Meryl Streep is an American actress who has had an extensive career in film, television, and stage. She made her broadway stage debut in 1975 with The Public Theater production of Trelawny of the 'Wells'. She went on to perform several roles on stage in the 1970s, gaining a Tony Award nomination for her role in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1976). In 1977, Streep made her film debut with a brief role alongside Jane Fonda in Julia. A supporting role in the war drama The Deer Hunter (1978) proved to be a breakthrough for Streep; she received her first Academy Award nomination for it. She won the award the following year for playing a troubled wife in the top-grossing drama Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). In 1978, Streep played a German, "Aryan" woman married to a Jewish man in Nazi Germany in the television miniseries Holocaust, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award.
Streep established herself as a leading Hollywood actress in the 1980s. She played dual roles in the period drama The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), and starred as a Polish Holocaust survivor in Sophie's Choice (1982). She was awarded the Best Actress Oscar for the latter. Streep portrayed the real-life character of Karen Silkwood in Mike Nichols' drama Silkwood (1983), before starring in her most financially successful release of the decade, the romantic drama Out of Africa (1985), in which she played the Danish writer Karen Blixen. With intermittent successes, Streep's career went through a period of relative decline post-1985, with several commentators criticizing her inclination towards melodramatic roles, despite her attempt at playing against-type in the comedies She-Devil (1989) and Death Becomes Her (1992).
In 1995, Streep starred opposite Clint Eastwood as an unhappily married woman in The Bridges of Madison County, her biggest critical and commercial success of the decade. Although her dramas of the late 1990s received a mixed reception overall, she was praised for her role as a cancer patient in One True Thing (1998). She had acclaimed roles in the 2002 films Adaptation. and The Hours, and won a second Emmy Award for the television miniseries Angels in America a year later. Greater success returned to Streep in 2006, with an Academy Award-nominated role as a ruthless fashion magazine editor in the comedy-drama The Devil Wears Prada. This led to starring roles in several high-profile films, including the US$609 million-grossing romantic comedy Mamma Mia! (2008), her highest-grossing release, and the comedy-drama Julie & Julia (2009), in which she played Julia Child. These roles re-established Streep's stardom. Her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the biopic The Iron Lady (2011) earned her another Academy Award for Best Actress. Further Oscar nominations came for her starring roles in August: Osage County (2013), Into the Woods (2014), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), and The Post (2017), setting a record for more nominations than any actor or actress in history.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1977 Julia Anne Marie 1978 Linda Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress 1979 Manhattan Jill Davis Kramer vs. Kramer Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actress 1981 Sarah Woodruff / AnnaAcademy Award nomination for Best Actress 1982 Still of the Night Sophie's Choice Academy Award win for Best Actress 1983 Silkwood Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 1984 Falling in Love 1985 Plenty Out of Africa Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 1986 Heartburn 1987 Ironweed Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 1988 Evil Angels aka A Cry in the Dark; Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 1989 She-Devil 1990 Postcards from the Edge Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 1991 Defending Your Life Julia Age 7 in America Narrator Documentary 1992 Death Becomes Her 1993 1994 1995 Narrator Documentary Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 1996 Before and After Marvin's Room Lee 1998 One True Thing Academy Award nomination for Best Actress Dancing at Lughnasa 1999 Music of the Heart Academy Award nomination for Best Actress Ginevra's Story Narrator Documentary 2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence Voice 2002 Adaptation. Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress 2003 Stuck on You Herself Uncredited cameo 2004 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Aunt Josephine 2005 Prime Stolen Childhoods Narrator Documentary 2006 The Woman Short film Narrator Documentary short film Academy Award nomination for Best Actress Queen Ant 2007 Dark Matter Evening Rendition Lions for Lambs 2008 Mamma Mia! Doubt Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 2009 Julie & Julia Academy Award nomination for Best Actress Fantastic Mr. Fox Voice; animated film It's Complicated 2010 Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life Jennie Voice; short film 2011 Academy Award win for Best Actress 2012 To the Arctic 3D Narrator Documentary Hope Springs 2013 Wings of Life Narrator Documentary Girl Rising Out of Print August: Osage County Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 2014 Chief Elder Into the Woods Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress 2015 Ricki and the Flash Suffragette Shout Gladi Gladi Narrator Documentary 2016 Florence Foster Jenkins Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 2017 We Rise Narrator Documentary Little Door Gods Narrator Voice (English dub); animated film; aka The Guardian Brothers Academy Award nomination for Best Actress 2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again This Changes Everything Herself Documentary Mary Poppins Returns Topsy 2019 Ellen Martin / Elena / Herself Little Women Aunt March 2020 Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth Narrator Voice; animated short film Let Them All Talk 2021 Don't Look Up 2022 Sell/Buy/Date Executive producer 2024 Schindler Space Architect Narrator Documentary 2026 Hoppers The Insect Queen Voice cameo Project Hail Mary Rocky Voice cameo The Devil Wears Prada 2 Miranda Priestly My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile Executive producer 2027 Aslan Post-production; Voice TBA Abigail Blass / Elizabeth Crawford / Angel / Demon In production; Voice
Television Year Title Role Notes 1976 Everybody Rides the Carousel Lover Voice; television film 1977 Television film 1977–1979 Great Performances Episode: "Secret Service" Leilah Episode: "Uncommon Women and Others" 1978 Holocaust Miniseries; 4 episodes 1981 Kiss Me, Petruchio Katherine Documentary 1982 Alice at the Palace Alice Television film 1990 Concerned Citizen Television special 1994 Voice; Episode: "Bart's Girlfriend" 1997 ...First Do No Harm Television film; also producer 1999 King of the Hill Voice; Episode: "A Beer Can Named Desire" 2003 Angels in America / Ethel Rosenberg / The Rabbi / The Angel Australia Miniseries; 6 episodes Freedom: A History of US / / / Voice; documentary; 4 episodes 2007 Ocean Voyagers Narrator Documentary 2010–2012 Web Therapy Guest star; 5 episodes 2013 Makers: Women Who Make America Narrator Documentary; 3 episodes 2014 Voice; documentary; 7 episodes 2017 Five Came Back Narrator Documentary; 3 episodes 2019 Big Little Lies Main role (season 2); 7 episodes 2023 Extrapolations Eve Shearer Episode: "2046: Whale Fall"2023–2025 Only Murders in the Building Loretta Durkin Special guest (seasons 3–5); 11 episodes 2024 Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World? Narrator Documentary; 8 episodes2025 Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special Herself / Colleen Rafferty Sr. Television special The American Revolution Mercy Otis Warren Voice; documentary; 3 episodes 2026 Henry David Thoreau Lidian Emerson / Margaret Fuller / Mary Merrick Brooks / Maria Thoreau Voice; documentary
Stage Year Title Role Venue 1971The Playboy of SevilleTisbeaCubiculo Theatre; Off-Broadway debut1974 singer Yale Repertory Theatre 1975 Jean Trelawny of the 'Wells' Vivian Beaumont Theater; Broadway debut 1976 27 Wagons Full of Cotton Patricia / Flora MeighanPlayhouse Theatre Secret Service Henry V CatherineDelacorte Theater Measure for Measure Isabella 1977 Dunyasha Vivian Beaumont Theater Happy End Martin Beck Theatre 1978 Katharina Minola Delacorte Theater 1979Taken in Marriage Andrea Joseph Papp Public Theater & Newman Theater 1980–1981Alice in Concert Alice Joseph Papp Public Theater & Anspacher Theater 2001 Irina Arkadina Delacorte Theater 2004Bridge and Tunnel Producer; Theatres at 45 Bleecker & Bleecker Street Theatre 2006Mother Courage and Her Children Mother Courage Delacorte Theater
See also List of awards and nominations received by Meryl Streep
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