Routinely hailed as the greatest actress of her generation, Streep earned that accolade with her amazing ability to transform herself physically, vocally and emotionally into seemingly any character. Equally adept at drama and comedy, comfortable on stage and screen, able to embody contemporary and classical roles, and even a formidable singer (she showed off her vocal chops in
Death Becomes Her, Postcards from the Edge,
Mamma Mia), Streep has earned a record number of Academy Award acting nods and has won two Oscars, a pair of Emmys, seven Golden Globes, not to mention a host of other honors during her lauded career. After earning an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, she made her mark in New York theater, picking up a 1976 Tony nomination for her turn in a revival of two Tennessee Williams one-acts,
A Memory of Two Mondays/27 Wagons Full of Cotton. Two years later, she proved she could command both the big and small screens, winning her first Emmy for her riveting turn as a Catholic married to a Jew in
Holocaust, and picking up her first Oscar nomination for her devastating work in
The Deer Hunter. In 1979, she took home her first Academy Award as a mom trying to find herself in the divorce drama
Kramer vs. Kramer and she snagged her second statuette as the tormented title character in 1982's
Sophie Choice. Impossible to pigeonhole, Streep spent the next three decades stretching herself and her remarkable talents, portraying characters of all ethnic backgrounds (a reviled Australian mom in
A Cry in the Dark, a lovesick Danish noblewoman in
Out of Africa, an Irish spinster in
Dancing at Lughnasa, an Italian immigrant in love in
The Bridges of Madison County); all temperaments (comic turns as callous women in
Death Becomes Her and
The Devil Wears Prada, a mom-cum-action hero in
The River Wild); different sexual orientations (a literary lesbian in
The Hours); and even both genders (a male rabbi, one of a quartet of characters that earned her a 2004 Emmy Award for her multitasking in the miniseries
Angels in America). For a star of her caliber, she also managed to stay out of the tabloids. Still engaged to her
Deer Hunter costar John Cazale when he died of cancer in 1978, she married sculptor Don Gummer soon after and had a son and three daughters (one of whom is up-and-coming actress Mamie Gummer) and is beloved by the Hollywood community.
Meryl Streep Fast Facts:
- Wanted to be an opera singer when she was young.
- Was a cheerleader and the homecoming queen in high school.
- Sigourney Weaver was a classmate at Yale Drama School.
- Said that her all-time favorite actress is Bette Davis, who sent Streep a complimentary letter early in her career.
- Received Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Award as Woman of the Year in 1980.
- With her Oscar nomination for Adaptation (2002), surpassed Katharine Hepburn's record 12 nominations to become the most nominated actor/actress in Oscar history.
- Had to wear extra-high heels while playing Julia Child in 2009's Julie & Julia because she's 8 inches shorter than Child.
- Meryl Streep Relationships:
- Dana Streep - Brother
- Donald J. Gummer - Husband
- Mamie Gummer - Daughter
- Henry Gummer - Son
- John Cazale - Ex-fiancé
- Harry Streep III - Brother
- Harry Streep Jr. - Father
- Mary W. Streep - Mother
- Louisa Jacobson Gummer - Daughter
- Grace Gummer - Daughter
- Meryl Streep Awards:
- 1998 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Nominee
- 1986 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 1989 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 1995 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 1996 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 1997 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 1990 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Nominee
- 1991 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Nominee
- 1993 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Nominee
- 2004 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie - Winner
- 1978 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series - Winner
- 2004 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Winner
- 1999 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 2000 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 2003 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 2007 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Winner
- 1979 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Nominee
- 1980 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Winner
- 2003 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Winner
- 2005 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Nominee
- 1982 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Winner
- 1983 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Winner
- 1984 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 1981 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1982 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Winner
- 1983 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1985 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1987 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1988 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1990 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1995 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1998 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1999 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 2006 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1978 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Nominee
- 1979 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Winner
- 2002 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Nominee
- 1997 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special - Nominee
- 2009 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 2009 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Nominee
- 2008 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1986 People's Choice Awards: Favorite All-Around Female Entertainer - Winner
- 1986 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Motion Picture Actress - Winner
- 1985 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Motion Picture Actress - Winner
- 1984 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Motion Picture Actress - Winner
- 2009 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Song from a Soundtrack - Winner
- 1990 People's Choice Awards: World Favorite Motion Picture Actress - Winner
- 1990 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Motion Picture Actress - Winner
- 1989 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture - Winner
- 1987 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Motion Picture Actress - Winner
- 2010 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Nominee
- 2010 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Winner
- 2009 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1976 Tony: Actress (Featured Role--Play) - Nominee
- 2009 BAFTA Awards: Best Leading Actress - Nominee
- 2008 BAFTA Awards: Best Leading Actress - Nominee
- 2006 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 2004 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Nominee
- 2002 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Nominee
- 2002 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1986 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1984 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress - Nominee
- 1983 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress - Nominee
- 1981 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress - Winner
- 1980 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress - Nominee
- 1979 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress - Nominee
- 1979 BAFTA Awards: Best Supporting Actress - Nominee
- 2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - Nominee
- 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Winner
- 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 2003 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries - Winner
- 2002 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - Nominee
- 1999 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1998 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1996 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - Nominee
- 1995 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1994 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 2012 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Winner
- 2011 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Winner
- 2011 BAFTA Awards: Best Leading Actress - Winner
- 2012 Berlin Film Festival: Lifetime Achievement (Honorary Golden Bear) - Winner
- College:
- Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY (BA, 1971); attended Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Yale University, School of Drama, New Haven, CT (MFA, 1975)