Meryl Streep has been nominated for 21 Academy Awards -- more than any other actor in history. Meryl Streep first came to fame in 1979, when she won an Emmy for her performance in the TV miniseries
Holocaust and was nominated for her first Oscar for the 1978 film
The Deer Hunter (starring
Robert DeNiro and
Christopher Walken). In 1980, Meryl Streep won an Oscar as best supporting actress for the 1979 divorce drama
Kramer v. Kramer (co-starring
Dustin Hoffman). She was nominated again for
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), and won again for
Alan Pakula's
Sophie's Choice (1982, based on the novel by
William Styron). Nominations followed for
Silkwood (1983, with
Cher),
Out of Africa (1985, with
Robert Redford),
Ironweed (1987, with
Jack Nicholson) and
Postcards From the Edge (1991, with
Shirley MacLaine), among many other performances. Despite her successful forays into comedy, Meryl Streep is mostly known as a serious dramatic actress -- talented, intelligent and a specialist in accents and dialects. Streep worked less while she raised a family during the 1990s, but she still turned in critically-acclaimed performances in television and film and racked up more Oscar nominations for films including
The Bridges of Madison County (1995, opposite
Clint Eastwood),
Music From the Heart (1999),
Adaptation (2002, starring
Nicolas Cage),
The Devil Wears Prada (2006, starring
Anne Hathaway) and
Doubt (2008, with
Philip Seymour Hoffman). She played jolly chef
Julia Child in the 2009 film
Julie and Julia (with
Amy Adams) and earned her 16th nomination, then was nominated again as
Margaret Thatcher in the 2011 film
The Iron Lady. Her Oscar for that film was her third win. She was also nominated, yet again, for the 2013 film
August: Osage County and the 2014 film
Into the Woods. Streep received her 20th nomination for her leading role in
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) and her 21st nomination for her role in
The Post (2017, directed by
Steven Spielberg).