Trade mark
Known for being a perfectionist when preparing for roles
Known for her ability to master almost any accent.
Trivia
Named Best Modern Actress in an Entertainment Weekly on-line poll, substantially beating out runner-up Michelle
Pfeiffer . [September 1999]
Learned to play the violin, by practicing 6 hours a day for 8 weeks, for her role in Music of the Heart (1999).
Has a fear of helicopters.
Received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [16 September 1998]
Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1977" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol.
29.
Ranked #24 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October
1997]
Married with 4 children: Henry, Mary Willa, Grace, Louisa
Educated at Yale University. Studied Drama.
Graduated from Vassar College in 1971.
Once engaged to actor John Cazale
Graduated from Bernards High School.
Before making it big, she was a waitress at The Hotel Somerset in Somerville, New Jersey, USA.
Was a cheerleader and homecoming queen in high school.
She left her just-claimed Oscar for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) on the back of a toilet during the 1979 festivities.
Replaced Madonna for the lead in Music of the Heart (1999).
Her son, Henry W. Gummer ("Hank"), is a student at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. [2001]
Sister-in-law of Maeve Kinkead .
Named an Officer of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. [2000]
Born at 8:05 AM EST
Tennessee Williams wanted her for a film version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" in the 80s.
When Streep proved unavailable, the project was refashioned for television and the role of Blanche given to Ann-Margret .
She is the most nominated actor ever for an Academy Award, with 13 nominations.
Has a deviated septum which she refuses to have fixed. Directors work around it by avoiding straight-on close-ups.
Has 4 children; Henry Gummer (aka Harry Gummer) (b. 1979), Mary Willa Gummer (aka Mamie Gummer) (b. 1983), Grace Jane
Gummer (b. 1986), and Louisa Jacobson Gummer (b. 12 June, 1991)
Measurements: 34B-26-36 (from film SFX torso mold done in 1982), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
The children's TV series "Sesame Street" (1969) has featured a character named "Meryl Sheep", in her honor.
Was originally supposed to play the role of Iris Hineman is the film Minority Report (2002), but had to back out. She
was replaced by Lois Smith .
Her character Karen Silkwood from her 1983 film Silkwood (1983) was ranked #47 on the American Film Institute Heroes
list of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villians.
Presented Paul McCartney with the 1990 Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. Attended the Beatles concert at Shea Stadium
in 1965 with an "I love Paul" sign. which she mentioned when presenting the award to McCartney.
Sister of Harry Streep .
Spent a year as a transfer student at Dartmouth University where she participated in theater.
Applied to Law School.
Sigourney Weaver was a fellow classmate at Yale Drama School
Back at the Drama school, she and Sigourney Weaver appeared in a play staged in a swimming pool together. The play is
called 'The Frogs'.
Tony Nominee in 1976 for Featured Actress in a Play for "27 Wagons Full of Cotton"
Diane Keaton calls her "my generation's genius."
May 27, 2004 was proclaimed "Meryl Streep Day" by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields. [May 2004]
She was voted the 37th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
As a young actor, she performed at the Yale Repertory Theater with Christopher Lloyd .
According to Katharine Hepburn's official biographer A. Scott Berg, Meryl Streep was her least favorite modern actress
on screen: "Click, click, click," she said, referring to the wheels turning inside Streep's head.
Has only been turned down for two roles. Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams and Miss Kenton in The Remains of the Day.
Christine Estabrook was a fellow classmate at Yale Drama School
She often works with Academy award-winning director Mike Nichols.
Personal quotes
"I had it (smoking), it stinks." Entertainment Tonight
In 1978: "I'm looking forward to bigger parts in the future, but I'm not doing soft-core scripts where the character
emerges in half-light, half-dressed."
"You can't get spoiled if you do your own ironing."
(On whether Madonna should play Eva Peron in the film version of Evita (1996) instead of her): "I can sing better than
she can. If Madonna gets it, I'll rip her throat out!"
I don't want to spit in the eye of good fortune, but it was weird. I felt like I'd butted in line in front of Lucille
Ball , Audrey Hepburn , Katharine Hepburn . Hello? How did this happen? I was only the sixth woman to receive it, but they
found 26 men to give it to. I thought that was embarrassing. [on her Lifetime Achievement Award from the AFI]
I thought it was really fun, you've got to understand, but I didn't think it was a serious way to conduct your life.
You know, I had a sense of mission. I was a true child of the '60s. [on her view of acting back in college]
I love doing comedy, but people just don't give me enough of a chance. It's one of the reasons I enjoy The Manchurian
Candidate (2004) so much. It's because I actually get a chance to be funny.
Let's face it, we were all once 3-year-olds who stood in the middle of the living room and everybody thought we were
so adorable. Only some of us grow up and get paid for it.
"There are some days when even I think I'm overrated, but not today." (When accepting Emmy for "Angels
in America" (2003) (mini)).
