Anecdotes

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.

She left her just-claimed Oscar for Kramer contre Kramer (1979) on the back of a toilet during the 1979 festivities.

As of 2018, she is the most nominated actress with 21 Academy Award nominations.

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

Claimed to have had a photographic memory when she was younger, which allowed her to memorize her lines after one reading.

Learned to play the violin, by practicing six hours a day for eight weeks, for her role in La musique de mon coeur (1999).

Donated her entire salary for La Dame de fer (2011) to the Women's History Museum.

Was romantically involved with actor John Cazale for two years, culminating with his death at age 42 in 1978 from lung cancer. She is very reluctant to discuss the relationship with anyone. The couple had been sharing a loft at 146 Franklin Street in Manhattan's Tribeca district.

With the announcement of the 66th Annual Golden Globe Award nominations and receiving two nominations, the actress surpassed Jack Lemmon's count of 22 nominations and is now, besides holding the record for most Oscar nominations, the actor with the most Golden Globe nominations of all time with a total of 32 nominations.

Kept the sunglasses she wore in Le diable s'habille en Prada (2006) and used them again during the "Money Money Money" sequence in Mamma Mia! (2008).

Signs cheques with her real name - Mary Louise Gummer.

Received her Master's degree in Fine Arts from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (1975).

Was a cheerleader and homecoming queen in high school.

Has said she is a great fan of actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Her performance as Sophie Zawistowska in Le choix de Sophie (1982) is ranked #3 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Occasionally mistaken for friend Glenn Close, Streep was pregnant with her fourth child while shopping in a Los Angeles baby store where the staff lavished her with huge amounts of baby paraphernalia. Just as she was about to leave they whispered, "We loved you in Liaison fatale (1987)".

Donated her wardrobe from Le diable s'habille en Prada (2006) to a charity auction.

Early in her career, Streep received a letter from Bette Davis, whom most critics and cinema historians rank as the greatest American movie actress ever. Davis told Streep that she felt that she was her successor as the premier American actress. Davis, a double winner who was nominated 10 times for an Academy Award, all of them Best Actress nods, set the record for most acting nominations with her tenth in 1963 for Qu'est-il arrivé à Baby Jane? (1962), a record later surpassed by Katharine Hepburn with her 11th nomination (and 3rd win) for Le Lion en hiver (1968). Hepburn extended her record with her 12th nomination (and fourth win) for La maison du lac (1981).

Uses music, most often Classical, to get into character.

Presented Paul McCartney with the 1990 Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. Attended The Beatles concert at Shea Stadium in 1965 with an "I love Paul" sign, which she mentioned when presenting the award to McCartney.

Has only been turned down for six roles: Dwan in King Kong (1976), Ellen Ripley in Alien, le 8ème passager (1979), Michelle Straton in American Gigolo (1980), Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams (1985), Miss Kenton in Les vestiges du jour (1993), and Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998).

The children's television series 1, rue Sésame (1969) has featured a character named "Meryl Sheep" in her honor.

In 2013, David Letterman revealed that the director Harmony Korine had been banned from appearing on Letterman's show during the late 1990s when Letterman personally caught Korine rifling through Meryl Streep's purse in a dressing room. Streep and Korine had both been scheduled to appear on Letterman's show that night, but only Streep did.

Her husband, Don Gummer, is a sculptor.

The longest she has gone without an Oscar nomination is five years, between Bons baisers d'Hollywood (1990) and Sur la route de Madison (1995).

Was nominated for Best Actress in 1988 along with Cher. When Cher was announced, just before the cameras cut away from the other four actresses, Streep could be seen springing to her feet in delight and applauding for Cher. During her acceptance speech, Cher thanked Streep personally (addressing her as Mary Louise Streep), as they had worked together on Cher's first film, Le mystère Silkwood (1983). As the camera briefly cut away to Streep sitting in the audience, she blew Cher a kiss.

She was close friends with late actress Natasha Richardson.

She played a character based on Carrie Fisher in Bons baisers d'Hollywood (1990), and then became godmother to Fisher's real-life daughter, Billie Lourd.

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

Gave birth to her fourth child at age 41, a daughter Louisa Jacobson Gummer (aka Louisa Jacobson) on June 12, 1991. Child's father is her husband, Don Gummer.

Sigourney Weaver and Christine Estabrook were fellow classmates at Yale Drama School.

In 2013, she presented the Best Actor Oscar to Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln (2012). The previous year, she had received her third Oscar (second for Best Actress) for La Dame de fer (2011), and she give Lewis his third Best Actor Oscar. Both won their third Oscar for playing a Head of Government of a different nationality: Streep was an American actress playing a British Prime Minister, while Day-Lewis is a British actor playing an American President. In addition, Day-Lewis was not the only actor playing Abraham Lincoln that year. The role was played in Abraham Lincoln : Chasseur de vampires (2012) by Benjamin Walker, who was married to Streep's daughter Mamie Gummer.

Her fans call themselves "Streepers".

Has a deviated septum, which she refuses to have fixed.

Has a fear of helicopters.

Before succeeding as an actress, she was a waitress at the Hotel Somerset in Somerville, New Jersey.

Was a finalist for the role of Ellen Ripley in Alien, le 8ème passager (1979), but the role went to good friend and classmate Sigourney Weaver instead. However, Streep later got to make her own contribution to the character. Many of the special effects for Alien³ (1992) were created in England, after the cast; including Weaver; had returned home to the United States. The filmmakers needed a prosthetic cast of Ripley's head for some shots, so rather than call back Weaver, they used an available cast of Streep that had been made for a previous project and was still floating around the studio.

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

Ranked #6 on Entertainment Weekly magazine's "The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood (2007).

Has six grandchildren; a grandson (b. February 2019) and a granddaughter (b. 2021), via daughter Mamie Gummer, another granddaughter, Ida June Gummer (b. July 18, 2020) and another grandson, Quinn William Gummer (b. May 6, 2022), via son Henry Gummer and two granddaughters (b. 2023 and 2025 respectively) via daughter Grace Gummer.

According to biographer Diana Maychick when companion John Cazale was too weak to read the newspapers, Streep read the paper to him imitating well-known broadcaster Warner Wolf's voice.

She rewrote her court room scene in Kramer contre Kramer (1979).

Landed the breakthrough role of Linda in Voyage au bout de l'enfer (1978) after Robert De Niro had seen her playing Dunyasha in Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" at Manhattan's Lincoln Center (1977). Streep had been playing opposite Irene Worth, Raul Julia and Mary Beth Hurt.

She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on November 24, 2014.

Resides in New York City and Salisbury, Connecticut.

Attended Emily Blunt's and John Krasinski's wedding with her husband, Don Gummer.

Back at Yale Drama School, she and Sigourney Weaver appeared in a play staged in a swimming pool together. The play was called "The Frogs".

May 27, 2004 was proclaimed "Meryl Streep Day" by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields. (mai 2004)

Is one of 6 actresses to have been pregnant at the time of winning the Academy Award; the others are Eva Marie Saint, Patricia Neal, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. Neal is the only to have not accepted her award in person as a result of her pregnancy. Streep was 5 months pregnant with her daughter Mamie Gummer when she won the Best Actress Oscar for Le choix de Sophie (1982).

On her 60th birthday, her husband brought her a toaster and one of her daughters brought her a rocking chair. Despite having to work until late on the day, her children cooked her a birthday meal when she returned.