Meryl Streep biography

Streep played psychoanalyst Lisa Metzger, whose client falls in love with her son. She also played the inimitable magazine editor, Miranda Priestly, in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), for which she earned Academy Award, SAG and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. That same year, she was cast as country music singer Yolanda Johnson in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion (2006),

and continued in musical roles as Donna in the film adaptation of the ABBA musical, Mamma Mia! (2008).

Returning to more serious work, Streep appeared in the 2008 film Doubt, which addresses sexual abuse in the Catholic church. She played a nun who becomes suspicious of a priest's behavior (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) toward a young student. Streep earned her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, as well as a SAG award for Best Actress.

For her next project, Streep took on one of the culinary world's most beloved figures, Julia Child. She played the famous chef in the film Julie & Julia, based on the best-selling nonfiction book of the same title. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, and received an Academy Award nomination for this performance. She then starred in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy It's Complicated, with co-stars Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, which earned her a Golden Globe nod.

In 2011, Streep received widespread acclaim for her work in The Iron Lady. She portrayed former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, a dynamic and forceful politician, who was both admired by some and detested by others. While Thatcher was called cold and unfeeling, Streep believed that Thatcher "was canny about the fact that in order to be taken seriously, she wasn't able to show certain emotions because she was a woman." Streep's thoughtful and nuanced performance as Thatcher garnered her several awards, including a Golden Globe.

The Iron Lady also brought Streep her third Academy Award in 2012. In her acceptance speech, the gifted performer seemed to be especially modest and self-effacing. "When they called my name, I had this feeling that I could hear half of America was go, 'oh no, come on why her again?'"

Commenting on her last Academy Award victory, "I was a kid when I won this, like, 30 years ago. Two of the [current] nominees were not even conceived," Streep explained. While she may be a industry veteran, the Academy Awards still have a special meaning to this legendary star. "I thought I was so old and jaded, but they call your name and you just go into a sort of white light," Streep said later.

Streep has been married to sculptor Don Gummer since 1978. The couple has four adult children, including daughter Mamie Gummer, who has been pursuing a career as an actress.

© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.