Meryl Streep at the Oscars: the films behind 21 nominations

Meryl Streep holds the record of 21 Oscar acting nominations and has won three times: Supporting Actress for *Kramer vs. Kramer* and Leading Actress for *Sophie’s Choice* and *The Iron Lady*. The figure does not mean 21 wins, nor does it rest on a single period of her career. It brings together performances recognized by the Academy from *The Deer Hunter*, released in 1978, through a filmography that continued to move among drama, comedy, musicals and biographical films.

What makes up the record of 21 nominations

The Festival de Cannes records that Streep’s first nomination came for *The Deer Hunter* and that her total reached a record 21. A 2017 Academy publication helps establish the progression: at that point, *Florence Foster Jenkins* represented her 20th nomination.

This history includes competition in both female acting categories. The Academy’s list contains, among other performances, *The French Lieutenant’s Woman*, *Silkwood*, *Out of Africa*, *A Cry in the Dark*, *Postcards from the Edge*, *The Bridges of Madison County*, *Adaptation*, *The Devil Wears Prada*, *Doubt*, *Julie & Julia*, *August: Osage County* and *Into the Woods*.

The most accurate way to read the number, then, is to separate recurrence from results: 21 nominations show how often one of her performances was selected to compete; the three wins identify the occasions on which Streep received the award.

The three winning performances

Her first win came in the Supporting Actress category for *Kramer vs. Kramer*, a 1979 film. Cannes notes that Streep worked to give the character greater complexity, including rewriting a crucial monologue, and that the role earned her first Oscar.

Her second statuette was for *Sophie’s Choice*, this time as a leading actress. The Academy’s page for the 55th ceremony confirms that she won Best Actress for the film and that it was her second Oscar. Cannes adds a detail about her preparation: to create the character, Streep studied German and Polish in order to develop the accent.

The third win came for *The Iron Lady*, in the leading category, for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. The correct breakdown is therefore one Supporting Actress win and two Leading Actress wins.

A starting route through the record

To follow how the record formed, *The Deer Hunter* is a logical starting point: it was the role associated with the first nomination. Next, *Kramer vs. Kramer* presents the first win and shows how Streep sought greater depth for female characters within stories centered on men.

*Sophie’s Choice* is the next step because it combines linguistic preparation, dramatic weight and the second victory. During her 2024 Cannes conversation, the actress explained that the crucial scene was filmed twice and described the emotional difficulty of performing it.

After that, *Out of Africa* and *The Bridges of Madison County* display her presence in romantic dramas from different periods. Cannes reports that Clint Eastwood made the latter in five weeks and that the director’s rapid method essentially incorporated rehearsals into the footage used in the film.

Comedy, musicals and public figures

The record is also explained by changes of register. *Postcards from the Edge* took Streep into comedy in the 1990s, while *The Devil Wears Prada* cast her as editor Miranda Priestly. At Cannes, Streep said that the film held particular importance because, for the first time regarding a movie, a man told her he understood how the female character felt.

*Mamma Mia!* broadened her work in musicals, although it is not part of the acting-nomination list presented by the Academy. *Julie & Julia*, *The Iron Lady* and *Florence Foster Jenkins*, meanwhile, offer a route through characters inspired by real people. Only one of those three performances, *The Iron Lady*, ended in a win; the others help demonstrate the continuity of her nominations during later stages of her career.

Recognition beyond the Oscars

The Oscars provide only one frame. Cannes awarded Streep Best Actress for *A Cry in the Dark* in 1989. Thirty-five years later, she returned to the festival to receive an Honorary Palme d’Or at the opening of the 2024 edition.

That recognition helps place the Academy’s 21 nominations in perspective. The figure grew out of a career spanning nearly five decades, rather than a uniform sequence of characters. Family drama, romance, satire, musicals and biographical films provided different routes to a rare level of recurring recognition in acting categories.

Choosing films without reducing the career to a number

A concise selection can begin with the three winners and add *The Deer Hunter*, to locate the first nomination; *A Cry in the Dark*, for the Cannes recognition; *The Bridges of Madison County*, for romance; and *The Devil Wears Prada*, for comedy and the character’s cultural reach.

This route does not turn every nomination into a victory or present future awards as certain. It makes the historically supported point clear: Meryl Streep reached 21 Oscar nominations, won three of them and built the record through roles that differ greatly from one another.