A dedicated fan will never run out of reasons to love Meryl Streep. Why would I when this woman of talent, wit and class is one of the best stars that ever set foot in Hollywood? When you see her act, you know she works hard to be that character she portrays. She is not one who rests on her laurels but strives to be always better in what she does. Do you love her already with these few sentences? Here are seven reasons to love Meryl Streep even more:
Well, let’s enumerate: 18 Academy Award nominations out of which she had three wins (one Best Supporting Actress and two Best Actress trophies). Isn't that enough proof that Mary Louise Streep, who was born in New Jersey, is Hollywood’s best living actress? Among her latest films, I love the 2013 drama film “August: Osage Country” where she played Violet Weston, the terrifying matriarch, who has oral cancer and is addicted to her pills. With this first point alone, I can write more reasons to love Meryl Streep.
I don’t think people actually notice it but there are more than 10 films Meryl Streep has starred in that are adaptations from books. The most famous among all of these is perhaps her portrayal of Miranda Priestly in “The Devil Wears Prada”. Back in 1982, she was in a film called Sophie’s Choice that earned her a Best Actress Award.
She finished her B.A. in Drama from Vassar College, went to Dartmouth as a visiting student, and earned her MFA from the Yale School of Drama in 1975. To this brilliant actress and lover of the arts, there is no shortcut to excellence. You really have to work hard to be the best at your craft.
In a 1979 interview for the movie Kramer vs. Kramer, Streep said: I fear people that have puny motives. People who are parasites of other people's lives or have destructive impulses…. I've come across some real skunks in my day lately and I fear them. Because you can sit down and talk to them and they don't seem to change no matter how much sense or love you bring to the conversation. However, they are the most interesting to play because the puzzle is never solved. We can never answer what makes it work … and yet we always want to find out, at least some of us want to know how we can change it or how we can make the world better.”
Mamma Mia was pure fun to watch because Meryl Streep was Donna Sheridan, the mother of Amanda Seyfried’s character, Sophie. Belting out ABBA songs? This woman can do anything!
She is now 65 years old. The movie industry has been blessed with the power and skill of a woman who knows the ins and outs of drama. No, we don’t see the years of her great work on her facial lines, we see them in the films that she did from the 70s to recent years.
In an interview with Good Housekeeping, she said: “Motherhood, marriage, it’s a balancing act especially when you have a job that you consider rewarding. It’s a challenge but the best kind of challenge.” Taking the advice from her Out of Africa co-star Robert Redford to not parade her family through the media, Streep said: “He taught me that when they were babies, ‘They are not your props’. I really admired the way he protected his family. It’s something I consciously emulated.”
What are other reasons why you love Meryl Streep?