Date of Birth: June 22, 1949
Place of Birth: Summit, NJ, USA
Sign: Sun in Cancer, Moon in Gemini
Relations: Husband: Don Gummer; kids: Henry, Mary, Grace, Louisa
Education: Vassar College, Yale University
CONSIDERED BY MANY be the world's greatest living actress, Meryl Streep is one of those rare figures who has never been embroiled in controversy, who manages to perfectly balance her personal and professional lives, and whose extreme talent has never even been questioned.
Born in small-town New Jersey, Streep studied opera under Beverly Sills as a child, before heading to Vassar and then the Yale School of Drama. After earning her MBA, Streep headed to New York, where she worked with Joseph Papp at the prestigious Public Theater.
Streep made her film debut in 1977's Julia, and critics immediately responded to her intense, luminous presence. That same year, her performance in The Deer Hunter landed her an Oscar nomination; within a year, she won her first Academy Award, for 1978's Kramer vs. Kramer. Since then, she has been nominated nine other times and won twice.
The actress is quiet about her personal life, but during her initial meteoric rise, she suffered a huge loss: her partner, actor John Cazale (The Godfather), died from bone cancer. Working through her grief, Streep approached her career with even more determination, churning out heartfelt performances in Sophie's Choice, Silkwood, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Out of Africa, A Cry in the Dark and Postcards From the Edge. Somewhere in there, Streep married sculptor Don Gummer and had four children, to whom she is an extremely devoted mother.
That's not to say all Streep's films have been massive successes. There have been a small handful of clunkers (Heartburn, She-Devil), but never has this actress turned in anything less than a completely committed, authentic performance.
Movies:
1999 Music of the Heart
1998 One True Thing
1998 Chrysanthemum
1998 Dancing at Lughnasa
1996 Marvin's Room
1996 Before and After
1995 The Bridges of Madison County
1995 The Living Sea
1994 A Century of Cinema
1994 The River Wild
1993 The House of the Spirits
1992 Death Becomes Her
1991 Defending Your Life
1990 Postcards from the Edge
1989 Rabbit Ears: The Fisherman and His Wife
1989 She-Devil
1988 A Cry in the Dark
1987 Ironweed
1986 Heartburn
1985 Out of Africa
1985 Plenty
1984 Falling in Love
1984 In Our Hands
1984 Rabbit Ears: The Velveteen Rabbit
1983 Silkwood
1982 Sophie's Choice
1982 Still of the Night
1981 The French Lieutenant's Woman
1979 Manhattan
1979 Kramer vs. Kramer
1979 The Seduction of Joe Tynan
1978 The Deer Hunter
TV:
1977 Secret Service
1977 Julia
1997 ....First Do No Harm
1994 A Century of Women
1991 Race to Save the Planet
1981 Alice at the Palace
1979 Uncommon Women... and Others
1977 The Deadliest Season
1978 Holocaust
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
