The Meryl Streep Superfan Quiz: See If You Can Get These 20 Questions Right

Streep was a 1975 graduate of the Yale School of Drama, which has had many prestigious alumni over the years. She was a classmate of Sigourney Weaver and was reportedly offered the lead role of Ellen Ripley in Alien before her.

From Shakespeare to musicals, Streep was all over the New York theater scene when she got her start. In a 1979 New York Public Theater production directed by Elizabeth Swados and produced by Joseph Papp, Streep played Alice in a musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s famous fantasy adventure novel series called Alice in Concert. The New York Times criticizedthe show overall but lauded Streep as its “one wonder.”

Shakespeare was a huge part of Streep’s early experience in New York, and she continued to perform on stage through the late 70s even as her film and TV commitments grew. Here, she and Raul Julia rehearse for a Shakespeare in the Park production of The Taming of the Shrew in 1978, in which they were the romantic leads of Katarina and Petruchio.

Streep has lent her voice to films like Fantastic Mr. Fox and AI: Artificial Intelligence, and even has a credit in an episode of The Simpsons. However, her first job as a voice actor came early in her career, with a small role in the independent animated film Everybody Rides the Carousel.

After working together on The Deer Hunter, De Niro and Streep made a romantic comedy together in 1984, which sadly bombed at the box office. In Falling in Love, Streep’s Molly and De Niro’s Frank start falling for each other despite their better judgment after a chance encounter while Christmas shopping for their spouses in New York City.

Streep’s role as Karen Blixen in the epic romantic drama, adapted from the memoir of the same name, elevated her to superstar status along with other powerful roles in the 80s like Sophie’s Choice and The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Several actresses were considered before Streep for the role of Blixen, and it was even reportedly offered to Audrey Hepburn, who turned it down.

This one is a little out of left field, but a few of the visual effects and production tricks employed in the hit blockbuster Jurassic Park were first used in Streep’s 1992 fantasy dark comedy Death Becomes Her, also starring Goldie Hawn. Both films consulted Industrial Light & Magic for help with visual effects and had key visual crew members in common—namely the cinematographer Dean Cundy and production designer Rick Carter.

Coincidentally, both films also share a writer: David Koepp, who co-wrote Death Becomes Her with Martin Donovan and later helped pen the Jurassic Park screenplay alongside Michael Crichton.

Streep learned to play the violin when she took on the role of violinist and teacher Roberta Guaspari for the 1999 film Music of the Heart, which was inspired by Guaspari’s role in helping keep music education alive in Harlem public schools in the 1980s and 90s.

Streep was previously honored at Cannes in 1989 when she won the Best Actress award for Evil Angels and reflected on that moment in 2024, when she received an Honorary Palme d’Or. “I was already a mother of three, I was about to turn 40 and I thought that my career was over,” Streep told the crowd after a lengthy ovation. “That was not an unrealistic expectation for actresses at that time.” The other two honorees in 2024 were the filmmaker George Lucas and the famed animation company Studio Ghibli.

So far, the biggest box-office success of Streep’s career has been Mamma Mia! by a landslide with an estimated gross of over $600 million. The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again both trail the winner at around $300 million in ticket sales each.