Ego Dialogues

Meryl Streep

Born June 22 1949.
Birth Name: Mary Louise Streep
Born in Summit, New Jersey, USA

Born June 22nd.. same as me, different year though. I recently found out that another person I have always admired, Billy Wilder, is also born on June 22nd. How cool is that! Both, Meryl Streep and Billy Wilder are really big names in the movies industry. The funny thing about that, to me anyway, is that when I was in Kindergarden, I was picked out to play the leading role in a series for children. I didn't want it.. I didn't want to do what I was told and act like the lamp is actually the hot burning son, and I when I was supposed to sing, I sang so quietly that I could hardly hear myself, so needless to say, they took another girl. It matters not, as I was born for a different style of greatness, but just think what I could have done.. first Billy, then Meryl, then me.

Photo by Lester Cohen, WireImage

One of the things she is famous for is being a fanatical perfectionist when it comes to preparing for her roles. Another thing is her ability to master almost any accent. She has been married to Don Gummer since 1978, and they have 4 children together.

Photo by Francois Durand, Getty Images

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Trivial Information about Meryl Streep

Originally applied to Law School but slept in on the morning of her interview and took it as a sign she was destined for other things.

Took serious singing lessons. At age 12, she studied to become an opera singer.

Sigourney Weaver was a fellow classmate at Yale Drama School. Back then they appeared in a play staged in a swimming pool together. The play is called 'The Frogs'.

Her husband, Don Gummer, is a sculptor.

Robert De Niro said she is his favorite actress to work with.

Donated her wardrobe from The Devil Wears Prada to a charity auction.

Has named her favourite actresses working today as Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Dame Helen Mirren and Nicole Kidman.
Uses music, most often Classical, to get into character.

Currently holds the record for most Oscar nominations for acting (14 total), including both actors and actresses. Holds the record for most Golden Globe nominations for acting, actresses only (19 total).

She and her daughter Mamie Gummer portrayed the same role at different ages in 'Evening' (2007).

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Meryl Streep's AFI tribute In 2004 Meryl Streep received AFI's 32nd Life Achievement Award. "Meryl Streep is like no other. She's authentic yet ethereal. Self-possessed yet vulnerable. Intellectual yet instinctive. And she deftly combines these disparate qualities onscreen in a way that has made her a cinematic icon." Source: AFI To the right are various movie clips from that evening, with speeches from different actors, actresses, as well as Meryl Streep herself. Use the scroll bar to browse and view all the video clips.

Jim Carrey at Meryl Streep's AFI Tribute Robert De Niro at Meryl Streep's AFI Tribute James Woods at Meryl Streep's AFI Tribute Diane Keaton at Meryl Streep's AFI Tribute Jack Nicholson at Meryl Streep's AFI Tribute Shirley MacLaine at Meryl Streep's AFI Tribute Kurt Russel at Meryl Streep's AFI Tribute Kevin Kline at Meryl Streep's AFI Tribute Meryl Streep's speech at her AFI Tribute

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Quotes by Meryl Streep

You can't get spoiled if you do your own ironing. Everything we say signifies; everything counts, that we put out into the world. It impacts on kids, it impacts on the zeitgeist of the time. I can't stand most things that I see. Integrate what you believe in every single area of your life. Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too. Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. I once read that in any good marriage, one partner is the gardener and the other is the garden. We take it in turns to be either. All that attention to the perfect lighting, the perfect this, the perfect that, I find terribly annoying.

Chris Cooper is one of my favorite actors in the world. I've seen him in most everything he's done. Expensive clothes are a waste of money. For me, clothes are kind of character; I don't follow fashion or understand trends. Interestingly, young people don't come to you for advice. Especially the ones who are related to you. Personality is immediately apparent, from birth, and I don't think it really changes. Some people are filled by compassion and a desire to do good, and some simply don't think anything's going to make a difference. You just have to keep on doing what you do. It's the lesson I get from my husband; he just says, Keep going. Start by starting.