Mary Louise ‘Meryl’ Streep is a three-time Academy Award winner and is frequently cited as the best stage artist of her generation. She is largely famous for her performances in the movies such as Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice and The Iron Lady.
Early Life
Meryl Streep was born on June 22, 1949 in Summit, New Jersey to father William Streep Jr. and Mary Wolf Wilkinson. Mary was an artist too. She worked as a motivation to Meryl. Meryl once said – “She was a mentor because she said to me, ‘Meryl, you’re capable. You’re so great…. And I believed her.”
Representing a mixed European race, Meryl was merrily raised in Bernardsville, New Jersey with two brothers, Dana David and Harry William III. The siblings attended Bernard’s High School. At high school, Meryl wasn’t very much into acting although she was adept in performing plays and dramas. However, an admission into Vassar College changed her course of career into theater arts.
After her undergraduate at Vassar, Meryl enrolled into Yale School of Drama for an MFA. She also received Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree from Dartmouth College in 1981.
Personal Life
Meryl Streep remains relatively low profile even after gaining widespread fame. She was dating John Cazale for three years. His death in 1978 left Meryl devastated. However, after six months of the tragedy, Streep married Don Gummer, an American sculptor.
The couple has four children. The first-born child Henry is a musician, second-born Mamie is an actress and the youngest in the family, Louisa, is a model. Gummer family spent most of their childhood in Connecticut. Then, they moved to a mansion in Los Angeles in 1990.
Talking about religious ideology, Streep says that she doesn’t follow any doctrine. Likewise, she describes herself as a leftist from a political view. Meryl endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Presidential Election.
Career
Meryl Streep debuted into the professional acting career with a stage performance at Vivian Beaumont Theatre in 1975. Subsequently, she did four plays in 1976 at Playhouse and Delacorte Theatre. Some of her other plays include The Cherry Orchard, Happy End, The Taming of the Shrew, The Seagull and Mother Courage and Her Children.
Aside from theatre career, Meryl has appeared in numerous television shows, debuting in 1976 with a telefilm Everybody Rides the Carousel. In the recent years, she has done Ocean Voyagers (2007) as a narrator, Web Therapy (2010–12) as Camilla Bowner, Makers: Women Who Make America (2013) as a narrator and The Roosevelts (2014).
Hollywood acting is the forte of Meryl’s career. She debuted as Fred Zinnemann in 1977 film Julia. Some of her most acclaimed appearances in the movies such as Into the Woods, Iron Lady, Doubt, Mamma Mia!, The Hours, Artificial Intelligence and Dark Matter.
Awards
Meryl Streep has been nominated for 19 academy awards so far. Of those, she won three: for Best Supporting Actress of Kramer vs. Kramer in 1980, for Best Actress in 1983 and for The Iron Lady in 2012.
Likewise, she has won two British Academy Film Awards out of 15 nominations, one Chicago Film Critics Association Awards out of 9 nominations and eight Golden Globe Awards.
Donald Trump and Meryl Streep altercation
This year, at Golden Globe acceptance speech, Meryl directed her words towards Trump, “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. So, if you kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts. And that is not the arts.” As she continued, Streep alluded to what she went through when Trump mocked a disabled reporter. Meryl added that the incident shattered her heart because of the fact that it wasn’t a movie. This kind of acts from the leaders set an example for others to do the same, she said.
Streep continued, “Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call him on the carpet for every outrage.” Throughout the speech, Streep talked about Trump without even mentioning his name.
Trump responded to Meryl on Twitter:
Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never "mocked" a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
"groveling" when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
