A million girls might kill for her job but the truth is, Meryl Streep’s glorious cinematic career is beyond the scope of any job description. Whether they’re embellished with Prada’s latest offerings or not. Having started her acting journey with the theatre production of Trelawny of the Wells in 1975, it was only with Fred Zinneman’s Julia two years later that Streep catapulted to stardom status. Often touted as one of the best actresses of her generation, it’s the Academy Awardee’s versatility, screen presence, and knack for accents that separates her from the rest. To celebrate her birthday on June 22, we take a look at some of Meryl Streep’s best performances.
When and how did Meryl Streep become a household name?
While Streep had been involved in theatre straight from her high school days, it was only during her stint at New York’s Vassar College that the actress received any formal training. In Karina Longworth’s book, Meryl Streep: Anatomy of an Actor, Vassar’s drama professor, Clinton J. Atkinson, says “I don’t think anyone ever taught Meryl acting. She really taught herself.” Following a master’s at Yale, she debuted with Trelawny of the Wells alongside Mandy Patinkin and John Lithgowuickly.
Her stage career was beginning to take shape in the years following her opening act, having appeared in several more plays in her first year in the city. Soon, Meryl received her first Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her admirable performance in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and A Memory of Two Mondays. Just a couple of years later in 1978, she impressed viewers with her role in the miniseries Holocaust, resulting in an Emmy win for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie.
The very same year, her performance in Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter was green-signalled for an Academy Award nomination. For most fans, this film is considered her breakthrough into the guarded bylanes of Hollywood. In her biography, Longworth argued that in this film Streep “made a case for female empowerment by playing a woman to whom empowerment was a foreign concept — a normal lady from an average American small town, for whom subservience was the only thing she knew”. While she did not pick up the golden statuette for her performance, it was only a year later that the actress was celebrating her first win for her role in the critically-acclaimed, Kramer Vs Kramer.
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What are some of Meryl Streep’s best performances?
It’s the diversity in Streep’s film selection that has helped establish her clout in the industry. From her physical transformation for The Iron Lady to her phenomenal stone-cold persona in The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl’s cinematic contributions have not only gathered prestigious awards, but they’ve also cultivated a population of dedicated fans.
With 21 Academy Award nominations to her name, the highest for any actor in the history of time, we take a look at some of Meryl Streep’s best performances over the years.
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Her sublime performance in Michael Cimino’s Vietnam War-inspired The Deer Hunter, might not have been the actress’s first screen outing, but it launched Streep’s stratospheric rise to stardom. The film, which navigated the impact of the tragedy, miles away in a small Pennsylvanian town, saw Streep descending into the role of a corporal’s love interest, essayed by Christopher Walken. The Deer Hunter also marked John Cazale’s last role as an actor, succumbing to lung cancer in the year leading up to the film’s release.
Other movie facts: The movie was also successful at the box office, grossing $49 million. At the 51st Academy Awards, it was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won five: Best Picture, Best Director for Cimino, Best Supporting Actor for Walken, Best Sound, and Best Film Editing. The film marked Meryl Streep’s first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
(Image credit: EMI Films)
Championing the role of a Holocaust survivor, Meryl’s performance in Sophie’s Choice is one for the history books. The 1982 release, adapted from William Styron’s novel of the same name, conveyed themes that were revolutionary at the time. For Zofia “Sophie” Zawistowski, a Polish immigrant to America, her dark secret creates a chokehold on her life which she shares with her tempestuous lover Nathan (Kevin Kline in his first feature film), and a young writer named Stingo (Peter MacNicol). The gut-wrenching revelation in the film’s climax is one of the most cathartic, impeccably enacted pieces in cinema that still demands complete awe.
Other movie facts: Streep’s titular performance was highly praised. The film received five nominations at the 55th Academy Awards, for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score, with Streep winning the award for Best Actress.
(Image credit: IMDb)
One of Streep’s more underrated hits, Out of Africa saw the actress pairing up with Robert Redford under the directorship of Sydney Pollack. Based loosely on the 1937 autobiography written by Isak Dinesen, this content-hopping epic emerged as one of the biggest hits of the year. The three-hour-long dramatisation navigated several themes- from love to the First World War and raked up an astounding USD 230 million in global box-office receipts.
Other movie facts: This film continued Streep’s dominance at the Academy Awards as the film picked up a historic 11 nominations. This included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound. Out of Africa won 7 of these categories.
(Image credit: IMDb)
Streep’s embodiment of Madeline Ashton, one-half of the two ladies bickering over Dr. Ernest Menville (played by Bruce Willis) in this genre-hopping motion picture was definitely an anachronistic choice for the young actress at the time. Having limited herself to empowered roles, Death Becomes Her worked the dark humour magic, infiltrating into genres of macabre flair, and amusing body horror. From immortality serums to Oscar-approved visual effects, this film continues to be one of the top-rankers of Meryl Streep’s best performances.
Other movie facts: The film has garnered cult status amongst the LGBTQIA+ community. An article in Vanity Fair titled ‘The Gloriously Queer Afterlife of ‘Death Becomes Her’ called the film a “gay cult classic” and “a touchstone of the queer community”. The film picked up the Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Visual Effects, as well as landed Streep a nomination for Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Directed by Clint Eastwood, this romance-infidelity drama follows Meryl’s Italian war bride, Francesca Johnson, as she settles in with her husband and two children on an Iowa farm. It’s here that she meets the charming National Geographic photojournalist, Robert Kincaid (played by Eastwood), who arrives in the county to capture its many historic bridges. What follows is a 4-day whirlwind affair that sees Johnson falling in love with the photographer at a time when her family is away. The actress was lauded for her performance, picking up another Academy Award nomination along the way.
Other movie facts: The film earned $182 million worldwide and received several nominations at that year’s Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
(Image credit: Amblin Entertainment, Malpaso Production)
Streep’s performance as the Anna Wintour-inspired fashion magazine mogul in The Devil Wears Prada created a bold, new image for the actress. Usually portrayed in more emotional roles, this film saw the birth of an unlikeable yet much-quoted lead antagonist who ended up gaining a cult-like following. While an actual job posting for Wintour’s new assistant has been making the rounds, it’s safe to say The Devil Wears Prada cemented Streep’s position as a screen icon with unmatched dialogues.
Other movie facts: The film, an adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel of the same name, grossed over $326 million worldwide, against its $41 million budget. Although the film is said to be a loose adaptation of Wintour’s life, she sportingly attended the film’s New York premiere, wearing Prada.
In an interview with Barbara Walters, the Vogue America editor argued that the film was “really entertaining” and said she appreciated the “decisive” nature of Streep’s portrayal. “Anything that makes fashion entertaining and glamorous and interesting is wonderful for our industry. So I was 100 percent behind it.”
Wintour’s popularity skyrocketed after the film. Contrastingly, Streep commented in a Vogue interview that she did not base her character on Anna, instead postulating that she was inspired by men she had known previously: “Unfortunately you don’t have enough women in power, or at least I don’t know them, to copy.”
(Image credit: Fox 2000 Pictures, Dune Entertainment, Wendy Finerman Productions)
Directed by John Patrick Shanley, based on his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning 2004 stage play Doubt: A Parable, this film opened the floodgates of talent with Streep’s portrayal of a no-nonsense Catholic school headmistress. Upon discovering an anomalous relationship between a priest and a student, Streep’s Sister Aloysius unleashes a crusade against the parish employee in a film that strongly navigates anti-institutional themes.
Other movie facts: Doubt received five Academy Awards nominations for its four lead actors (Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis) and for Shanley’s script. It was the fourth film to date—following My Man Godfrey (1936), I Remember Mama (1948), and Othello (1965)—to receive four acting nominations without being nominated for Best Picture. The film was met with the same nominations for the 2009 BAFTA Awards and Golden Globes as well.
(Image credit: Miramax Films, Scott Rudin Productions)
One of the actress’s more uplifting, cheery performances comes from the 2008 musical, Mamma Mia!. Featuring an ensemble cast including Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård, Meryl Streep, and Julie Walters, the plot follows a young bride-to-be who invites three men to her upcoming wedding, with the possibility that any of them could be her father. This performance remains one of Streep’s most celebrated fan favourites.
Other movie facts: In the United Kingdom, Mamma Mia! grossed £69.2 million, becoming the thirteenth highest-grossing film of all time at the UK box office. The film grossed $144.2 million in the United States and $467.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $611.3 million, against a production budget of $52 million.
(Image credit: Little Star Productions, Playtone Relativity Media)
The actress’s riveting embodiment of Margaret Thatcher might’ve led to one of Streep’s many Academy Award wins, but her portrayal divided award pundits who believed that the controversial political figure needed less limelight than Viola Davis’s The Help, that released in the same year. Yet, it is her spectacular screen presence, her palpable charisma, and fierce dedication to the role that earned her the top laurels. The film’s resilience to capture all parts of the former Prime Minister’s life: from her early days in office to her reclusive later years, created waves within the film industry.
Other movie facts: In an interview with the BBC, then Prime Minister David Cameron described Streep’s performance as “great” and “fantastic” but opined that the filmmakers should have waited before making the movie and focused more on Thatcher’s time in office rather than her personal life and struggles with dementia. Despite critics, the film grossed $30 million in the North American market, and $85 million in other markets, cumulatively earning $115 million worldwide.
(Image credit: IMDb)
The Post takes audiences back to 1971, at a time when Katherine Graham was heading The Washington Post newspaper. The historical political drama, which leads up to the expose of the Pentagon Papers and the resignation of then-President Richard Nixon, was directed by Steven Speilberg with Streep essaying the role of Graham, opposite Tom Hank’s Benjamin Bradlee, the then-serving executive editor of the national daily.
Other movie facts: The Post was named one of the top 10 films of the year by Time magazine and the American Film Institute. It was nominated for Best Picture and Best Actress (for Streep) at the 90th Academy Awards and received six nominations at the 75th Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actress – Drama (for Streep), Best Actor – Drama (for Hanks), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.
(Image credit: 20th Century Fox, Dreamwork Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Pascal Pictures, Star Thrower Entertainment)
Main and featured image: Fox 2000 Pictures, Dune Entertainment, Wendy Finerman Productions
This story first appeared on Prestige Online Malaysia
