Three Oscars, 21 nominations, and the most commanding screen presence of her generation. Meryl Streep's greatest performances, ranked by consensus.
The full ranking
Three Oscars, 21 nominations, and the most commanding screen presence of her generation. Meryl Streep's greatest performances, ranked by consensus.
Sophie's Choice
The role that made Streep a legend: Sophie Zawistowski, a Polish Holocaust survivor haunted by an unthinkable wartime choice. Streep learned Polish, crafted a precise accent, and played a character of almost unbearable complexity.
Kramer vs. Kramer
Her Oscar-winning role as Joanna Kramer, the wife who leaves and then fights for custody of her son. What is remarkable is how Streep makes a character the film frames as antagonist into something genuinely sympathetic.
The Devil Wears Prada
Miranda Priestly remains the most studied villainess of her era: a fashion editor of supreme power and glacial disdain. Streep won the nomination playing pure menace as comedy, generating almost no raised voice.
Adaptation
As the author of a book being filmed, in Charlie Kaufman's self-devouring meta-comedy. Streep plays the genuine article against Nicolas Cage's confused screenwriters with wry, playful precision.
Silkwood
As Karen Silkwood, the nuclear plant worker who died under suspicious circumstances while investigating safety violations. Streep plays her as ordinary, flawed, and ultimately heroic in Mike Nichols' fact-based drama.
The Bridges of Madison County
Clint Eastwood's understated love story about a brief affair between an Iowa housewife and a traveling photographer. Streep was nominated; the film's remarkable restraint is largely her achievement.
The Deer Hunter
Her first Oscar nomination, for the young woman caught between the men leaving for Vietnam in Michael Cimino's epic. A small role in a great ensemble, but her face during the film's most brutal sequences carries its emotional weight.
Doubt
Streep as Sister Aloysius, the steel-spined principal certain a priest has abused a student, in Shanley's Pulitzer-winning play adaptation. The final scene contains one of the great ambiguous moments in modern film.
Out of Africa
As Karen Blixen, the Danish author who farmed coffee in Kenya and fell in love with a free-spirited hunter. Streep and Robert Redford carry the romantic grandeur of Sydney Pollack's Best Picture winner.
The Post
Streep as Katharine Graham, the Washington Post publisher who decided to run the Pentagon Papers, in Spielberg's urgent historical drama. A portrait of a woman finding her authority at precisely the moment it is most needed.
Ranked across 1 source: Rotten Tomatoes · All Meryl Streep Movies Ranked by Tomatometer. Full scoring is on the Methodology tab above.
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