Who can ever forget the stern, ambitious boss of Devil wears Prada, or the enduring Joanna in Kramer vs. Kramer. Or the many tear-jerking scenes from movies that have time and again proved her prowess at acting. Mary Louise Streep, popularly known as Meryl Streep, is one iconic actress who has always enthralled the audiences with her acting capabilities.
Mary Louise Streep was born on June 22, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey, to Mary Wilkinson Streep, a commercial artist and art editor and Harry William Streep Jr., a pharmaceutical executive.
Cited in the media as the ‘best actress of her generation’, she is known for her versatility across genres. Nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards, (out of which she won three) and 31 Golden Globe nominations,(winning eight), she has more nominations and competitive wins than any other actor till date.
Debut on stage –
Streep made her stage debut in Trelawny of the Wells in 1975. In 1976, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. In 1977, she made her screen debut in the television film The Deadliest Season, and also made her film debut in Julia. She received her first Academy Award nomination for The Deer Hunter. Streep went on to win Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), and Best Actress for Sophie’s Choice (1982) and The Iron Lady (2011).
Streep’s other Oscar-nominated roles were in The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), Silkwood (1983), Out of Africa(1985), Ironweed (1987), Evil Angels (1988), Postcards from the Edge (1990), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), One True Thing (1998), Music of the Heart (1999), Adaptation (2002), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Doubt (2008), Julie & Julia (2009), August: Osage County (2013), Into the Woods (2014), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), and The Post(2017).
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She returned to the stage for the first time in over 20 years in Theatre’s 2001 revival of The Seagull.
Awards –
In 1978, she won an Emmy Award for her role in the mini-series Holocaust. She won a second Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 2004 for the HBO mini-series Angels in America (2003).
Streep was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004, Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2008, and Kennedy Center Honor in 2011 for her contribution to American culture through performing arts. President Barack Obama awarded her the 2010 National Medal of Arts, and in 2014, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2003, the government of France made her a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. She received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2011 and was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2017.
Author Karina Longworth once mentioned of Meryl that despite her high level of stardom, she has managed to maintain a relatively normal personal life.
Streep is married to sculptor Don Gummer. They have four children: musician Henry (born 1979), actresses Mamie (born 1983) and Grace (born 1986), and model Louisa (born 1991).
For Oscars 2018, she is again nominated for her role in the successful movie titled ‘The Post.’