Who

Generally considered the finest actress of her generation, Streep is the most nominated actor in Oscar history and a two-time winner.

Backstory

The daughter of a pharmaceuticals executive father and a commercial artist mother, Mary Louise Streep grew up in New Jersey as a tomboy with ambitions to become a UN translator. But at 15 she ditched her glasses, bleached her hair blonde, and by high school graduation Meryl—the nickname her mother gave her—was a cheerleader and homecoming queen, an identity she's acknowledged as her first major role. After Vassar and Yale School of Drama—where she was awarded a full scholarship based on her audition reading of lines from The Merchant of Venice and A Streetcar Named Desire—she began working in theater in New York.

Her film debut was in 1977's Julia alongside Jane Fonda, and just a year later Streep was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance opposite Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter. She lost, but bagged a gold statue the next year, at age 29, for renowned tear-jerker Kramer vs. Kramer. Throughout the '80s she continued to be cast in serious, high-prestige films like Sophie's Choice (for which she won her second Oscar) and Out of Africa, acquiring the status of America's most serious and versatile actress. Possibly hoping to prove her versatility still further—and reacting to critics who seemed jaded with her excessive gravitas—Streep made several forays into lighthearted comedy with movies like 1989's She Devil and 1992's Death Becomes Her. For the first time in the actress's glittering career, she didn't pull it off: Neither critics nor audiences warmed to Streep the comedienne.

Needless to say, she bounced back with a string of emotional dramas like The Bridges of Madison County, One True Thing and, in 2002, the acclaimed adaptation of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer-winning novel The Hours. The last few years have been particularly busy for Streep. She appeared in four films in 2006, another four in 2007, and followed up with another two in 2008, including a starring role in Doubt, alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman, and in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Mamma Mia!

Of note

Streep's name is shorthand for acting cred: She's known for choosing great roles, preparing for them rigorously, and making them her own. (Even though she finds it "funny that my reputation is for extensive preparation, because I am probably the laziest of many actors I've worked with. I'm extremely undisciplined, but nobody wants to believe it. ") Envied for her preternatural adaptability—in Mike Nichols's Angels in America, she played a Mormon housewife, an elderly (male) rabbi, and Ethel Rosenberg—her skill at accents, from Polish (Sophie's Choice) to Australian (Cry in the Dark) to bitch (Devil Wears Prada), is legendary.

Like other older actresses, Streep has bemoaned Hollywood's unwillingness to create decent parts for women over 40, but in fact her star has barely diminished as she's moved through middle age—a situation partly attributable, she's surmised, to the fact that many of her movies in recent years, including Adaptation, The Hours, and The Manchurian Candidate, have been produced by studios with female heads, namely Amy Pascal at Sony and Sherry Lansing, previously at Paramount.

By the numbers

Streep makes about $5 million per film. That's about $10 million less than the highly-skilled actress Jennifer Lopez, and $15 million less than professional butt-wiggler Cameron Diaz.

Personal

Streep was engaged to Deer Hunter co-star John Cazale until his death from cancer in 1978. Later that year, she married Don Gummer, an artist and sculptor. The couple has four children: Henry, Mamie, Grace, and Louisa. Mamie seems most likely to follow in mom's footsteps: She's appeared in Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway and has roles in a series of upcoming films. (Her first role? On her mom's hip in 1986's Heartburn.) Streep and family live in a 3,944-square-foot penthouse in Tribeca's River Lofts building that she purchased for $8.95 million in 2004. It has a 1,900 square-foot wraparound terrace, four bedrooms, four baths, and a library.

No joke

Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields declared May 27, 2004 to be "Meryl Streep Day" in New York.