Meryl Streep

Born: 22 June 1949 Birthplace: Summit, New Jersey Best Known As: Oscar favorite of the 1980s Meryl Streep won an Emmy in 1979 for her performance in the TV miniseries Holocaust. That same year she was nominated for an Oscar in the feature film The Deer Hunter (starring Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken). In 1980 Streep won an Oscar for Kramer v. Kramer (co-starring Dustin Hoffman). She was nominated again in 1981 for The French Lieutenant's Woman, and won again in 1982 for Alan Pakula's Sophie's Choice. In spite of forays into comedy, Streep has always been considered a "serious" actress -- talented, well-bred and intelligent. In the 1990s Streep worked less and raised a family, but still turned in critically-acclaimed performances in television and film, including her roles in The Bridges of Madison County (1995, opposite Clint Eastwood) and 1998's One True Thing, for which she received another Oscar nomination. Since then she has earned two more nominations, one for her lead role in Music From the Heart (1999) and one for her supporting role in 2002's Adaptation. Streep's 2003 best supporting actress nomination for Adaptation gave her a total of 13 Oscar nominations -- a new record for an actress. (Katharine Hepburn had 12; Walt Disney holds the all-time nomination record, with 64.)