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Meryl Streep (born Mary Louise Streep June 22, 1949) is an Oscar-winning American actress who has received numerous accolades for her work in movies and television and who, from the 1980s to the present day, has been regarded as one of the best in her field. She is the most nominated actor in the history of American motion picture industry with 13 Academy Award nominations.

Streep was born Mary Louise Streep in Summit, New Jersey, USA. Her father, Harry Streep Jr., was a pharmaceutical executive of Dutch descent; her mother, Mary, was a commercial artist of Irish, Swiss, and English descent. The family's original surname, Messerschnitz, was changed to Streep in the Netherlands by her Sephardic Jewish ancestors, although Streep's Jewish ancestry is distant and her father was raised an Episcopalian.

In September 1978 Meryl married sculptor Don Gummer and they are parents to four children: Henry, Mamie (Mary), Grace and Louisa. Her son Henry graduated Dartmouth College (also alma mater to Streep, for a year as a transfer student) and he attended NYU's Graduate Acting Program to earn his MFA. He is currently front man for New York indie band BRAVO SILVA. Her daughter Mamie has recently received critical acclaim for her off Broadway debut in Mr. Marmalade. Grace is currently an art and religion major in the class of 2008 at Vassar College. Streep's integrity in keeping her personal life personal is well known within the industry. Streep refers to herself as "an actress who goes home to her family when I'm finished working".

Meryl was raised in the small village of Bernardsville, New Jersey, majoring in drama at Vassar College and earning a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama. She appeared in her first films, Julia and The Deer Hunter, in 1977 and 1978, the latter of which would earn her her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. Streep has been nominated a total of 13 times—10 for Best Actress and 3 for Best Supporting Actress—making her the most-nominated actor of all time, surpassing Katharine Hepburn. She won Academy Awards for her roles in Kramer vs. Kramer (Best Supporting Actress, 1979), and Sophie's Choice (Best Actress, 1982).

Streep's career continued to climb in the 1980s, appearing in Woody Allen's Manhattan, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Silkwood, Out of Africa, Ironweed, Postcards from the Edge, and playing Lindy Chamberlain in A Cry in the Dark, the movie telling of one of the greatest Australian mysteries ever—the disappearance of Chamberlain's baby daughter Azaria at Uluru, and her claims (later substantiated in court) that a dingo had taken the child. Meryl's cry in the movie "That Dingo Ate My Baby" has been parodied in many comedy skits, the most famous being Seinfeld where Elaine says "Maybe the dingo ate your baby." MP3s with the phrase "The Dingo Took My Baby" greet people on many websites.

From 1984 to 1990, Streep won six People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture Actress and, in 1990, was named World-Favorite. Having been named on so many greatest movie star lists, Streep also defied expectations by her happy home life—marriage to sculptor Don Gummer, with four children—and her truthful approach toward the industry and her own presence within it. As she would say when collecting her Emmy award for Angels in America, "There are some days when even I think I'm overrated . . . but not today."

But by 1990, her habit of performing marvelously without fail began to have an unusual effect, in that many critics begin to chide her for her tradition of playing "cold" characters, and often those with accents—in short, characters that weren't humanized to the immediate audience. In the 1990s Streep took to playing roles with greater variety, including farce in Death Becomes Her alongside Goldie Hawn, the movie version of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, 1995's The Bridges of Madison County (largely regarded as her great comeback role), The River Wild— her first and only action film to date—and her noted comic turn in She-Devil. That is not to say that Streep did not maintain her reputation as an acting great—appearing in Marvin's Room, and completing another successful decade with Music of the Heart, for which she learned to play the violin.

Among her other recent work were guest voices in episodes of The Simpsons and King of the Hill. She voiced the Blue Mecha in the Steven Spielberg-Stanley Kubrick film, A.I.; appeared alongside Nicolas Cage in Adaptation.; played four different roles in the HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's six-hour play Angels in America; starred alongside Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore in The Hours; and in 2004 took on two additional roles, playing the character originated by Angela Lansbury in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate, and taking a role alongside Jim Carrey, Emily Browning and Jude Law in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. That same year, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields proclaimed May 27 "Meryl Streep Day".

In July 2001, Streep returned to the stage for the first time in over 20 years, playing Arkadina in the Public Theatre's revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. The beautiful staging, directed by Mike Nichols, also featured Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden and John Goodman. The all-star cast ensured long lines of people willing to wait as long as 17 hours to acquire the free tickets. Summer 2006 will find her returning to that venue to play the title role in Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children; this new translation by Tony Kushner will be directed by George C. Wolfe.

Streep's most recent film release was October's Prime in which she had a comic role alongside Uma Thurman and Bryan Greenberg. She currently has two films in various stages of production for release in 2006, Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion as well as The Devil Wears Prada (a comedy costarring another one time Vassar College student Anne Hathaway).

Streep has received countless awards, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—all of which can be seen at numerous sites, including her page at the Internet Movie Database (link below). Summarized below are her awards from the best recognized institutions.

She currently holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations of any actor, having been nominated for 13 Academy Awards since her first nomination in 1979 for The Deer Hunter.

Meryl Streep is also currently the second most nominated for Golden Globes. She has 20 nominations to Jack Lemmon's 22.

List of Wins:

1978 - Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series, in Holocaust
1979 - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Deer Hunter
1979 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer
1979 - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer
1980 - Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role in Kramer vs. Kramer
1980 - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer
1980 - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer
1980 - Hasty Pudding Theatricals for Woman of the Year
1981 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in The French Lieutenant's Woman
1982 - BAFTA for Best Actress in The French Lieutenant's Woman
1982 - Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama in The French Lieutenant's Woman
1982 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in Sophie's Choice
1982 - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in Sophie's Choice
1983 - Golden Globe for Best Actress, in Sophie's Choice
1983 - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in Sophie's Choice
1983 - Academy Award for Best Actress in Sophie's Choice
1984 - People's Choice Awards for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
1985 - David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress in Falling In Love
1985 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in Out of Africa
1985 - People's Choice Awards for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
1986 - David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress in Out of Africa
1986 - People's Choice Awards for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
1987 - People's Choice Awards for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
1988 - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress A Cry in the Dark
1989 - Cannes Film Festival for Best Actress in A Cry in the Dark
1989 - Australian Film Institute for Best Actress in A Cry in the Dark
1989 - People's Choice Awards for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
1991 - American Comedy Awards for Funniest Actress, in Postcards from the Edge
1990 - People's Choice Awards for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
1990 - People's Choice Awards for World - Favourite Motion Picture Actress
1999 - Gotham Awards Lifetime Achievement Award
2003 - Berlin International Film Festival's Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress in The Hours (shared with Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore)
2003 - Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in Adaptation.
2003 - Prestige Award for Best Supporting Actress in Adaptation.
2004 - Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television, in Angels in America
2004 - SAG for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries in Angels in America
2004 - Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie in Angels in America
2004 - American Film Institute life achievement award

List of Nominations:

1976 - Tony Featured Actress in a Play, in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton
1979 - Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress, in The Deer Hunter
1979 - Academy Award Best Supporting Actress, in The Deer Hunter
1980 - BAFTA Best Actress, in The Deer Hunter
1980 - BAFTA Best Supporting Actress, in Manhattan
1981 - BAFTA Best Actress, in Kramer vs. Kramer
1982 - Academy Award Best Actress, in The French Lieutenant's Woman
1984 - BAFTA Best Actress, in Sophie's Choice
1984 - Golden Globe Best Actress, in Silkwood
1984 - Academy Award Best Actress, in Silkwood
1985 - BAFTA Best Actress, in Silkwood
1986 - Golden Globe Best Actress, in Out of Africa
1986 - Academy Award Best Actress, in Out of Africa
1987 - BAFTA Best Actress, in Out of Africa
1988 - Academy Award Best Actress, in Ironweed
1989 - Golden Globe Best Actress, in A Cry in the Dark
1989 - Academy Award Best Actress, in A Cry in the Dark
1990 - Golden Globe Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical, in She-Devil
1991 - Golden Globe Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical, in Postcards from the Edge
1991 - Academy Award Best Actress, in Postcards from the Edge
1993 - Golden Globe Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical, in Death Becomes Her
1995 - Screen Actors Guild Best Actress, in The River Wild
1995 - Golden Globe Best Actress, in The River Wild
1996 - SAG Best Actress, in The Bridges of Madison County
1996 - Golden Globe Best Actress, in The Bridges of Madison County
1996 - Academy Award Best Actress, in The Bridges of Madison County
1997 - SAG Best Cast, in Marvin's Room (shared - see note below)
1997 - Golden Globe Best Actress, in Marvin's Room
1998 - Emmy Best Actress in a Mini-series, in ...First Do No Harm
1998 - Golden Globe Best Actress in a Mini-series, in ...First Do No Harm
1999 - SAG Best Actress Nomination for One True Thing
1999 - Golden Globe Best Actress, in One True Thing
1999 - Academy Award Best Actress, in One True Thing
2000 - SAG Best Actress, in Music of the Heart
2000 - Golden Globe Best Actress, in Music of the Heart
2000 - Academy Award Best Actress, in Music of the Heart
2003 - Golden Globe Best Actress for The Hours
2003 - Prestige Award Best Actress for The Hours
2003 - SAG Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture for The Hours
2003 - SAG Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture for Adaptation. (shared - see note below)
2003 - BAFTA Best Actress Nomination for The Hours
2003 - BAFTA Best Supporting Actress forAdaptation.
2003 - Academy Award Best Supporting Actress for Adaptation.
2005 - Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress for The Manchurian Candidate
2005 - BAFTA Best Supporting Actress for The Manchurian Candidate
2005 - Prestige Award Best Supporting Actress for The Manchurian Candidate

Notes:


1997 SAG Nomination for Marvin's Room shared with Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Dan Hedaya, Diane Keaton, Hal Scardino, Gwen Verdon and Hume Cronyn.
2003 SAG Nomination for Adaptation. shared with Nicholas Cage, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Cara Seymour and Tilda Swinton.
2003 SAG Nomination for The Hours shared with Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Miranda Richardson, Jeff Daniels, Ed Harris, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Stephen Dillane, John C. Reilly and Allison Janney.

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