Her mother was originally from Alsace-Lorraine and her maternal grandfather was a master iron worker, who had immigrated to France from Graz.

After completing her education at the State Teacher Training Institute, she enrolled in the National Actors' School in Budapest just before the start of World War II.

[2] From the mid-1960, with a shift in the country's political climate, she began to attain roles in such film and television shows as Sellő a pecsétgyűrűn (Seller on Seal Ring, 1966), Egri csillagok (Stars of Eger, 1968), and Imposztorok (Impostors, 1969).

[3] In 1985, she was awarded as the Best Female Actress by the jury of the Hungarian Feature Film Review for her portrayal in Őszi almanach (Autumn Almanac, 1984), directed by Béla Tarr.

[2] After Temessy divorced her husband, she began a relationship with actress Hilda Gobbi and they lived together from the late 1950s to 1960s in a home in Buda.