Meryl Streep

Born:

June 22, 1949

Born as:

Mary Louise Streep

There are some days when even I think I'm overrated, but not today

Biography:

Born in Summit, New Jersey (USA), Meryl's early performing ambitions leaned toward the opera. She started voice training at age 12 and took up acting in high school.

Streep made her Broadway debut in 1975 with Trelawny of the Wells and her screen debut in Julia (1977).

In 1978 she took the female lead in The Deer Hunter, picking up her first Academy Award nomination. That same year she also starred in the television miniseries Holocaust.

One year later Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) established her as a first-rank star. Streep's career continued to climb in the 1980s.

In the 1990s her fame declined a little. In spite of forays into comedy (Death becomes her (1992)), Streep was always considered a serious actress, her name typically associated with a serious, often depressing sort of film. In 1994 she tackled her first action film, The river wild and in 1995 she was back with The Bridges of Madison County (Directed by Clint Eastwood).

Meryl's reputation as an acting great remained, appearing in Marvin's Room , and completing another successful decade with Music of the Heart.

Selected Movies:

Manhattan (1979)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Adaptation. (2002)
The Hours (2002)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Out of Africa (1985)
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

Academy awards:

2003 Nominated Best Actress for: Adaptation. (2002)
2000 Nominated Best Actress for: Music of the Heart (1999)
1999 Nominated Best Actress for: One True Thing (1998)
1996 Nominated Best Actress for: The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
1991 Nominated Best Actress for: Postcards from the Edge (1990)
1989 Nominated Best Actress for: A Cry in the Dark (1988)
1988 Nominated Best Actress for: Ironweed (1987)
1986 Nominated Best Actress for: Out of Africa (1985)
1984 Nominated Best Actress for: Silkwood (1983)
1983 Won Best Actress for: Sophie's Choice (1982)
1982 Nominated Best Actress for: The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
1980 Won Oscar Best Actress for: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
1979 Nominated Best Actress for: The Deer Hunter (1978)

Bibliography » Books:

Bibliography » Web:

BBC
CNN
DVD town
High-Def Digest
Playbill
Seeing-stars.com
The Sun
THR
UNHCR
Variety
Variety
Variety

Rumours and new films

- Unknown -
Meryl will get caught up in a romantic triangle with Alec Baldwin and an unknown actor.
Status: Uncertain, release date may be in 2010

- Dirty Tricks -
The wife of Richard Nixon’s chief of staff (Streep) comes to her husband’s defense in the aftermath of Watergate.
Status: Maybe, maybe not

- Julie & Julia -
A frustrated secretary embarks on a quest to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s (Streep) Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Status: The film will be released within 30 weeks (August 7, 2009)

News

-December 18, 2008
Doubt has got five nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The honors include Meryl (lead-actress). The film also has a nomination for overall cast performance. The 15th annual SAG Awards will air live on TNT and TBS in the U.S.A. January 25th.
Source / More (Web)

-December 16, 2008
In shops: Mamma Mia! The Movie on DVD and hi-def Blu-ray from Universal Home Entertainment. The extras include:
A Feature Commentary with director Phyllida Lloyd.
A deleted Musical Number: The Name of the Game
Becoming a Singer (see how Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and the rest of the stars brought the ABBA songs to life on the screen!).
and much more.
Source / More (Web)

-December 15, 2008
Meryl Streep says that she lost out on the role of the beauty in the 1976 film King Kong because the producer Dino De Laurentis thought she was ugly. “She’s ugly. Why did you bring me this thing?”. Streep: “He didn’t realise I’d just graduated and studied Italian. When I replied in Italian, he looked like he had been shot.”
Source / More (Web)

-November 12, 2008
Hurricane on the Bayou narrated by Meryl Streep will be released for Blu-ray February 10th. The documentary follows four musicians as they explore New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katharina.
Source / More (Web)

-October 09, 2008
Meryl`s 22 year old daughter, Grace Gummer, is following in her mother`s footsteps, as she is launching her stage acting career with The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents. She plays Dora, who develops an insatiable sexual appetite after living on tranquilizers for 10 years.
Source / More (Web)

Trivia

Meryl learned to play the violin for her role in Music of the Heart (1999). She practiced 6 hours a day for 8 weeks.

With 14 Academy Award nominations (11 for Best Actress and 3 for Best Supporting Actress) she’s the most nominated actor ever. She got her first nomination in 1979 for The Deer Hunter (1978) and the last one in 2007 for The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Meryl Streep was Katharine Hepburn’s least favorite modern actress.
--Source: Kate Remembered, Page 176

Meryl has a star on Hollywood Boulevard. It’s located between Orange Drive and La Brea Avenue.

Meryl has her handprints set in cement on Hollywood Boulevard (Hollywood, USA, in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theater).
Source / More (Web)

Early in her career, Streep received a letter from actress Bette Davis. Davis told Streep that she felt that she was her successor as the premier American actress.

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Meryl Streep

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Meryl Streep

Born:

Born as:

Biography:

Selected Movies:

Academy awards:

Bibliography » Books:

Bibliography » Web:

Rumours and new films

News

Trivia