Later career and recent credits
In the 1980s, Streep appeared in the acclaimed films
The French Lieutenant's Woman,
Silkwood with
Kurt Russell and
Cher,
Out of Africa with Robert Redford, and
Ironweed, with
Jack Nicholson. In
A Cry in the Dark Streep portrayed
Lindy Chamberlain, the
Australian mother who was accused of being responsible for the death of her infant after claiming that a
dingo took her baby. For her performance, she was awarded
Best Actress at the
Cannes Film Festival. From 1984 to 1990, Streep won six
People's Choice Awards for "Favorite Motion Picture Actress" and, in 1990, was named "World Favorite".
In the 1990s Streep took a greater variety of roles, including a strung-out B-film actor in a screen adaptation of
Carrie Fisher's novel
Postcards from the Edge with
Dennis Quaid and
Shirley MacLaine, and a farcical role in
Death Becomes Her with
Goldie Hawn and
Bruce Willis. Streep also appeared in the movie version of
Isabel Allende's
The House of the Spirits,
Clint Eastwood's screen adaptation of
The Bridges of Madison County,
The River Wild,
She-Devil,
Marvin's Room (with
Diane Keaton and
Leonardo DiCaprio),
One True Thing, and
Music of the Heart, in a role that required her to learn to play the
violin.
She was a
voice actor for the animated series
The Simpsons (playing
Reverend Timothy Lovejoy's daughter), and
King of the Hill. She also voiced the Blue Fairy character in the
Steven Spielberg film,
A.I..
In 2002, she co-starred with
Nicolas Cage in
Spike Jonze's quirky
Adaptation, as real-life author
Susan Orlean; and with
Nicole Kidman and
Julianne Moore in
The Hours. She also appeared with
Al Pacino and
Emma Thompson in the
HBO adaptation of
Tony Kushner's six-hour play
Angels in America, in which she had four roles. She received her second
Emmy Award for
Angels in America, which reunited her with director
Mike Nichols, who directed her in
Silkwood,
Heartburn and
Postcards from the Edge.
In addition, she appeared in
Jonathan Demme's remake of
The Manchurian Candidate co-starring Denzel Washington, in which she played a role made famous by
Angela Lansbury. She also starred with
Jim Carrey in
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Since 2002, Meryl Streep has hosted the annual event Poetry & the Creative Mind, a benefit in support of
National Poetry Month, a program of the
Academy of American Poets. Streep has also co-hosted the annual
Nobel Peace Prize Concert with
Liam Neeson in Oslo, Norway in 2001.
Streep's most recent film releases are
Prime (2005), the
Robert Altman film
A Prairie Home Companion with
Lindsay Lohan and
Lily Tomlin and the box-office success
The Devil Wears Prada with
Anne Hathaway which grossed nearly $125 million dollars and earned Streep the 2007 Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. On January 23, 2007, Streep earned her 14th Academy Award nomination (her 11th for Best Actress) for
The Devil Wears Prada. Streep's newest film
Dark Matter debuted at the 2007
Sundance Film Festival. She has been called a "hot bitch" by Jake Gyllenhaal on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
She has been confirmed for the role of Donna in the
film version of the
ABBA musical
Mamma Mia!.
