--- title: The Most Exceptional Actor: Meryl Streep description: Known for expertly tackling diverse and difficult roles, the 66-year-old still sets the performance bar in Hollywood canonical: https://time.com/3935238/meryl-streep/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-25T11:17:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:31:00.662Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Most Exceptional Actor: Meryl Streep og:description: Known for expertly tackling diverse and difficult roles, the 66-year-old still sets the performance bar in Hollywood og:url: https://time.com/3935238/meryl-streep/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Most Exceptional Actor: Meryl Streep twitter:description: Known for expertly tackling diverse and difficult roles, the 66-year-old still sets the performance bar in Hollywood twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Most Exceptional Actor: Meryl Streep by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 25, 2015 11:17 AM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 25, 2015 11:17 AM CUT In 1979, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated Streep for her supporting role in The Deer Hunter. Nearly four decades later, she continues to astound audiences with the range and vitality of her performances. This year Streep earned her 19th Oscar nomination, a seemingly unbeatable record, for playing the witch in Into the Woods. 48 Feature films released 4 Film auditions that did not result in a role 280 Hours spent practicing violin for her role in the 1999 film Music of the Heart 15 Pounds gained for the role of Julia Child in the 2009 film Julie & Julia 36 Years married to husband Don Gummer $349.3 MILLION Total U.S. ticket sales for Kramer vs. Kramer, Streep’s top-grossing movie, adjusted for inflation 20 Minutes onscreen in Kramer vs. Kramer, the first film that landed Streep an Oscar 3 Years between Music of the Heart and Adaptation, the longest hiatus in Streep’s career 60 Outfits worn in The Devil Wears Prada ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3935238/meryl-streep/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3935238/meryl-streep/"},"headline":"The Most Exceptional Actor: Meryl Streep","datePublished":"2015-06-25T11:17:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:31:00.662Z","description":"Known for expertly tackling diverse and difficult roles, the 66-year-old still sets the performance bar in Hollywood","url":"https://time.com/3935238/meryl-streep/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3935238/meryl-streep/","name":"The Most Exceptional Actor: Meryl Streep"}}]}] ```