Top 20 Meryl Streep Performances Ranked

10) The Hours (2002)

Competing with herself in 2002, Streep bagged the Academy Award nomination for Adaptation rather than the hotly fancied The Hours. Stephen Daldry’s trio of tales associated with Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway, leaps from one era to the next as three women come head-on with melancholy. The modern day segment of the film revolves around Clarissa Vaughan (Streep), who resembles the character of Mrs Dalloway in her own life.

Clarissa is attempting to prepare for the party of her terminally ill old friend, while trying to suppress her own potential grief and current troubles. Streep makes the inner turmoil look effortless, in line with the character from Woolf’s book. Cool, collected, but slowly prying apart at the seams, Streep knocks it out of the park without breaking sweat. – – – Robin Write

9) The Iron Lady (2011)

Phyllida Lloyd’s 2011 biopic depicting the hefty political and personal life of Margaret Thatcher is a tad light on impact, and rather page-skimming in its history lesson. What The Iron Lady does possess is not only the stature of one of the most prominent female figures in any country’s history, but also the greatest living actress playing her. And it’s no game.

Streep brings the ruthless battle axe to the screen like dynamite, but also the contrasting home life with husband Denis, and the appointment of the British Prime Minister. Streep continues to surprise us it seems. She finally grabbed her third Oscar for her role, after a 29 year gap since her previous victory. – – – Robin Write

8) Silkwood (1983)

Meryl Streep’s consistency as a remarkable acting talent is second to none. With every stone you throw at her filmography you’ll hit something refreshingly different. Excellence. To follow her Oscar-winning performance in Sophie’s Choice with the unforgettable portrayal of Karen Silkwood is a marvelous feat.

Based on the radiation exposure whistleblowing at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site, Mike Nichols’ 1983 drama is a finely-tuned, well-handled, exceptionally acted film. Giving Cher and Kurt Russell an impressive change of career scenery, Silkwood represents what is great about delicate, real-life drama captured in fiction film. Streep is inch-perfect throughout, Karen is a determined woman, who just wants the safety of her co-workers from a company whose ethics and priorities are questionable to say the least. At every turn of the film’s plot, Streep is right on cue, giving Karen a true sense of right and wrong. A good heart too, the sorrow on Streep’s face when Thelma is showered following radiation contact is astonishingly heartfelt. – – – Robin Write

7) Adaptation (2002)

Nicolas Cage plays Charlie Kaufman, the lonely, insecure and socially awkward screenwriter who is hired to adapt “The Orchid Thief,” written by Susan Orlean, who is portrayed by Meryl Streep. The novel itself concerns the story of John Laroche (played by Chris Cooper), a smug plant dealer who was arrested in 1994 for poaching rare orchids in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.

As Kaufman struggles to write the script, his troubles are compounded by the presence of his twin brother, Donald (also played by Nicolas Cage), who is Charlie’s exact opposite: reckless, carefree, over-confident and perhaps even a bit dim. The script for Adaptation darts back and forth between different moments in time, either chronicling Kaufman’s screen writing exploits or Orlean’s experiences in writing her novel. Meryl Streep is excellent as Susan Orlean, the journalist for “The New Yorker” who researches John Laroche and endeavours to catch a glimpse of the famed and very rare Ghost Orchid, if only to understand what it feels like to be passionate about something. – – – Bianca Garner

6) Julie & Julia (2009)

Based on two true stories, this movie combines six decades separated lives of Julia Child (Meryl Streep), wife of an American diplomat (Stanley Tucci) in post-WW2 Paris, discovering her passion for French cuisine, then introducing it to American amateurs, and the contemporary Julie Powell (Amy Adams), professionally reduced to a hot line counselling ‘cubicle girl’, desperately entertaining her unfulfilled literary ambitions via blogging about her attempt to try to finish all 524 recipes from Julia Child’s cookbook in 365 days.

Here Streep recreates a popular icon, in a fearless bold fashion. Her joy is utterly contagious and her side of the film is a marvel. Streep’s chemistry with Stanley Tucci as Julia’s husband, is breathtaking. No attempt is made to make Streep or Tucci conventionally attractive and their love story seems real compared to other forced romances that we are often subjected to. Steep and Tucci are every bit as charismatic a couple as Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, and the film is worth seeking out for their scenes alone. – – – Bianca Garner

5) Doubt (2008)

A Charismatic priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), is trying to upend the school’s strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear-based discipline. The drama comes when Sister James (Amy Adams), a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to a student called Donald. This information sets Sister Aloysius sets onto a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school by any means possible.

Now, without any real proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequences. Pairing off as adversaries in this screen adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s stage play, both Hoffman and Streep deliver career best performances, Hoffman manages to keep up with the power house that is Streep and that’s saying something! – – – Bianca Garner

4) Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy. When he has learned to adjust his life to these new responsibilities (mastering the art of making French toast), Joanna resurfaces and wants Billy back. Ted, however, refuses to give him up, so they go to court to fight for the custody of their son.

The film doesn’t present these characters as good or bad, but simply as humans with their own flaws and faults. You can relate to Streep’s character as she clearly loves her son, but was forced in motherhood and marriage when she was far too young, and as result she didn’t get to enjoy much of her freedom. An interesting piece of trivia reveals just how solid and capable Streep is as an actress, when Dustin Hoffman planned the moment when he throws his wine glass against the wall during the restaurant scene with Meryl Streep, the only person he warned in advance was the cameraman, to make sure that it got in the shot. Streep’s shocked reaction is real, but she stayed in character long enough for the director to yell cut. – – – Bianca Garner

3) The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

That’s right, Meryl Streep received yet another Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. This time in 1996, for the full-on serious romance that is The Bridges of Madison County. Director and co-star Clint Eastwood must have thanked his lucky stars to land Streep opposite him here, as I’m sure he was in little doubt the film would be something special with her in it.

And it’s another rural farm tale for Streep, this time her love affair has much different consequences. Married with two children, Francesca embarks on a brief, but life-changing relationship with Robert (Eastwood). The film was well-received given Eastwood’s change of pace, but it was Streep who grabbed the headlines once again. – – – Robin Write

2) The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Set in the word of fashion and the city never sleeps (New York), the film concerns a simple and naive journalist graduate Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is hired to work as the second assistant of the powerful and sophisticated Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the ruthless and merciless executive of the Runway fashion magazine. Andrea dreams to become a serious journalist and doesn’t consider her time at Runway as being something of great importance.

Even if Andrea isn’t planning to stick around, she must learn to survive. The first assistant Emily (Emily Blunt) advises Andrea about the behavior and preferences of their cruel boss, and the stylist Nigel (Stanley Tucci) helps Andrea to dress more stylish to match the tastes of their boss. Andrea changes her attitude and behavior, but in turn this affects her private life and the relationship with her boyfriend Nate, her family and friends, and Andrea must make a decision. Meryl really does get a chance to play the Queen Bitch here, and she really sinks her teeth into this role. Yes, Miranda is a bitch but man she really has great fashion sense. – – – Bianca Garner

1) Sophie’s Choice (1983)

In 1947, writer Stingo (Peter MacNicol) relocates to Brooklyn in order to write a novel, and is befriended by Sophie Zawistowski (Meryl Streep), a Polish immigrant, and her emotionally unstable lover, Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline). Nathan is constantly jealous, and when he is in one of his violent mood swings, he convinces himself that Sophie is unfaithful to him, and he abuses and harasses her. One evening, Stingo learns from Sophie that she was married, but her husband and her father were killed in a German work camp, and that she was interned in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

We discover that upon arrival at Auschwitz, she was forced to choose which one of her two children would be gassed and which would proceed to the labor camp. It was a difficult choice, and one that has haunted forever. Meryl Streep is completely convincing throughout the film, with her genuine sounding accent. This is such a powerful performance that you honestly feel Sophie’s pain throughout the movie, and you will cry as a result of the film. – – – Bianca Garner

What are your favourite Meryl Streep performances? Or are you sick to death of her now? Of course not. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.