Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep has been nominated for 14 Academy Awards -- more than any other actress in history. Streep 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 feature film The Deer Hunter (starring Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken). In 1980 Streep won an Oscar 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); A Cry in the Dark (1988, also known as Evil Angels); and Postcards From the Edge (1991, with Shirley MacLaine).

In spite of successful forays into comedy, Streep is considered a "serious" actress -- talented, well-bred, intelligent and a specialist in accents and dialects. Streep worked less and raised a family during the 1990s, but still turned in critically-acclaimed performances in television and film and racked up more nominations for The Bridges of Madison County (1995, opposite Clint Eastwood), One True Thing (1998, with William Hurt), Music From the Heart (1999), Adaptation (2002, starring Nicolas Cage) and The Devil Wears Prada (2006, starring Anne Hathaway).

Extra credit: Most of Streep's Oscar nominations have been for lead performances; three were for her supporting roles in The Deer Hunter, Kramer v. Kramer and Adaptation... Streep's 2003 best supporting actress nomination for Adaptation brought her total to 13 -- a new record for an actress. Katharine Hepburn had 12; animator and producer Walt Disney holds the all-time Oscar nomination record, with 64... Academy Award ceremonies are held the year after films are released, which is why (for instance) Streep's Oscar for the 1978 film The Deer Hunter was given in 1979.