the lead. In 1979, she came to Hollywood, appearing in The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979) for producer Jennings Lang, who also featured her in the comedy film The Nude Bomb (1980). However, this was all a prelude to the most successful film in Kristel's career -- Private Lessons (1981) -- in which she played the housekeeper who initiates 15-year-old Eric Brown to the wonders of sex. The film grossed over $50,000,000 worldwide. The Dutch actress, who speaks four languages (Dutch, English, Italian and French), now made her home in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Sylvia Kristel died at age 60 of cancer in her sleep on October 18, 2012.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous

Has a reported IQ of 164 and skipped four grades in school.
Began a relationship with actor Ian McShane during filming of The Fifth Musketeer (1979), which lasted for almost 5 years.
Speaks four languages: Dutch, English, Italian and French.
At age 16, her father brought home a woman he introduced to the family as his next wife and told his wife and kids to leave. They moved into a small flat.
She was the first choice for the role of Lucy in Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), however, the actress rejected the offer because she did not want to work with Klaus Kinski who was famous for disrespect for women.

Didn't they warn you? I love to invent - avoiding the truth. I need to dramatize. It's also a form of protection.
I would now rather be very healthy and strong as a horse but it is nice to be attractive.
[from a 2005 Dutch newspaper interview] I don't expect too much from the afterlife, I think that I know very well what pain is. When I think of the end of my life, I think mainly: I didn't do nothing, but I could have done more.
Self confidence for me is a fragile fleece.
I was a silent actress, a body. I belonged to dreams, to those who can't be broken.