The best movie in every era of Meryl Streep’s career
Hollywood has turned many actors into major stars, and Meryl Streep is arguably one of the most successful of them all. Having started her career in the 1970s as a theatre actor, Streep was drawn to the bright lights of Hollywood cinema, where she would dominate for decades to come.
Since she started out, Streep has only grown to become an icon of the industry, starring in a range of movies, from intense dramas like Kramer vs Kramer, which earned the actor her first Academy Award win, to musical comedies like Mamma Mia. Streep has been nominated for more awards than any other actor in the history of the Oscars, with a whopping 21 nominations to her name.
Evidently, Streep is acting royalty, and she has never slowed down over the decades. Instead, she has continued to star in a great variety of roles, demonstrating a natural propensity for mastering accents, scooping up three Oscars in the process.
To analyse the greatest moments of Streep’s career, it is easiest to separate her career into four eras, starting with her rise to stardom. From there, we can move into her foray into a mixed bag of comedies and dramas in the ’90s before entering the 2000s, where she threw herself into even more memorable roles in movies like The Devil Wears Prada and Julie and Julia. Finally, the 2010s and the beginning of the 2020s – where she has taken on as diverse roles as Thatcher to Kay Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post.
The best movies of Meryl Streep’s career:
Late 1970s to late 1980s
After cutting her teeth in the theatre, Streep’s first on-screen role came in Julia, directed by Fred Zinnerman, which also starred Jane Fonda. One of her next roles was in The Deer Hunter, starring her then-boyfriend John Cazale, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Subsequently, director Michael Cimino gave the actor a relatively unimportant role so that she could be with Cazale, who died in 1978, the same year the film was released.
Despite the role initially possessing low importance to the film, Streep was just so good that she still managed to bag an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actress’. She appeared in Woody Allen’s Manhattan in 1979 before winning her first Oscar for the divorce drama Kramer vs Kramer opposite Dustin Hoffman the same year.
Establishing herself as a star, Streep continued into the ‘80s with many starring roles in hard-hitting dramas. But it is perhaps Sophie’s Choice, directed by Alan J. Pakula, which remains her greatest performance from this period. She stars as a Holocaust survivor who moves to America, acting alongside Kevin Kline.
Best movie: Sophie’s Choice.
1990s to early 2000s
As Streep entered the 1990s, she starred in some fun comedies and action movies, although she still appeared in several more serious roles. Some highlights of this period include Death Becomes Her opposite Goldie Hawn, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and Postcards From The Edge. Now firmly a well-established actor, Streep was able to demonstrate her multi-facetedness even more, unafraid to immerse herself in some roles where she could have unabashed fun.
In many ways, this decade paved the way for Streep’s future, which has included rather unexpected roles in musicals and fantasy films. She proved that she could still excel in any genre, transforming a potentially average script into something amazing. One of her greatest performances from this period was Susan Orlean in Adaptation, directed by Spike Jonze. As the writer, she’s down-to-earth and funny, and the performance earned her another Academy Award nomination.
Best movie: Adaptation.
Mid-2000s to mid-2010s
This period was a rather mixed bag for Streep. One minute, you could find her singing ABBA songs in Greece (Mamma Mia), and the next, she was portraying celebrity chef Julia Child (Julie and Julia). Then she could be found voicing an animated fox (Fantastic Mr Fox), hopping in bed with Alec Baldwin (It’s Complicated) or embodying one of Britain’s most problematic Prime Ministers (The Iron Lady).
Clearly, no role too serious or humorous was off limits during this era, and Streep excelled in all of them. Yet, how could we forget her terrifyingly funny performance as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, in which she transforms into an Anna Wintour-esque fashion magazine boss, with Streep taking inspiration from Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest.
Best movie: The Devil Wears Prada.
Mid-2010s and onwards
In the past decade, Streep has appeared in many successful movies, from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again to Little Women, proving herself still to be one of Hollywood’s most in-demand stars. She has also gone back to her roots with a few historical dramas, such as Suffragette.
Yet, in 2017, she gave an outstanding performance as Kay Graham in The Post, directed by Steven Spielberg. While the movie has not been considered one of Spielberg’s strongest, Streep’s portrayal of the newspaper mogul was highly praised, standing out as a courageous and determined member of the team. The actor never takes her performance over the top despite the high-pressure environment in which her character finds herself.
Best movie: The Post.
