Meryl Streep’s Oscar Wins and Nominations

by Mira

How many Oscars has Meryl Streep won? And how many Oscar nominations? Here are the films that got her Academy Awards wins and nominations, with actors, directors, and subjects.

Meryl Streep has won 3 Oscars so far (I can see more coming; the woman is on a roll). She also has no less than 18 Oscar nominations at the time of my writing this (January 25, 2013). I plan to see most of the movies listed below. If you have seen them and were particularly impressed with her acting or another aspect of the movie (another performance, or the script, direction, etc.), I would appreciate it if you’d leave a comment below, so that other Meryl Streep fans could use them as quick reference when deciding what film to watch next.

I have discovered Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison County, one of my all-time favorite movies. As one Italian reviewer put it, in that movie Meryl Streep IS Italian. She's also so much more. All her gestures are so expressive, and so is her facial delivery. You rarely see acting playing on the body and face of an actor like that. It's like light playing gently over water.

I also saw her in The Deer Hunter. A younger Meryl Streep that managed to hold her own against Robert de Niro and Christopher Walken, who were magnificent.

I feel she wasn't the star of Kramer vs. Kramer -- Dustin Hoffman was -- and yet she received the Oscar for that performance. Which reminds me: there are many other nice performances of hers in movies that didn't get an Oscar award or nominations -- movies like Mamma Mia!, for instance.

More about all her 18 Oscar nominations and 3 Oscar awards below.

Some of Meryl Streep's Great Performances

Some of Meryl Streep's Oscar Wins and Nominations
Some of Meryl Streep's Oscar Wins and Nominations

Meryl Streep's Best Performances

3 Oscars and 18 Nominations So Far

She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Deer Hunter (1978), a fabulous film about the Vietnam War and its effects on three friends living in a small American town. Also starring Robert de Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Cazale. Won 5 Oscars.

Won an Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actress for her role in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), where her co-star was Dustin Hoffman. A movie about divorce that involves a small child, the fight for custody, and a father who learns to be there for his child, taking on the responsibilities of both father and mother.

1982. Nominated, Best Actress: French Lieutenant's Woman (1981). Her co-star is Jeremy Irons. Directed by Karel Reisz, with a script by Harold Pinter based on a John Fowles novel. A love story set in Victorian England.

1983. Won, Best Actress: Sophie's Choice (1982), a film for which she lost 70 pounds to portray an Auschwitz survivor. Directed by Alan J. Pakula. With Kevin Kline.

1984. Nominated, Best Actress: Silkwood (1983). Directed by Mike Nichols. Script by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen. About safety violations at a metallurgy plant. "The movie isn't about plutonium, it's about the American working class," says Roger Ebert.

1986. Nominated, Best Actress: Out of Africa (1985), a movie directed by Sydney Pollack where she co-starred with Robert Redford. Won 7 Oscars. A love affair in postcolonial Kenya.

1988. Nominated, Best Actress: Ironweed (1987), where she co-starred with Jack Nicholson. Directed by Hector Babenco. A movie about two hobos in Albany during the Great Depression.

1989. Nominated, Best Actress: A Cry in the Dark (1988). With Sam Neill and Dale Reeves. directed by Fred Schepisi. About a woman accused of murdering her child.

1991. Nominated, Best Actress: Postcards from the Edge (1990), where she also sings. Nominated for 2 Oscars. Directed by Mike Nichols. About a substance-abusing actress.

1996. Nominated, Best Actress: The Bridges of Madison County (1995), for a superb performance alongside Clint Eastwood, who also directed this movie about a love affair between a housewife and a photographer in 1960s rural America.

1999. Nominated: One True Thing (1998). With Renée Zellweger and William Hurt. Directed by Carl Franklin. About a young woman caring for her sick mother.

2000. Nominated, Best Actress: Music of the Heart (1999). With Cloris Leachman and Henry Dinhofer, Gloria Estefan and Angela Bassett. Directed by Wes Craven. Nominated for 2 Oscars. About a schoolteacher in Harlem.

2003. Nominated, Best Supporting Actress: Adaptation (2002). Also starring Nicolas Cage and Chris Cooper. A story about a scriptwriter adapting the book The Orchid Thief. Directed by Spike Jonze. Won 1 Oscar.

2007. Nominated, Best Actress: The Devil Wears Prada (2006), a movie with Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt. I believe it launched Emily Blunt's career in top-rated films. Nominated for 2 Oscars.

2009. Nominated, Best Actress: Doubt (2008). Co-starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. Director: John Patrick Shanley. Script also by John Patrick Shanley, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Won 5 Oscars. A story about accusations of sexual abuse in a Catholic school.

2010. Nominated, Best Actress: Julie & Julia (2009), a fun film with Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie.

2012. Won, Best Actress: The Iron Lady (2011). About Margaret Thatcher. Won 2 Oscars

2014. Nominated, Best Actress: August: Osage County (2013). The great ensemble cast also includes Julia Roberts, Margo Martindale, Dermon Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson and Abigail Breslin. The story of a dysfunctional family venting old grudges and some secrets one August in rural Oklahoma. I wrote a few words about it here.

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) – Amazon Instant Video

#commissionsearned

Out of Africa (1985). Won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture – Amazon Instant Video

#commissionsearned

Sophie's Choice (1982), Meryl Streep's Second Oscar – Amazon Instant Video

#commissionearned

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Meryl Streep's First Oscar – Amazon Instant Video

#commissionsearned
Updated: 12/10/2020, Mira
 
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SANDYGIRL1952 on 03/22/2017

MERYL COUNDN'T BE IN THE SAME CATAGORY AS KATHARINE HEPBURN..
KATHARINE BY FAR IS A MUCH BETTER ACTRESS IN EVERY WAY, SHAPE AND FORM.
WE HAVE SEEN SO MANY BAD ACTRESS' THIS PAST 20 YRS,THATS WHY MERYL LOOKS SO GOOD!

Mira on 10/25/2014

Yes, she is wonderful. On a par with other greats like Maggie Smith, Katharine Hepburn, etc. I love her.

WriterArtist on 10/24/2014

I haven't seen Meryl Streep's movies yet but now I want to watch some of her Oscar nominations. She does sound a great and talented actress.

Mira on 03/23/2014

I remember Katharine Hepburn mostly as an old actress for some reason. Time really did ravage her. I now want to watch again some films I watched a long time ago, where she's younger, and see what else I've missed. Thanks for the idea. I saw Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator (with Leonardo di Caprio) and that also had me think of Katharine Hepburn in the forties.

DerdriuMarriner on 03/23/2014

Mira, Meryl Streep's commitment to her craft is impressive. It would have been interesting if she and Katharine Hepburn had been in a film together.

Mira on 03/19/2014

Thanks, Violette! I, too, look forward to seeing the ones I haven't watched already.

VioletteRose on 03/19/2014

Great list, I would love to watch at least a few :)

Mira on 01/27/2014

Oh, I remember Bette Davis best for All About Eve. What a performance!!!!! You're right, she was one hell of an actress. Meryl Streep has a milder manner, but she's fiercesome too :). Thanks for stopping by, Treathyl!

cmoneyspinner on 01/27/2014

The Bridges of Madison County? The movies that put Meryl Streep on my radar were "Silkwood" and "Out of Africa". Thanks for shining the spotlight on this incredibly talented actress. As I said to my husband, and in saying it hope that I am paying her the highest of compliments: Meryl Streep is the "Bette Davis" of our generation.

Official website: http://www.bettedavis.com/ (In case some folks don't know who incomparable Ms. Davis is.)

Mira on 01/26/2014

Thanks, Tolovaj, for your comment. I can't wait to see more of her movies. Sophie's Choice is at the top of my list.


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