Meryl Streep: 5 Things To Know

Meryle Streep has garnered many accolades throughout her acting career (she holds the distinction of having the most-ever Academy Award nominations with 16-- and has won twice), and in December, the fan and critic fav will be adding another to her list. 

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On Wednesday it was announced the Streep will be one of six cultural icons to receive Kennedy Center Honors Dec. 27. 

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Here are 5 things to know about the actress, who'll next appear as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady out Dec. 16. 

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1. She's a New Jersey girl. Streep was born in Summit, NJ and raised in nearby Bernardsville. She took opera and singing lessons as a child from notable vocal coach Estelle Liebling.  

2. Streep's an Ivy college grad. The budding actress graduated from Vassar College with an acting degree in 1971, but didn't stop there. She then attended the Yale School of Drama along with Sigourney Weaver, Rip Torn and playwright Wendy Wasserstein. 

3. She got her professional acting start on the stage. After college, Streep moved to New York City and made her Broadway debut in 1975 in the Joseph Papp-directed Trelawney of the Wells. She earned a Tony Award in 1976 for her performance in Tennessee Williams' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. 

4. Streep just needs a Grammy to complete her EGOT. After the 1976 Tony win, the actress won an Emmy in 1978 for the role of Inga, a woman trying to save her husband from the Nazi concentration camps in the NBC miniseries Holocaust. (She won again in 2003 for Angels in America). Just two years later, she won an Oscar for her performance in Kramer vs. Kramer, and in 1983, she won again for Sophie's Choice. Despite being nominated 14 more times, she has not won again. 

5. She has a daughter working in the biz. Streep's mom to one son, Henry and three girls, Mary, Grace, Louisa with husband Donald Gummer, but only one of them has seriously followed in her mom's acting footsteps, Mary "Mamie" Gummer. Gummer has appeared in films and television shows, most recently playing Nancy Crozier on CBS' The Good Wife.