She is the queen of Hollywood. She is considered to be the greatest living female actress and arguably the best movie actress of all time. With her unbelievable nineteen Academy Award Nomination and three Oscar awards she is the most critically acclaimed performer in the history of cinema. She is the one and only Meryl Streep and here are her top ten movie performances!
10. Adaptation (2002)
Streep plays the super successful writer Susan Orlean who struggles with depression and lack of creative ideas. The movie brought her an Academy Award nomination for best actress in a supporting role – a well-deserved acknowledgement of the brilliant acting she produced yet again. Hilarious and grotesque at times, then heartbreakingly sad and melancholic, Streep is furiously perfect in every scene – even when she is high and has a rapturously funny phone conversation.
9. Out of Africa (1985)
Out of Africa is widely regarded as one of the best romantic dramas of all time – after all the movie won seven Oscars – and the chemistry between Streep and co-star and heart-rob Robert Redford was obvious. A Danish baroness in 19th-century Kenya feels trapped in her unhappy marriage with a reserved plantation owner (brilliant portrayal by Klaus Maria Brandauer). When she meets a rebellious big game hunter (Redford) their passionate affair denies all reason and challenges the conventions of their society. Streep is at her elemental best in this role – romantic, vulnerable, emotionally intelligent – and it was not surprising she deserved another Oscar nomination.
8. August Osage County (2013)
Headlining a heavyweight cast including Sam Shepard, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor and Benedict Cumberbatch, Meryl Streep deliver yet another hilariously brilliant performance as the dysfunctional matriarch of the Weston family. Witty, ironic, half-drunk most of the time, Violet Weston loves nothing more than a verbal duel with her estranged daughter Barbara (Roberts). As you can well imagine, the mother gets on top more often than not.
7. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
This is the kind of movie you do not expect to see Meryl Streep in. And yet once you’ve watched it, you cannot imagine another actress playing the same role. This is the magic of her craft – arguably one of the best proofs for her unlimited talent. Streep plays Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of a legendary high-fashion magazine (reportedly the prototype for her character was the fashion mogul Anna Wintour). A cold, demanding perfectionist, Priestly’s hobby is to turn her employees’ lives into miserable agony. And we love every second of watching her doing it.
6. The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Another quintessentially Streep-type of character – outcast, melancholic, lost in her own emotional world. The critics went crazy about her performance in the movie, calling it “sublime” and “out of this world”. Streep was nominated for Oscar and won the Golden Globe for her role as Sarah/Anna in a movie that depicts two parallel stories. Her interaction with Jeremy Irons was subtle, utterly believable, plastic and vivid, full of life and emotion. It was an acting master class and cemented her position as the leading actress of her generation.
5. The Hours (2002)
The Hours is one of the most ambitious and challenging dramas of the new century and it attracted a lot of critical acclaim for its courage to pursue three parallel stories. While Nicole Kidman delivered a career-defining performance as legendary writer Virginia Woolf, Streep was no less impressive as Clarissa Vaughan – selfless, absorbed in the care of her AIDS-doomed lover Richard (phenomenal portrayal by Ed Harris). Her emotional range in this particular role is almost scary and makes the audience wonder is there a single thing Meryl Streep cannot play?
4. The Iron Lady (2011)
The immaculate portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher brought Streep her third Academy Award – a triumph well-deserved. From the body language to her accent, the oratory, the presence, the irony, the steel political will, the inner conflicts – we watched transfixed as the greatest actress of our time turned completely into one of the most recognizable politicians of our age. And while many would not agree with certain details of the movie, one thing is for certain – Streep’s titanic talent was on full display yet again.
3. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
The Bridges of Madison County basically follows the premise of Out of Africa – unhappy housewife Francesca Johnson has given up her dreams in the name of family and stability. But then out of the blue great love comes back in her life, even if it is for four days only. And when this love has taken the form of Clint Eastwood – well, there is not much you can really do about it. Brilliant on-camera chemistry between two of the most iconic actors in Hollywood – while the plot of the movie is fairly simple, their performance is not. A must-watch.
2. Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
Meryl Streep’s career somehow resembles that of another Hollywood legend – Al Pacino. They both delivered larger-than-life performances in the very beginning of their acting paths, they managed to create legendary roles that immediately inducted them in the shrine of superstardom. In Streep’s case her big breakthrough was Kramer vs Kramer – arguably the best family drama of all time. In many interviews given many years after the movie was shot the great actress has confessed that playing opposite Dustin Hoffman was an emotionally sapping experience that left scars on her for a long time. But there is no doubt this was the movie that opened all doors to her – and won her the first Academy Award of her illustrious career.
1. Sophie’s Choice (1982)
If you are asked “Why do you think Meryl Streep is the greatest movie actress of all time?” the strongest argument you can possibly use is her performance in Sophie’s Choice. Actually she plays so well that we should not call this acting – it is reliving the fate of another person, completely blending in with the emotions of the character. It is a great and tragic story told in a great and tragic way – one of the reasons why we love movies.
