49 Fun Facts About Meryl Streep

What is Meryl Streep's real first name?

Mary Louise: born Mary Louise Streep on June 22, 1949, she has gone by Meryl, a family nickname, since childhood.

In which state was Streep born and raised?

New Jersey, where she was raised a Presbyterian and was a high-school cheerleader and homecoming queen.

At age 12, after a school recital, Streep began lessons in what?

Opera: at 12 she began several years of lessons with Estelle Liebling, the coach who trained Beverly Sills, but quit, saying she was 'singing something I didn't feel and understand'.

Which play at Vassar College in 1969 first got Streep interested in serious theatre?

Miss Julie: her 1969 title role in Strindberg's play at Vassar, directed by Clinton Atkinson, convinced her to pursue acting; Atkinson later said no one ever taught Meryl acting, she taught herself.

At which university did Streep earn her Master of Fine Arts?

Yale: at the Yale School of Drama she appeared in a dozen productions a year, waited tables and typed to pay fees, and took her MFA in 1975.

Auditioning for the 1976 King Kong remake, Streep understood when which producer called her ugly in Italian?

Dino De Laurentiis, producing the 1976 King Kong, asked his son in Italian why he had brought him 'this ugly thing'; Streep, who understood, answered in Italian that she was sorry not to be as beautiful as required.

Which actor's Taxi Driver performance made Streep decide 'that's the kind of actor I want to be when I grow up'?

Robert De Niro: Streep said his Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver showed her the actor she wanted to be; after seeing her in The Cherry Orchard he suggested her for Linda in The Deer Hunter.

Which actor, Streep's partner, was dying of lung cancer while they both filmed The Deer Hunter?

John Cazale, whom she met in a 1976 Central Park production of Measure for Measure, had terminal lung cancer during The Deer Hunter shoot; Streep nursed him until his death in March 1978.

Meryl Streep's first feature film was a small flashback role opposite Jane Fonda in which 1977 drama?

Julia left her deflated: most of her scenes were cut and she thought, 'I've made a terrible mistake, no more movies. I hate this business.'

For which 1978 miniseries, watched by an estimated 109 million, did Streep win her first Emmy?

Holocaust, NBC's 1978 miniseries, cast her as Inga Helms Weiss, a German Catholic married to a Jewish artist; she admitted taking it for the money, then won the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Limited Series.

For Kramer vs. Kramer, Streep insisted the script be revised because her character was what?

'Too evil': Streep thought the script made Joanna a villain, so director Robert Benton let her rewrite her courtroom speech; Dustin Hoffman admitted he 'hated her guts' at first.

Where did Streep famously leave her first Oscar after her acceptance speech?

In the ladies' room: after winning Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer in 1980, she set the statuette down on the floor of the bathroom and walked out without it.

Which 1981 film, pairing Streep with Jeremy Irons in a story within a story, was her first leading role?

The French Lieutenant's Woman, Karel Reisz's 1981 adaptation of John Fowles's novel, cast Streep and Jeremy Irons as both the Victorian lovers and the modern actors playing them; it won her a BAFTA.

In Sophie's Choice (1982), Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning Sophie is an Auschwitz survivor from which country?

Poland; she filmed the 'choice' scene in one take and refused to do it again, and Roger Ebert wrote that she had 'the first accent I've ever wanted to hug'.

Which actress did William Styron have in mind for Sophie when he wrote the novel?

Ursula Andress: Styron said he had the Swiss Bond girl in mind when writing Sophie; Streep, who wanted the part badly, reportedly got on her knees to beg director Alan J. Pakula for it.

Streep's first real-life role, in a 1983 Mike Nichols film, was which nuclear whistleblower killed in a car crash?

Silkwood had been investigating the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant.

Which Danish writer did Streep play opposite Robert Redford in Out of Africa?

Karen Blixen, the Danish baroness who wrote Out of Africa as Isak Dinesen, was Streep's role; director Sydney Pollack had doubted she was sexy enough until she turned up to their meeting in a push-up bra.

For which film did Streep win at Cannes, playing an Australian mother convicted of killing her baby?

A Cry in the Dark (1988), released as Evil Angels in Australia, won Streep Best Actress at Cannes as Lindy Chamberlain, who maintained a dingo had taken her baby Azaria.

Streep lobbied to star in Oliver Stone's planned 1989 adaptation of which musical, then dropped out?

Evita: Streep campaigned for the Eva Perón role in Oliver Stone's planned film, then withdrew in 1989 citing exhaustion; reports blamed a salary dispute, and Madonna eventually starred in Alan Parker's 1996 version.

Which friend wrote Postcards from the Edge (1990) and made Streep godmother to her daughter?

Carrie Fisher wrote the novel and screenplay of Postcards from the Edge, drawn from her own rehab and her mother Debbie Reynolds, and chose Streep as godmother to her daughter Billie Lourd.

Which 1992 black comedy with Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis was the longest shoot of Streep's career?

Death Becomes Her, Robert Zemeckis's 1992 black comedy, kept Streep on set for months of effects work as the vain Madeline Ashton; she said she got into character by 'thinking about being slightly pissed off all of the time'.

For The Bridges of Madison County, Streep modelled her Italian farm wife on which two screen stars?

She gained weight for the part and watched Pasolini's Mamma Roma; Clint Eastwood directed and co-starred.

In Music of the Heart (1999), Streep played which real-life violin teacher?

Roberta Guaspari, who taught violin to children in East Harlem's public schools, was played by Streep in Wes Craven's Music of the Heart; she learned to play violin for the role and earned an Oscar nomination.

Which real journalist did Streep play in Spike Jonze's Adaptation. (2002)?

Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief, is played by Streep in Adaptation. as a version of herself who falls for Chris Cooper's orchid poacher John Laroche; the role won her a Golden Globe.

How many roles did Streep play in the HBO miniseries Angels in America (2003)?

It brought her second Emmy and fifth Golden Globe, alongside Al Pacino and Emma Thompson.

What is the name of the fashion editor Streep plays in The Devil Wears Prada?

Miranda Priestly, the icy Runway editor widely read as a take on Vogue's Anna Wintour, earned Streep her 14th Oscar nomination, then a record, in the 2006 film.

On which real Greek island was Mamma Mia! filmed, standing in for the fictional Kalokairi?

Skopelos, in the Sporades, provided the chapel of Agios Ioannis and the beaches that stood in for Kalokairi in Mamma Mia! (2008); neighbouring Skiathos and the Pelion coast also appear.

In Doubt (2008), Streep played the principal of a Catholic school in which New York borough?

The Bronx: Doubt is set in 1964 at St. Nicholas, a Catholic school in the Bronx, where Streep's Sister Aloysius suspects Philip Seymour Hoffman's priest; Streep, Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis were all Oscar-nominated.

Which chef did Streep play in a 2009 Nora Ephron film?

Julia Child: Streep played the towering, trilling TV chef in Julie & Julia, intercut with Amy Adams as blogger Julie Powell cooking all 524 recipes in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

For The Iron Lady, Streep prepared by attending what?

A session of the House of Commons: in 2011 Streep sat in the public gallery to study MPs in action; Thatcher's friends called the portrayal 'inaccurate' and 'biased', but it won her the Best Actress Oscar.

How many Academy Awards has Streep won?

Three: Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer (1980) and Best Actress for Sophie's Choice (1983) and The Iron Lady (2012), from a record number of nominations.

Her nomination for The Post brought Streep's record Oscar nomination tally to how many?

21: her Best Actress nomination for The Post in 2018 was her 21st, extending the record for any performer; the run began with The Deer Hunter in 1979.

Streep donated her fee for The Iron Lady, $1 million, to which institution?

National Women's History Museum: in 2012 Streep gave it $1 million, her fee for The Iron Lady, and became its national spokesperson in the campaign for a permanent home in Washington.

Which musical instrument did Streep learn for Ricki and the Flash (2015)?

Guitar: Streep spent months learning electric guitar to front the bar band in Ricki and the Flash, playing a supermarket cashier who rocks by night, with daughter Mamie Gummer as her estranged child.

Which British suffragette leader did Streep play in a small role in Suffragette (2015)?

Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the Women's Social and Political Union, appears in a single balcony scene in Suffragette, rallying Carey Mulligan's laundress and the crowd.

Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) cast Streep as a woman famous for being what?

A tone-deaf opera singer: Florence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy New York socialite whose off-key arias filled Carnegie Hall in 1944; Hugh Grant played her devoted partner, and the role earned Streep her 20th Oscar nomination.

In The Post (2017), Streep played which newspaper publisher opposite Tom Hanks's Ben Bradlee?

Katharine Graham, the Washington Post publisher who in 1971 defied the Nixon administration to print the Pentagon Papers, was Streep's role in Steven Spielberg's The Post, with Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee.

Meryl Streep's first main TV series role came in 2019, in season two of which HBO drama, playing Nicole Kidman's mother-in-law?

Big Little Lies got her without a script: she accepted the part unread, a first in her career.

Which relative did Streep play in Greta Gerwig's Little Women (2019)?

Aunt March, the rich, imperious widow who lectures Jo on marrying well, was Streep's role in Greta Gerwig's Little Women, with Laura Dern as Marmee and Saoirse Ronan as Jo.

In Don't Look Up (2021), Streep played what?

The President of the United States: Streep's Janie Orlean, a vain populist whose son Jonah Hill serves as chief of staff, brushes off the comet warning in Adam McKay's Don't Look Up.

What is the name of the struggling actress Streep plays in Only Murders in the Building?

Loretta Durkin, a never-quite-made-it actress cast in Oliver's Broadway play, is Streep's role in Only Murders in the Building from 2023, where she becomes Martin Short's love interest.

Streep's husband since 1978, Don Gummer, works as what?

A sculptor: Don Gummer, known for large abstract public sculptures, married Streep in September 1978, six months after the death of her partner; reports in 2023 said the couple had been separated for six years.

In which 2014 Disney musical did Streep play the Witch?

Into the Woods, Rob Marshall's 2014 film of the Sondheim musical, cast Streep as the Witch who curses the Baker's family; the role brought her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Which president awarded Streep the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014?

Barack Obama presented Streep with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honour, at a White House ceremony in November 2014, alongside Stevie Wonder and Tom Brokaw.

Whom did Streep criticise in her 2017 Cecil B. DeMille Award speech for mocking a disabled reporter?

Donald Trump, then president-elect, was the target: Streep recalled his 2015 imitation of disabled New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, saying an 'instinct to humiliate' from the powerful 'gives permission for other people to do the same'.

In 2015 Streep funded a screenwriting lab exclusively for which group?

Women writers over 40: Streep funded The Writers Lab, run with New York Women in Film & Television, to develop feature scripts by female screenwriters over 40; Nicole Kidman and Oprah Winfrey later joined as backers.

Asked in Belfast how she reproduces accents, what did Meryl Streep reply, in a reportedly perfect Belfast accent?

'I listen.' Streep's accents have ranged from Scandinavian and Eastern European to Australian, Minnesotan and British, often learned by listening to tapes of real speakers.

Whose albums did Streep say taught her most about using her voice as an 'instrument'?

Barbra Streisand's: Streep has said that listening to Streisand's albums as a teenager taught her how to use her voice as an instrument; she also grew up on the Beatles and Bob Dylan.

On which country's music chart did Streep's recording of 'Mamma Mia' reach number eight in 2008?

Portugal: Streep's 'Mamma Mia', released as a single from the 2008 soundtrack, peaked at number eight on the Portuguese singles chart, and the song won Favorite Song From a Soundtrack at the 2009 People's Choice Awards.