Mary Louise Streep

Born June 22, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey

Nickname
Meryl

Height
5' 6"

Biography
Mary Louise ("Meryl") Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American two-time Academy Award winning
actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. She made her professional stage debut in
1971's The Playboy of Seville, and her screen debut came in 1977's made-for-television movie, The
Deadliest Season. Streep made her film debut in Julia (1977), opposite Jane Fonda and Vanessa
Redgrave.

Both critical and commercial success came quickly with roles in The Deer Hunter, with Robert De Niro,
and Kramer vs. Kramer, with Dustin Hoffman, the former giving Streep her first Oscar nomination and
the latter her first win. Streep's work has earned her two Academy Awards, a Cannes award, six
Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG), four Grammy Award nominations, two
Emmy Awards, a BAFTA award, and a Tony Award nomination. She has received 14 Academy Award
nominations, more than any other actor or actress in the history of the awards, and is tied with Jack
Nicholson for most Golden Globe Award wins, with six each. She has been nominated a remarkable
21 times for a Golden Globe, second only to Jack Lemmon, who had 22. Streep is widely considered
to be one of the most respected and talented film actors of all time.She is also one of the few actors to
have won all four major acting awards (Oscars, Golden Globes, SAG, and BAFTA awards).

Early life
Streep was born Mary Louise Streep in Summit, New Jersey, the daughter of Mary W. Streep, a
commercial artist, and Harry William Streep, Jr., a pharmaceutical executive. Streep's mother had
Swiss, Irish, and English ancestry, and her father's family was of Dutch descent, with distant
Sephardic Jewish ancestors from Spain (although Streep was raised Presbyterian). She has two
younger brothers, Dana and Harry. Streep was raised in Bernardsville, New Jersey, where she
attended and graduated from Bernards High School. She received her B.A. in Drama at Vassar
College and earned an M.F.A. from Yale University.

Early career
Streep's first feature film was Julia, in which she played a small but pivotal role during a flashback
scene. The Deer Hunter (1978) was her second feature film, and it earned Streep her first Academy
Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actress). The following year, she won an Academy Award for
her role opposite Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer (Best Supporting Actress, 1979). In 1982 she
won again, for Sophie's Choice (Best Actress), where she starred alongside Peter MacNicol and Kevin
Kline.

In 1978, she won her first Emmy Award, for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for the
miniseries Holocaust. A year later, she appeared in her only Woody Allen film, Manhattan. Streep was
engaged to John Cazale ("Fredo" in The Godfather), her costar in The Deer Hunter, until his death
from bone cancer on March 12, 1978. In September 1978, she married sculptor Don Gummer. They
have four children: Henry W. "Hank" Gummer (born in 1979 and attended Dartmouth College- same
class as Kai Wong), Mamie Gummer (1983), Grace Jane Gummer (1986), and Louisa Jacobson
Gummer (1991).[11] Mamie has chosen acting as a career, and made her off-Broadway debut as
Lucy in a 2005 production of Mr. Marmalade at the Laura Pels Theatre.

1980–present
In the 1980s, Streep appeared in the acclaimed films The French Lieutenant's Woman; Silkwood, with
Kurt Russell and Cher; Out of Africa, with Robert Redford; and Ironweed, with Jack Nicholson. She
received strong reviews and an Oscar nomination for Silkwood, portraying activist Karen Silkwood. In
A Cry in the Dark, Streep portrayed Lindy Chamberlain, the Australian mother who was accused of
being responsible for the death of her infant after claiming that a dingo took her baby. For her
performance, she was awarded Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. From 1984 to 1990, Streep
won six People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture Actress and, in 1990, was named World
Favorite.
Meryl Streep
In the 1990s, Streep took a greater variety of roles,
including a strung-out B-movie actor in a screen
adaptation of Carrie Fisher's novel Postcards from the
Edge, with Dennis Quaid and Shirley MacLaine, and a
farcical role in Death Becomes Her, with Goldie Hawn and
Bruce Willis. Streep also appeared in the movie version
of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits; Clint
Eastwood's screen adaptation of The Bridges of Madison
County; The River Wild; She-Devil; Marvin's Room (with
Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio); One True Thing;
and Music of the Heart, in a role that required her to learn
to play the violin.

She was a voice actor for the animated series The
Simpsons (playing Reverend Timothy Lovejoy's
daughter) and King of the Hill. She also voiced the Blue
Fairy character in the Steven Spielberg film A.I.

In 2002, she costarred with Nicolas Cage in Spike Jonze's
quirky Adaptation, as real-life author Susan Orlean,
Movie Credits
Lions for Lambs (2007) .... Janine Roth
Rendition (2007) .... Corrine Whitman
Evening (2007) .... Lila Ross
Dark Matter (2007) .... Joanna Silver
The Ant Bully (2006) (voice) .... Queen
The Devil Wears Prada (2006) .... Miranda Priestly
The Music of Regret (2006) .... The Woman
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) .... Yolanda Johnson
Prime (2005) .... Lisa Metzger
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
                                                                       Aunt Josephine
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) .... Eleanor Shaw
"Angels in America" .... Ethel Rosenberg / ... (6 episodes, 2003)
"Freedom: A History of Us" .... Abigail Adams / ... (4 episodes, 2003)
The Hours (2002) .... Clarissa Vaughan
Adaptation. (2002) .... Susan Orlean
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) (voice) .... Blue Mecha
"King of the Hill" .... Aunt Esme Dauterive (1 episode, 1999)
Music of the Heart (1999) .... Roberta Guaspari
Chrysanthemum (1999) .... Narrator
One True Thing (1998) .... Kate Gulden
Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) .... Kate 'Kit' Mundy
First Do No Harm (1997) (TV) .... Lori Reimuller
Marvin's Room (1996) .... Lee
Before and After (1996) .... Dr. Carolyn Ryan
The Bridges of Madison County (1995) .... Francesca Johnson
"The Simpsons" .... Jessica Lovejoy (1 episode, 1994)
The River Wild (1994) .... Gail Hartman
The House of the Spirits (1993) .... Clara del Valle Trueba
Death Becomes Her (1992) .... Madeline Ashton
Defending Your Life (1991) .... Julia
Postcards from the Edge (1990) .... Suzanne Vale
She-Devil (1989) .... Mary Fisher
Evil Angels (1988) .... Lindy Chamberlain
The Tailor of Gloucester (1988) (V) .... Narrator
Ironweed (1987) .... Helen Archer
Heartburn (1986) .... Rachel Samstat
Out of Africa (1985) .... Karen Blixen
Plenty (1985) .... Susan Traherne
Falling in Love (1984) .... Molly Gilmore
Silkwood (1983) .... Karen Silkwood
Sophie's Choice (1982) .... Sophie Zawistowski
Still of the Night (1982) .... Brooke Reynolds
Alice at the Palace (1982) (TV) .... Alice
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) .... Sarah / Anna
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) .... Joanna Kramer
The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) .... Karen Traynor
Uncommon Women... and Others (1979) (TV) .... Leilah
Manhattan (1979) .... Jill Davis
The Deer Hunter (1978) .... Linda
"Holocaust" (1978) TV mini-series .... Inga Helms Weiss
Julia (1977) .... Anne Marie
The Deadliest Season (1977) (TV) .... Sharon Miller
Secret Service (1977) (TV) .... Edith Varney
and with Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore in The Hours. She also appeared with Al Pacino and
Emma Thompson in the HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's six-hour play, Angels in America, in which
she had four roles. She received her second Emmy Award for Angels in America, which reunited her
with director Mike Nichols (who directed her in Silkwood, Heartburn, and Postcards from the Edge).

In addition, she appeared in Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate, costarring
Denzel Washington, in which she played a role made famous by Angela Lansbury. She also starred
with Jim Carrey in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Since 2002, Meryl Streep has
hosted the annual event Poetry & the Creative Mind, a benefit in support of National Poetry Month
and a program of the Academy of American Poets. Streep also cohosted the annual Nobel Peace
Prize Concert with Liam Neeson in Oslo, Norway in 2001.

Streep's most recent film releases are Prime (2005); the Robert Altman film A Prairie Home
Companion, with Lindsay Lohan and Lily Tomlin; and the box office success The Devil Wears Prada,
with Anne Hathaway, which grossed nearly US$125 million and earned Streep the 2007 Golden Globe
award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. On January 23, 2007, Streep earned her 14th
Academy Award nomination (her 11th for Best Actress) for The Devil Wears Prada. Streep's newest
film, Dark Matter, debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

She has been confirmed for the role of Donna in the film version of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!,
which will hit theaters July 18, 2008. She has also been confirmed to play Sister Aloysius in the 2008
film adaptation of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, which will come to theatres in 2008. Other upcoming
projects include Julie and Julia, as Julia Child; Dirty Tricks, as Martha Mitchell; and A Question of
Mercy, which will come to theatres in 2009.

Theatre
In New York City, she appeared in the 1976 Broadway double bill of Tennessee Williams' 27 Wagons
Full of Cotton and Arthur Miller's A Memory of Two Mondays. For the latter, she received a Tony
Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her other early Broadway credits include Anton
Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical, Happy End, which she
originally appeared in off-Broadway at the Chelsea Theater Center. She received Drama Desk Award
nominations for both productions. Once Streep's film career flourished, she took a long break from
stage acting.

In July 2001, Streep returned to the stage for the first time in more than twenty years, playing
Arkadina in the Public Theater's revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. The staging, directed by
Mike Nichols, also featured Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher
Walken, Marcia Gay Harden, and John Goodman.

In August and September 2006, she starred onstage at the Public Theater's production of Mother
Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park.[12] The show performed to
crowds that lined up for hours, sometimes in the pouring rain, to get highly coveted seats. It was
originally written by Bertolt Brecht in 1939 and first performed in 1941. The Public Theater production
was a new translation by famed playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America), with songs in the
Weill/Brecht style written by composer Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change); veteran director George
C. Wolfe was at the helm. Streep starred alongside Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton in this
three-and-a-half-hour play, in which she sang several songs and was in nearly every scene.

Considered by many movie reviewers to be the greatest living film actress, Meryl Streep has been
nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 14 times, and has won it twice. Meryl's early
performing ambitions leaned toward the opera. She became interested in acting while a student at
Vassar and upon graduation she enrolled in the Yale School of Drama.
Awards
2007
Golden Globes, USA
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy    for: "The Devil Wears Prada"
London Critics Circle Film Awards
ALFS Award Actress of the Year    for: "The Devil Wears Prada"
National Society of Film Critics Awards
Best Supporting Actress     for: "The Devil Wears Prada"   Also for "A Prairie Home Companion"
Rembrandt Awards
Rembrandt Award Beste Buitenlandse Actrice     for: "The Devil Wears Prada"
2006  
Delta's Choice Awards
Best Supporting Actress     for "The Devil Wears Prada"
Satellite Awards
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical     for: "The Devil Wears Prada"
2005
Delta's Choice Awards
Best Supporting Actress      for  "Prime"
Inducted into the
Delta Films Hall of Fame - Actress
Gracie Allen Awards
Outstanding Female Lead in a Drama Special    for: "Angels in America"
2004
American Film Institute - Life Achievement Award   
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie  for: "Angels in America"
Golden Globes
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
                      for: "Angels in America"
Moscow International Film Festival
Stanislavsky Prize
Satellite Awards   
Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television  
                      for: "Angels in America"
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Actor Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries  
                      for: "Angels in America"
2003
Berlin International Film Festival
Silver Berlin Bear Best Actress      for: "The Hours"
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
Best Supporting Actress     for: "Adaptation"
César Awards, France - Honorary César   
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards   
Best Supporting Actress     for: "Adaptation"
Golden Globes
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture     for: "Adaptation"
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards  - L.A. Outfest
Screen Idol Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role  for: The Hours
2002
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards  
Best Supporting Actress     for: "Adaptation"
1999
Berlin International Film Festival   
Berlinale Camera   
Gotham Awards
Lifetime Achievement Award   
1998
Walk of Fame - Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture  At 7020 Hollywood Blvd.
Women in Film Crystal Awards
Crystal Award   
1995
Delta's Choice Awards
Best Actress   for: Bridges of Marion County
1991
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)     for: "Postcards from the Edge"
1990
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Motion Picture Actress
1989
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Motion Picture Actress
Australian Film Institute
Best Actress in a Lead Role     for: "Evil Angels"
Cannes Film Festival
Best Actress     for: "Evil Angels"
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture Actress
1988
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Actress    for: "Evil Angels"
1987
Aftonbladet TV Prize, Sweden
Best Foreign TV Personality - Female (Bästa utländska kvinna)
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Motion Picture Actress
1986
David di Donatello Awards
Best Foreign Actress (Migliore Attrice Straniero)  for: Out of Africa
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Actress  for: Out of Africa
People's Choice Awards
Favorite All-Around Female Entertainer
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Motion Picture Actress
Valladolid International Film Festival
Best Actress     for: "Heartburn"
1985
David di Donatello Awards   
Best Foreign Actress (Migliore Attrice Straniero)    for: "Falling in Love"
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
Best Actress    for: "Out of Africa"
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Motion Picture Actress
1984
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards   
Best Actress     for: "Silkwood"
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Motion Picture Actress
1983
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role     for: "Sophie's Choice"
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
Best Actress
Golden Globes
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama     for: "Sophie's Choice"
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards   
Best Actress     for: "Sophie's Choice"
National Society of Film Critics Awards
Best Actress     for: "Sophie's Choice"
1982
BAFTA Awards
Best Actress     for: "The French Lieutenant's Woman"
Golden Globes
Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama     for: "The French Lieutenant's Woman"
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards   
Best Actress     for: "Sophie's Choice"
National Board of Review
Best Actress     for: "Sophie's Choice"
New York Film Critics Circle Awards   
Best Actress     for: "Sophie's Choice"
1981
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards   
Best Actress     for: "The French Lieutenant's Woman"
1980
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role     for: "Kramer vs. Kramer"
American Movie Awards
Marquee Best Supporting Actress      for: "The Deer Hunter"
Golden Globes
Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role     for: "Kramer vs. Kramer"
Hasty Pudding Theatricals - Woman of the Year   
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards   
Best Supporting Actress     for: "Kramer vs. Kramer"
National Society of Film Critics Awards
Best Supporting Actress     for: "Kramer vs. Kramer"  Also for "Manhattan" and "The Seduction of Joe Tynan"
1979
Delta's Choice Awards
Best Actress   for: Kramer vs Kramer
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
Best Supporting Actress     for: "Kramer vs. Kramer"  Also for "Manhattan" and "The Seduction of Joe Tynan"
National Board of Review
Best Supporting Actress     for: "Manhattan"  Also for "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "The Seduction of Joe Tynan"
National Society of Film Critics Awards
Best Supporting Actress     for: "The Deer Hunter"
New York Film Critics Circle Awards   
Best Supporting Actress     for: "Kramer vs. Kramer"  Also for "The Seduction of Joe Tynan"
1978
Emmy Awards   
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series