Meryl Streep
☼ Born on 22 December 1949, in Summit, New Jersey, USA
Biography
Considered by many critics to be the greatest living actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 21 times, and has won it three times. Meryl was born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit, New Jersey, to Mary Wolf (Wilkinson), a commercial artist, and Harry William Streep, Jr., a pharmaceutical executive. Her father was of German and Swiss-German descent, and her mother had English, Irish, and German ancestry.
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. She gave an outstanding performance in her first film role, Julia (1977), and the next year she was nominated for her first Oscar for her role in The Deer Hunter (1978). She went on to win the Academy Award for her performances in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Sophie's Choice (1982), in which she gave a heart-wrenching portrayal of an inmate mother in a Nazi death camp.
A perfectionist in her craft and meticulous and painstaking in her preparation for her roles, Meryl turned out a string of highly acclaimed performances over the next decade in great films like Silkwood (1983); Out of Africa (1985); Ironweed (1987); and A Cry in the Dark (1988). Her career declined slightly in the early 1990s as a result of her inability to find suitable parts, but she shot back to the top in 1995 with her performance as Clint Eastwood's married lover in The Bridges of Madison Cou
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nty (1995) and as the prodigal daughter in Marvin's Room (1996). In 1998 she made her first venture into the area of producing, and was the executive producer for the moving ...First Do No Harm (1997). A realist when she talks about her future years in film, she remarked that "...no matter what happens, my work will stand..."
In the role of actor
Don’t Look Up (10/12/2021)
Two astronomers try to warn the world about a comet on route to impact with Earth in Don’t Look Up. Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) is an astronomy grad student, who discovers a comet in the trajectory of Earth. When her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) discovers that the comet is on route to collide […]
Little Women (07/01/2020)
Greta Gerwig writes and directs this new adaptation of the classic novel with Little Women. The March sisters of Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh), and Beth (Eliza Scanlen) grew up together with their mother Marmee (Laura Dern), while their father (Bob Odenkirk) fights in the Civil War. Of the four, Jo […]
The Post (07/01/2018)
The publishing of a government cover-up results in a battle for the freedom of the press in The Post. Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) is the publisher of The Washington Post and works with editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) in the day to day operations. Kay is under much scrutiny for being the first female publisher of […]
Into the Woods (04/01/2015)
Rob Marshall (Chicago) directs this big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. A baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) live in a village and are desperate for a child. The couple are confronted by a witch (Meryl Streep), who tells them that they can’t have kids because […]
Blindspot 2014: Fantastic Mr. Fox (23/03/2014)
This month saw the release of, the latest film by Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel, which I saw last week. As such, it seemed fitting that I make my blindspot selection this month the only film of Anderson’s that I had yet to see. Fantastic Mr. Fox is based on the book by Roald […]
August: Osage County (02/02/2014)
Based on the play by Tracy Letts (Killer Joe), August: Osage County is an ensemble dramedy about one very dysfunctional family, coming together in the wake of tragedy. After the disappearance of family patriarch Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard), his cancer-stricken and pill-popping wife Violet (Meryl Streep) is visited by the members of her family. Violet’s […]