| Considered by many movie reviewers to be the greatest living film
actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an
astonishing 12 times, and has won it twice. Born Mary Louise Streep in
1949 in Summit, New Jersey, Meryl's early performing ambitions leaned
toward the opera. She became interested in acting while a student at
Vassar and upon graduation she enrolled in the Yale School of Drama. She
gave an outstanding performance in her first film role, Julia (1977), and
the next year she was nominated for her first Oscar for her role in Deer
Hunter, The (1978). She went on to win the Academy Award for her
performances in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), and Sophie's Choice (1982) in
which she gave a heart wrenching portrayal of an inmate mother in a Nazi
death camp.
A perfectionist in her craft and meticulous and painstaking in her
preparation for her roles, Meryl turned out a string of highly acclaimed
peformances over the next 10 years in great films like Silkwood (1983);
Out of Africa (1985); Ironweed (1987); and Cry in the Dark, A (1988). Her
career declined slightly in the early 1990s as a result of her inability
to find suitable parts, but she shot back to the top in 1995 with her
performance as Clint Eastwood's married lover in Bridges of Madison
County, The (1995) and as the prodigal daughter in Marvin's Room (1996).
In 1998 she made her first venture into the area of producing, and was the
executive producer for the moving ...First Do No Harm (1997) (TV). A
realist when she talks about her future years in film, she remarked that
"...no matter what happens, my work will stand..." |