MERYL STREEP (The Ant Queen) is a two-time Academy Award winner and the recipient of a record-breaking 13 Oscar nominations.
Streep began her career on the stage after earning an MFA from Yale School of Drama, where she was the first woman in the school’s history to win the Carol Dye Acting Award. Streep made her New York stage debut in Joseph Papp’s Lincoln Center production of Trelawney of the Wells and went to the Phoenix Repertory, where, in rotating productions, she appeared in the Civil War melodrama Secret Service, Arthur Miller’s A Memory of Two Mondays and Tennessee Williams’ 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. For the last, she won an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Theater World Award, and earned a Tony nomination. Her other early stage credits include the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Henry V and Measure for Measure.
On Broadway, she starred in the Brecht/Weill musical Happy End, and won an Obie for her performance in the off-Broadway production of Alice at the Palace. During this period she also won the Emmy for Best Actress for her role in the miniseries Holocaust.
Streep began her feature film career as Jane Fonda’s society friend in Fred Zinneman’s Julia. In her second screen role, she starred opposite Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter, for which she received her first Oscar nomination. Her next film was the political drama The Seduction of Joe Tynan.
Returning to the stage, she starred as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew for Joe Papp in Central Park. While performing Shakespeare at night, during the day, she alternated filming Manhattan for Woody Allen, and Robert Benton’s Kramer vs. Kramer, for which she won her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She garnered her third Oscar nomination and gained the British Academy Award for her dual role in 1981’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman, directed by Karel Reisz. The following year, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her heart-rending performance in the title role of Alan Pakula’s Sophie’s Choice. She was again Oscar-nominated the very next year for her portrayal of Karen Silkwood in Mike Nichols’ Silkwood. Reuniting with Robert De Niro in Falling in Love, she won the David di Donatello Award, the Italian equivalent of the Oscar.
In 1985, Streep starred in Fred Schepisi’s Plenty, and Sydney Pollack’s Out of Africa, for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and won another David di Donatello award. She then filmed Mike Nichols’ Heartburn, and Hector Babenco’s Ironweed, for which she received her seventh Oscar nomination. Her next film, Fred Schepisi’s A Cry in the Dark, brought Streep the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, The New York Film Critics Circle Award, an AFI award, and another Oscar nomination.
Streep received Golden Globe nominations for her work in Susan Seidelman’s She-Devil and Mike Nichols’ Postcards from the Edge, earning another Oscar nomination for the latter. Continuing her comedy work, she went on to star in Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life, and Robert Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her. She then filmed Billie August’s The House of the Spirits, and tackled the physical challenges of The River Wild, directed by Curtis Hanson.
Returning to television, she garnered an Emmy nomination for her performance in the real-life drama First Do No Harm, which she also co-produced with director Jim Abrahams.
Her next film, Clint Eastwood’s The Bridges of Madison County, brought her Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. She then starred in Barbet Schroeder’s Before and After, and gained another Golden Globe nomination for her work in Marvin’s Room. In 1998, she starred in One True Thing, for which she received SAG Award, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, as well as the Berlinale Camera Award at the Berlin Film Festival. That same year, she joined the ensemble cast of Pat O’Connor’s film Dancing at Lughnasa, based on the Brian Friel play.
Streep learned to play the violin for her portrayal of real-life violin teacher Roberta Guaspari in Wes Craven’s Music of the Heart, for which she earned a 12th Oscar nomination. Moving to New York City in 2001, Streep returned to Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre in Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed by Mike Nichols for the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Public Theatre.
Streep’s work in 2003’s The Hours won her the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as SAG Award and Golden Globe nominations. In the same year, her performance in Spike Jonze’s Adaptation was recognized with a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, and BAFTA and Oscar nominations. Additionally, she was given the Honorary Cesar for Career Achievement in Paris, where she also was accorded a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the highest civilian honor given by the French government. The following year, Streep played four different roles in HBO’s epic adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols. She won the Golden Globe, Emmy and SAG Awards for Best Actress for her work in that project.
Streep’s most recent film credits include The Manchurian Candidate, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Prime, The Devil Wears Prada, and Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion. Her upcoming work includes the film Dark Matter, directed by Chen Shi- Zheng, and the New York Public Theatre production of Mother Courage, adapted by Tony Kushner and directed by George C. Wolfe.
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