Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep is an American actress widely regarded as one of the most versatile screen performers of her generation, noted for her command of dialects and her emotional precision. A graduate of Vassar College and the Yale School of Drama, she began on the stage in 1975, moved to film with Julia in 1977, and was nominated for an Academy Award for The Deer Hunter. She won her first Oscar for Kramer vs. Kramer and went on to lead films such as The French Lieutenant's Woman, Sophie's Choice, Out of Africa and A Cry in the Dark, which earned her the Best Actress Award at Cannes. In the 2000s she added large commercial successes, including The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia!, alongside dramas such as Doubt and The Iron Lady, which brought a third Academy Award. She holds the record for the most Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations of any performer and has received the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.