biography

Devoted and earnest, Meryl Streep has always been known as one of the hardest working actresses in tinseltown. A perfectionist, she works relentlessly on her craft - and has the accolades to prove it.

Mary Louise Streep was born and raised in Basking Ridge, New Jersey on June 22, 1949. After graduating from Vassar, she attended the renowned Yale Drama School, appearing in six of the seven plays presented annually by the Yale Repertory Company and earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1975.

She then moved to New York where she began work as an actress and became a member of the distinguished New York Public Theater. Her remarkable versatility was apparent early in her career when she played two completely contradictory characters on the same night at the Phoenix Theater in New York. She played a sleek secretary in "A Memory of Two Mondays", while simultaneously starring as a disorderly floozy in "27 Wagons Full of Cotton." She won the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Theater World Award and a Tony nomination for this virtuoso achievement.

Streep made her debut on the Silver Screen with a small role in the movie "Julia" (1977). She followed that with a starring role opposite Robert DeNiro in "The Deer Hunter," for which she was nominated for her first Oscar. That same year she won an Emmy for her portrayal of a Holocaust survivor in the mini-series "Holocaust."

The following year Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) hit the theaters, the film was the years hottest and won Meryl her first Best Actress Oscar. The '80's were a highly productive and successful time for Streep. There was hardly a year that went by that she wasn't recognized by the Academy with work in such films as; "The French Lieutenant's Woman," "Sophie's Choice," "Silkwood," " Out of Africa," "Ironweed," and "A City in the Dark." The early 90's were not much different. She was recognized by the Academy for her work in "Postcards from the Edge," and "Bridges of Madison County."

In 1998 Merryl starred with Renee Zellwegger as a mother dying of cancer who must reconcile with her estranged daughter. Impressively, Streep picked up her 11th Oscar nomination for the part. Currently you can catch Merryl in her latest movie (soon to be released on video) "Music of the Heart."