SOPHIE'S CHOICE - 1982

(Drama - R)

KRAMER VS. KRAMER - 1979

(Drama - PG)

ABOUT MERYL STREEP

(1949 - )

The person often called "the greatest living film actress," was born in New Jersey, as Mary Louise Streep.  Meryl Streep has been nominated for an Oscar an incredible 16 times, more than any other actor, ever.  Meryl Streep is also the mother of 4 children.  She was educated at Vassar, graduating in 1971.  She then went on to the Yale University Drama Department for her masters.  She worked in regional theater, then began getting parts in movies.

In the 1977 wartime drama, JULIA, she played a small supporting role.  In the DEER HUNTER, [1978], she played one of the wives of the main characters, and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.   

Meryl Streep won an Emmy for her portrayal of Inga Helms Weiss in the 1977 television miniseries, THE HOLOCOST, which follows the path of members of the Weiss family, all but one of whom perished in the Nazi persecution of Jews in World War II. 

Meryl Streep won her first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress, for her portrayal of the embittered wife of a husband who loves his work more than his family, in KRAMER VS. KRAMER, [1979], with Dustin Hoffman.

In 1981, Streep played the title role in THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN, in which she played a love lorn woman turned outcast, in Victorian England, over an imaginary love affair.

In 1982, Meryl Streep won the Academy Award, for her portrayal of the interior struggles of a beautiful, but tormented, concentration camp survivor in a twisted relationship with an abusive man, in SOPHIE'S CHOICE.   Alan J. Pakula, Director.

In Mike Nichol's 1983 movie, SILKWOOD, Streep portrayed the doomed uranium factory worker and activist Karen Silkwood, with Cher as her lesbian roommate and co-worker and Kurt Russell as her co-worker and boyfriend. Meryl Streep was nominated again for the Best Actress Oscar.

Her next success was the exotic Sydney Pollack movie, OUT OF AFRICA , [1985], detailing the life on an African coffee plantation of writer Isaac Denison [aka the Danish Baroness Karen Blixen], her love affair with a big game hunter and aviator, played by Robert Redford, and the sweeping tale of her loss of love, health and land in Africa.  Meryl Streep was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal.

Meryl Streep was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in the following films:

IRONWEED [1987], Meryl Streep plays a barfly bum. 

In A CRY IN THE DARK [1988], Streep played a mother accused of her child's murder.

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE [1990] Streep portrayed a neurotic, drug addicted actress, drowning in the shadow of her mother, a successful film star, based on the autobiographical novel by Carrie Fisher, daughter of Debbie Reynolds.  Mike Nichols, Director.

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY [1995]  Meryl Streep starred with Director, Clint Eastwood, as a passionate, lonely, married farmer stranded on a farm in the middle of nowhere, until one day a loner, National Geographic photographer blows into her farm, and changes everything.

ONE TRUE THING [1998] Streep portrays a dying woman.

MUSIC OF THE HEART [1999] Meryl Streep plays a music teacher who inspires her inner city kids.

ADAPTATION [2002] Best Supporting Actress.  Streep plays a novelist whose research into orchids leads her to a crazed romance with an orchid hunter.  Spike Jonze, Director.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA [2006]  Meryl Streep plays the hardened fashion mave and magazine editor, Miranda Priestly.

DOUBT [2008]  Streep plays a nun who doesn't know what to make of the sexual crimes of a priest in her parish.

JULIE AND JULIA [2009] Just when it seemed impossible to top herself, a 60 year old Streep gave an over-the-top, lusty portrayal of the kitchen goddess with a huge personality, Julia Child, in this Nora Ephron movie.

Also in 2009, Meryl Streep played a very human woman, worts and all, in a love triangle with her ex-and-remarried husband, played by Alec Baldwin, and a new suitor, played by Steve Martin, in the movie IT'S COMPLIATED.

Streep has played many real life people, including Julia Child, Ethel Rosenberg, Karen Silkwood, Karen Blixen, Roberta Guasppari, Lindy Chamberlain, Susan Orlean and Margaret Thatcher.

Meryl Streep maintains a certain modesty regarding her success.  She is quoted as saying, "I mean, come on; when you have people writing these things, that you're the greatest thing that ever ate scenery, you're dead. You're fucking dead."  She also remarked, "I try to lead as ordinary a life as I can. You can't get spoiled if you do your own ironing."
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Her Best Actress nominations include:

THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN (1981)
SILKWOOD (1983)
OUT OF AFRICA (1985)
IRONWEED (1987)
A CRY IN THE DARK (1988)
POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (1990)

In addition, Meryl Streep received a Supporting nomination for her performance in THE DEER HUNTER (1978).

Meryl Streep's other credits include:

JULIA (1977)
MANHATTAN (1979)
THE SEDUCTION OF JOE TYNAN (1979)
THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN (BFA) (1981)
STILL OF THE NIGHT (1982)
FALLING IN LOVE (1984)
PLENTY (1985)
HEARTBURN (1986)
DEFENDING YOUR LIFE (1991)
DEATH BECOMES HER (1992)
THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS (1993)
MARVIN'S ROOM (1996)
ONE TRUE THING (1998)
MUSIC OF THE HEART (1999)
THE HOURS (2002)
ADAPTATION (2002)
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2004)
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORNATE EVENTS (2004)
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (2006)
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006)
LIONS FOR LAMBS (2007)
MAMMA MIA! (2008)
JULIE & JULIA (2009)
IT'S COMPLICATED (2009)

Streep's television credits include:

SECRET SERVICE (1977)
THE DEADLIEST SEASON (1977)
HOLOCAUST (1978)
UNCOMMON WOMEN... AND OTHERS (1979)
ALICE AT THE PALACE (1982)
...FIRST DO NO HARM (1997)