Meryl Streep

With numerous prestigious honors she has received throughout her prolific yet remarkable career, Meryl Streep indeed has proven her superiority among other movie stars to really deserve the title of one of the greatest living film actresses in the history of American filmmaking. A daughter of a pharmaceutical executive of Dutch descent, Harry Streep Jr., and a commercial artist named Mary, this extremely gifted thespian was born Mary Louise Streep on June 22, 1949 in Summit, New Jersey as the oldest of three children in the family. Mainly raised in the states' affluent township of Bernardsville, the girl originally took interest in opera and even once was trained under the guidance of noted vocal coach Estelle Liebling, but later eagerly shifted into acting upon finding greater excitement in performing during her study at Bernardsville High School. Nurturing this new fondness, she ambitiously provided herself with the knowledge and skills on the field, first entering Vassar College to take major in English and drama then going to Yale School of Drama where she satisfyingly obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in Drama by 1975.

Already compiled impressive theatrical experience she mostly gained through her involvement in Yale Repertory Theatre, Meryl really did not find much difficulty to build her way in the professional world for she quickly encountered her Broadway debut in New York Shakespeare Festival Theatre's presentation of "Trelawny of the Wells" later that year. This was delightfully followed by others, notably that of "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" (1976) which led her to secure a Tony Award nomination for Featured Actress in a Play category in the same year, making it easier for her to shift into screen productions. Afterwards seen for the first time in film feature through Fred Zinnmann's "Julia" (1977), this charming blonde amazingly only needed less than 2 years to score high in the industry as she wonderfully nabbed best supporting actress nomination at both Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards in 1979 for her fine performance in "The Deer Hunter" (1978).