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Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep is a two-time Academy Award winner and recipient of a record breaking fourteen Oscar nominations.

Most recently, Streep starred in the box office smash Mamma Mia, a film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical based on the songs of ABBA. She will next appear in Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia as the famed master chef, Julia Child and will lend her voice to Wes Anderson's animated Fantastic Mr. Fox based on the novel by Roald Dahl.

Streep made her film debut in 1977's Julia opposite Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. In her second screen role, she starred opposite Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter which earned Streep her first Academy Award nomination. The following year, she won an Academy Award for her role opposite Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer. She then received her third Academy Award nomination for The French Lieutenant's Woman and later went on to win the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Sophie's Choice, where she starred alongside Peter MacNicol and Kevin Kline.

Other early film credits include Oscar-nominated performances in Mike Nichols' Silkwood, Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa, and Fred Schepisi's A Cry in the Dark, which also won her the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, The New York Film Critics Circle, and an AFI award. She also appeared in Mike Nichols' Heartburn and Woody Allen's Manhattan.

In 2003, Streep's work in The Hours won her SAG and Golden Globe nominations. That same year, her performance in Spike Jonze's Adaptation won her a Golden Globe for Supporting Actress and BAFTA and Oscar nominations. Streep's other recent works include The Manchurian Candidate; Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events; Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion and The Devil Wears Prada, which earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress as well as Academy Award, SAG and BAFTA nominations.

In theater, Streep appeared in the 1976 Broadway double-bill of 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and A Memory of Two Mondays, the former which won her the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Theater World Award and a Tony nomination. Other theater credits include Secret Service; The Cherry Orchard; the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Henry V and Measure for Measure opposite Sam Waterston; the Brecht/Weill musical Happy End; Alice at the Palace which won her an Obie; Central Park Productions of The Taming of the Shrew; The Seagull, and most recently in the Tony Kushner adaptation of Mother Courage.

In TV, Streep won Emmys for the eight part mini-series Holocaust and for the Mike Nichols directed HBO movie Angels in America, which also won her Golden Globe and SAG Awards.

In 2004, Streep was honored with an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2008 was honored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2008.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Meryl Streep Facts

Birth NameMary Louise Streep
OccupationActress
BirthdayJune 22, 1949 (74)
SignCancer
BirthplaceSummit, New Jersey, USA
Height5' 6" (1m68)  How tall is Meryl Streep compared to you?
Awards2010 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (for Julie & Julia)
2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Female Actor in a Leading Role (for Doubt)
2007 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (for The Devil Wears Prada)
2004 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Movie (for Angels in America)
2004 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries (for Angels in America)
2004 Emmy Awards: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (for Angels in America)
2003 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture (for Adaptation)
1983 Academy Awards: Best Actress (for Sophie's Choice)
1983 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama (for Sophie's Choice)
1982 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama (for The French Lieutenant's Woman)
1980 Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (for Kramer vs. Kramer)
1980 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture (for Kramer vs. Kramer)

Selected Filmography

Not available.