Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress. Often described as the "best actress of her generation",Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accents. She has received several accolades, including being nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards, of which she has won three,and receiving a record 32 Golden Globe nominations, winning eight.Streep made her stage debut in Trelawny of the Wells and received a Tony Award nomination for 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and A Memory of Two Mondays in 1976. In 1977, she made her film debut in Julia. In 1978, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her leading role in the miniseries Holocaust, and received her first Oscar nomination for The Deer Hunter. Streep won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a troubled wife in Kramer vs. Kramer and went on to establish herself as a film actress in the 1980s. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for starring as a Holocaust survivor in Sophie's Choice and had her biggest commercial success to that point in Out of Africa. She continued to gain critical and awards recognition for her work in the late 1980s and 1990s, but commercial success was varied, with the comedy Death Becomes Her and the drama The Bridges of Madison County becoming her biggest earners in that period.Streep reclaimed her stardom in the 2000s and 2010s with starring roles in The Hours, The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia!, Julie & Julia, It's Complicated, and Into the Woods. She also won another Best Actress Oscar for portraying Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Her stage roles include The Public Theater's 2001 revival of The Seagull, and her television roles include two projects for HBO, the miniseries Angels in America, for which she won another Emmy Award, and the drama series Big Little Lies.Streep has been the recipient of many honorary awards. She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004, Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2008, and Kennedy Center Honor in 2011 for her contribution to American culture, through performing arts. President Barack Obama awarded her the 2010 National Medal of Arts, and in 2014, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.In 2003, the government of France made her a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.She was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2017.