Background
Plachy was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1943. Her Hungarian Jewish mother was in hiding in fear of Nazi persecution during World War II. Her father was a Hungarian Roman Catholic of aristocratic descent and she was raised in his faith.
Plachy was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1943. Her Hungarian Jewish mother was in hiding in fear of Nazi persecution during World War II. Her father was a Hungarian Roman Catholic of aristocratic descent and she was raised in his faith.
Plachy earned a BFA in 1965 from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York.
She has been a staff photographer for the Village Voice, a weekly newspaper in New York City, since 1978, and was a photographer and picture researcher for that publication from 1974 to 1977 and for New York magazine in 1973. She has also worked as a freelance photographer since 1965. The photojoumalist's work frequently illustrates feature articles in the Village Voice.
Plachy"s first book, Sylvia Plachy"s Unguided Tour, won the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography for best publication in 1991. Her book Self Portrait with Cows Going Home (2005), a personal history of Central Europe with photographs and text, received a Golden Light Award for best book in 2004. Plachy lives in New York City with her husband, Elliot Brody, and is the mother of Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody.
Sylvia Plachy is the mother of Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody.
At Pratt Institute in New York City Plachy met the photographer André Kertész, who became her lifelong friend.
