Meryl Streep Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Meryl Streep
Streep at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Mary Louise Streep (1949-06-22) June 22, 1949 (age 75) Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater	Vassar College (BA) Yale University (MFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1975–present
Works	Full list
Spouse(s)	Don Gummer (m. 1978; separated 2017)
Partner(s)	John Cazale (1976–1978)
Children	Henry Mamie Grace Louisa
Parents	Harry William Streep Jr. (father) Mary Wilkinson Streep (mother)
Awards	Full list

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. She is known for playing different kinds of characters and her ability to speak well in her character's accent. She has been described as the "best actress of her generation." During her forty-year career, she has received 21 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and a record 33 Golden Globe Award nominations, winning eight.

Early life and education
Career
Other ventures
Personal life
Awards
Meryl Streep quotes
Interesting facts about Meryl Streep
Images for kids
See also

Early life and education

Streep as a senior in high school, 1966

Mary Louise Streep was born on June 22, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey. She is the daughter of artist Mary Wilkinson Streep and pharmaceutical executive Harry William Streep, Jr. She has two younger brothers, Harry William Streep III and Dana David Streep, both actors.

Streep's mother strongly encouraged her daughter and instilled confidence in her from a very young age. She was raised as a Presbyterian in Basking Ridge, New Jersey but now says she has no faith. She attended Cedar Hill Elementary School and began acting in junior high school.

In 1963, the family moved to Bernardsville, New Jersey, where Streep attended Bernards High School. She was a high school cheerleader for the Bernards High School Mountaineers and was also chosen as the homecoming queen her senior year.

While she was in college at Vassar College in 1969, Streep acted in a play and got the attention of many people. She continued acting throughout college. After graduating from Vasser in 1971, she attended Yale School of Drama, where she received her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in 1975.

Career

Streep in 1977

Meryl moved to New York City in 1975 and became a stage actress. In 1976, she began auditioning for movie (film) roles. She acted in several plays, both off and on Broadway.

Streep at the 32nd Grammy Awards in 1990

Streep's film breakthrough came in 1977, when she played a small role in the film Julia. Many of the movies in which she played were based on books or plays. Her most famous movies in the 70's through the 90's are Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Sophie's Choice (1982), Out of Africa (1985), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Music of the Heart (1999).

In 2000, Meryl returned to stage acting and continued her film career. Her most famous movies of this time period were The Manchurian Candidate and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2004, A Prairie Home Companion and The Devil Wears Prada in 2006, Mamma Mia! and Doubt in 2008, and Julie & Julia and Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009.

In the 2010s, Streep continuted starring in movies that were originally plays or books. Some examples of these are August: Osage County (2013), The Giver (2014), Into the Woods (2014), and Little Women (2019).

In the 2020s, Streep continued acting for movies and documentaries that are shown on Apple TV+ and Netflix.

Other ventures

Streep is the spokesperson for the National Women's History Museum. She gives money to many women's projects and events and has stated that she feels that men's opinions are represented more than women's opinions in Hollywood. She is also politically active, supporting the Democratic Party.

Personal life

Streep lived with actor John Cazale in the 1970s, caring for him after his lung cancer diagnosis until he died in March 1978.

Streep married sculptor Don Gummer six months after Cazale's death. They have four children: musician Henry Wolfe Gummer (born 1979), Mary Willa "Mamie" Gummer (born 1983), Grace Jane Gummer (born 1986), and Louisa Jacobson Gummer (born 1991). In 1985, the family moved into a $1.8-million private estate in Connecticut and lived there until they bought a $3-million mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles, in 1990. They later moved back to Connecticut. In 2023, it was reported that Streep and Gummer had been separated for more than six years. They were publicly last seen together at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018.

Awards

Streep at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival

Streep has 21 Academy Awards in total (17 for Best Actress and four for Best Supporting Actress). She has 33 Golden Globe Award nominations, six Grammy Award nominations, five Primetime Emmy Award nominations (with three wins), and one Tony Award nomination.

Meryl Streep quotes

"It's important to me to work with good people that are not worried about how they look."
"I try to lead as ordinary a life as I can. You can't get spoiled if you do your own ironing."
"Listening is everything. Listening is the whole deal."
"I'm curious about other people. That's the essence of my acting. I'm interested in what it would be like to be you."

Interesting facts about Meryl Streep

The name Meryl came from her father, who made it up. She was always called Meryl, never Mary Louise.
Her maternal ancestor Lawrence Wilkinson was among the first Europeans to settle in Rhode Island.
She is the second cousin, seven times removed of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania.
After singing at a school recital at age 12, she began taking opera lessons from famed vocal coach Estelle Liebling.
Sigourney Weaver was her friend and classmate at Yale School of Drama.
Meryl has four children: Henry Wolfe Gummer and daughters Mary Willa "Mamie" Gummer, Grace Jane Gummer (both actresses), and Louisa Jacobson Gummer, a model.
In 1989, she dropped out of the lead role in Evita because of a disagreement about her salary.
When the role of Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada was initially offered to Streep, she felt the pay was insulting. The studio eventually doubled its offer to get her to sign on. She was paid $5 million to act in the movie.
Mamma Mia! has remained Streep's highest-grossing film to date, earning over $600 million worldwide.
In 2014, she established two scholarships at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.