Meryl Streep’s Oscar Nominated Performances Ranked

It is the incomparable Meryl Streep’s 75th birthday today. Never a better time than to rank her 21, that’s right, 21 Academy Award nominations. No actor has been showered with praise more by the Academy than Meryl.

There are only five actors with double-digit acting nominations. The next closest to Meryl is Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson tied with 12. Then Bette Davis and Laurence Olivier round out the top five with 10 apiece.

We will likely never see an actor like Meryl become so automatic with a nomination. I refer to actors specifically because there are some technical workers who have amassed an insane amount of Academy Award nominations. Look at you composer John Williams with 54 nominations.

Without further ado, let’s rank all of Meryl’s Academy Award-nominated performances:

21. Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) – Best Actress

When you look at Meryl’s nominations there were epochs where Meryl would get automatic nominations. The worst was during the 2010s. She received five nominations throughout the decade. None are a part of her lasting legacy, at least none would make her obituary.

During this time the most baffling nomination was for Stephen Frears’ Florence Foster Jenkins. Stephen was no stranger to the Oscars, so it’s not surprising this film registered with voters. This led to two total nominations, one for Meryl and the other for costume design.

The movie overall is not great. Meryl’s performance is nothing to write home about either. Then you add the fact she beat out Amy Adams in Arrival, now you have a reviled nomination. She also beat other worthy performances like Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee in The Handmaiden. As well as Sandra Huller for Toni Erdman.

Though these foreign performances weren’t close to receiving nominations, Amy Adams was, and her missing for what many consider her best performance for Meryl signing poorly remains an Oscar travesty.

20. Into the Woods (2014) – Best Supporting Actress

Another in Meryl’s worst automatic nomination era was the 2010s. Into the Woods is a fine screen adaptation of a successful Broadway musical. Into the Woods is an amalgamation of multiple Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales.

Meryl plays the film’s omnipresent baddie The Witch. She is fine but the nomination is inexplicable. Unsurprisingly the film received two other nominations for Costume and Production design.

However, one has to imagine that if any other actor were in this role it would have never received any Oscar attention. Of Meryl’s filmography I think we can all agree the musical she should’ve been nominated for was Mama Mia!.

What makes this nomination worse is who she likely stole it from. Rene Russo for Nightcrawler and Carrie Coon for Gone Girl. A write-up for Time Magazine discusses the weak choices in Supporting Actress this year.

Carrie and Rene would’ve been worth nominees and brought a meatier choice to the line-up, though no one was beating Patricia Arquette in Boyhood.

19. The Iron Lady (2010) – Best Actress (Winner)

Now, I know what you’re going to say. How would this film not be remembered when Meryl passes, she won the Oscar? Well, because it is a bad win and a bad nomination for a bad film. The main criticism Meryl receives is you can see her working while she acts.

This is never better shown than in Meryl portraying Margaret Thatcher, or should I say impression. Meryl has done better accents and she’s done better films. I cannot explain why Meryl won this year, her third Oscar, for this role. Except that, The Academy will Academy.

This is an infamous year at the Oscars. A great film year not reflected at all by the Academy. I even did a redo of these Oscars. Unsurprisingly, Meryl was nowhere to be found in my personal nominations.

The only crossover nominee was Rooney Mara for Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. So many other women were worthy this year in better performances than what we got.

Charlize Theron in Young Adult, Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin, Jessica Chastain in Take Shelter and The Tree of Life, Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene, and my winner Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia.

Meryl is not as bad as Margaret, but it’s a bad film and it feels like she is doing an impression rather than a lived-in performance. It’s catnip for the Academy but cringe for us film and Academy fans.

18. Music of the Heart (1999) – Best Actress

A passion project of Wes Craven’s that he was finally able to get off the ground with the success of Scream. It’s based on a true story that was made into a documentary in 1995 called Small Wonders.

With the existence of the documentary, the film struggles to justify its creation. It’s a perfectly fine movie, and Meryl is fine, but nothing about the film or Meryl’s performance stands out. In a film year like 1999, you really need to stand out to be remembered.

1999 is considered one of the best movie years ever. Several filmmakers making a film, many of which are not considered their best, but all are still interesting. With so many great films this year there were plenty of other worthy performances.

Cameron Diaz is incredible in Being John Malkovich, and Reese Witherspoon is iconic as Tracy Flick in Election. Rei Hance is brilliant in The Blair Witch Project and didn’t deserve all the hate she received for this film. Lastly, Rene Russo in The Thomas Crown Affair is fun as the sexy insurance investigator.

Meryl is not bad, and the film is not bad, but it is an unmemorable performance that is now etched in Oscar history, over many other worthy performances.

17. Out of Africa (1985) – Best Actress

Another performance that is not memorable, but the reason this ekes out Music of the Heart is Out of Africa won Best Picture, likely helping catapult Meryl to a nomination. Whereas Meryl was only one of two nominations in the former film.

Out of Africa is a quintessential Awards bait film. When people say Oscar-bait Out of Africa is the kind of bloated, slow, period piece they envision. It is in fact a snooze fest. Unless you are an Oscar completest, you can skip this film, and Meryl’s performance.

The only thing that sticks out from this film is the plane ride because it is gorgeously shot. Otherwise, this film is in one ear out the other. Adding insult to injury Meryl secured a nomination over some other great performances.

Cher won Best Actress at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Mask. She is incredible in the film and it’s possibly her best performance to date. Mia Farrow is also great in The Purple Rose of Cairo, which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

Women who were never going to be nominated but were still more interesting than Meryl in Out of Africa was Frances McDormand in her film debut Blood Simple, the Coen brothers’ first film.

16. August: Osage County (2013) – Best Actress

Another one from the automatic nomination era in Meryl’s Academy history. The matriarch of the dysfunctional Weston family. All come together under one roof after their father, Meryl’s husband, dies.

Arguably, the lead of the film is the main of three sisters, Julia Roberts. However, when you have a star like Meryl, there is no way she is going into supporting, even though she does one year later.

Meryl’s character is addicted and a cancer patient, two things she has played better with more complexity in other films, other films she was nominated for and will appear on this list. This is an odd adaptation of a stage play and a forgettable Meryl performance.

There were some more interesting performances this year that would’ve been worthy, though they never had a shot at getting a nomination. Two of the performances are in indie films and the other is a voice performance, all of which are generally ignored by the Academy.

Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha, Brie Larson in Short Term 12, Scarlett Johansson in Her, and Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks. The first three would eventually be nominated for Oscars and Brie won 3 years later.

15. The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981) – Best Actress

Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons are actors in a film together. As they work on the film their lives behind the scenes become intertwined as the stars begin a passionate love affair that mirrors the characters they’re playing.

I don’t have much to say about this film and/or performance. The film is a bit of a slog. It masquerades as a period piece, which is probably a part of the reason this film resonated with the Academy.

Five Academy Award nominations including one for editing…Oof. Two major performances from this year would’ve been better nominations, mainly because they’re actually remembered. If you asked normies (Non-Academy nerds) they would not be able to tell you this was a film Meryl was nominated for.

Kathleen Turner in Body Heat is incredible, if they nominated Barbara Stanwyck in 1944 FOR Double Indemnity, Kathleen deserved it for Body Heat. Tuesday Weld in Thief is equally incredible if less impactful than Kathleen in Body Heat. Less sweaty too.

14. The Post (2017) – Best Actress

I think everyone had high hopes when it was announced that Steven Spielberg was making a film about the Pentagon Papers starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. The issue is though high expectations.

We know how great those three artists are and what they’re capable of. So they’re all held to a higher standard. So when they do a movie like this, it’s like a great chef making a meal that looks incredible but is bland.

The Post is a good movie and Tom and Meryl are great, but there is nothing here to make it memorable. It’s a very basic procedural. It’s by no means a bad nomination for Meryl, but an underwhelming one, which is why it ranks lower.

13. Doubt (2008) – Best Actress

Based on John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer prize-winning stage play, adapted for the screen and directed by John himself. It takes place at a Catholic School in the 1960’s after integration. The first black student is having a hard time and Father Brendan (Philip Seymour Hoffman) takes him under his wing.

However, Amy Adams’ Sister James brings to Sister Aloysius that Sister James believes Father Brendan Flynn may be inappropriate with the new student. Sister Aloysius begins a personal crusade to get Father Brendan removed.

I enjoy it when Meryl is in her evil conniving mode. But there are other modes of Meryl I like as well. It’s what makes her such a great actor because she is so versatile. She’s calm and terrifying. Never needing to raise her voice to cast her authority.

I’d rank this higher if I didn’t think she was the least interesting performance in the film. As fun as her deceitfulness is, it’s a bit one note at times.

12. The Deer Hunter (1978) – Best Supporting Actress

Maybe this is too high, but The Deer Hunter is one of my favorite films. I have a deep admiration for Cimino’s masterpiece. A group of friends in Pennsylvania enlist to join the Vietnam War. The film is told in three chapters. First, Before deployment in an hour-long wedding scene.

Second, in Vietnam. Third, after Michael (Robert De Niro) returns home. It boasts incredible performances, especially from De Niro and an Oscar-winning turn by Christopher Walken. Nick (Walken) and Michael (De Niro) are both in love with Meryl’s Linda.

Linda is going to move in with Nick and Michael and away from her abusive father. In the wedding prologue, Nick proposes to Linda who accepts. However, Nick does not return and Michael and Linda begin a relationship upon his return.

Meryl doesn’t have a lot of runtime but she is memorable. She gives powerful unsaid reactions, especially during the wedding scene. We can see Michael in love with her and her admiration for Nick. Her reaction to Michael coming home is brilliant.

It’s possibly an underrated performance from Meryl, at least in her nominated performances.

11. Ironweed (1987) – Best Actress

What could be considered a supporting performance, because this film is most definitely Jack Nicholson’s film, and Meryl dips in and out. Meryl has half of the runtime that Jack does. However, given that she went into lead from supporting rather than the other way I don’t hold it against her.

We’ve already touched on her bad version of Meryl playing an alcoholic, here she is not so over-the-top. It’s a far more upsetting portrayal of an alcoholic. Jack and Meryl are two alcoholics during the depression.

Meryl’s big scene is when she sings for a room of real and imagined guests. What would normally come off as cringe on purpose comes off as heartbreaking. We see the possible future Meryl’s Helen could’ve had.

Sometimes when an actor becomes as big as Meryl did it’s hard to not see her in her roles, but this is one of those rare roles where Meryl disappears and all we see is a red-rimmed-eyed, fast-talking Helen Archer.

10. Julie & Julia (2009) – Best Actress

A Nora Ephron delight. The true story of a woman (Julie Powell, Amy Adams) who works an unpleasant job and decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s (Meryl Streep) cookbook and blog about it, all in one year.

It’s a shame that Amy and Meryl were not both nominated for this film. Also, surprising that Meryl was nominated for Best Actress instead of Amy Adams and instead of being nominated in the supporting category.

People have coined the term Meryl in drag to note performances of hers where she does accents and dons a lot of makeup. This term comes with a negative connotation, but here “Meryl’s Drag” performance of Julia Child is wonderful.

This is a good version of her “drag”, Meryl is not just doing an impression, she becomes Julia Child. It’s a studied performance but never feels studied. You cannot see the seems in her performance as you can in others.

09. One True Thing (1998) – Best Actress

Probably one of the least known or thought-about Oscar nomination of Meryl’s career. One True Thing sees Meryl playing a Mother stricken with cancer and the father and daughter brought together to tend to her.

Though the film can be a bit maudlin at times Meryl never falls into that trap. Her performance is far better than the movie, which is not bad, just fine. It makes sense as to why this is not a remembered performance of Streep’s.

Some may be surprised this ranks so high. But, I do think this is a subtle performance. Especially given the subject matter this could go into ham territory like in August: Osage County. It just shows how good of a career Meryl has had for this to rank ninth.

It also might rank higher if she was in her proper category, Supporting. Arguably this is Renee Zellweger’s film. She is the lead. I would’ve nominated Renee in lead and still nominated Meryl in Supporting. But that’s it, there is a reason Meryl was the sole nominee for this film.

08. Adaptation (2002) – Best Supporting Actress

Charlie Kaufman’s Meta film about Charlie taking on the impossible task of adapting the novel “The Orchid Thief” into a screenplay. Charlie has a not real twin brother in the film, played by Nicolas Cage.

The author of The Orchid Thief is played by our Lady of the Hour Meryl Streep. Meryl and Nic both received Oscar nominations for their roles and Chris Cooper went home with the Supporting Actor trophy.

I love when we get to watch Meryl having fun and being seductive. Watching Meryl spiral further and further out of control until we don’t recognize the Susan Orlean that opened the movie.

From her fast-talking drugged-up monologues to her murderous rage, what makes this performance special is how different it is from many of the other performances she was nominated. That’s why it cracks the top ten of this list.

07. Postcards from the Edge (1990) – Best Actress

Carrie Fisher’s non-fiction film about an Actress dealing with addiction and living in the shadow of the movie star’s mother. It’s not surprising people thought she was writing about herself and her mother Debbie Reynolds. However, Carrie always stated it was never about them.

Meryl Streep plays an actress struggling with addiction and is forced to go back to live with her Mother and narcissistic star from the golden age of Hollywood played by Shirley MacLaine. Directed by Mike Nichols, it’s no surprise this isn’t bad.

Like I’ve said before Meryl has played and even been nominated for bad portrayals of an addict. This film feels real. It’s as if she had personal experience. It probably helped to have Carrie Fisher to study and learn from, experience-wise.

Another performance that a lesser actor would turn into an overacting showcase, Meryl constantly keeps the film grounded, as does Shirley. My issues arise with the ending as if narcissists will change on their own…Yeah ok. Meryl is still great though.

06. Silkwood (1983) – Best Actress

Based on the novel “Who Killed Karen Silkwood?” Meryl Streep plays Karen Silkwood. An employee at a plutonium plant who began her own investigation into wrongdoings at the plant also died in a car accident under mysterious circumstances.

In a film like this, with real people who are more every day than any movie star, it’s incredible to see Meryl disappear into her role. Some actors, when they play “Salt of the Earth people”, do not pull off the regular Joe persona.

Someone like Meryl, a two-time Oscar winner by this time, it could be hard to see her as anything other than Meryl. But she seeps inside Karen and Meryl ceases to exist. Unsurprisingly she even nails the Oklahoma accent.

It’s not just Meryl who is brilliant in this film. When the film was originally screened people snickered at Cher’s name, then when her name appeared again in the end credits she received rapturous applause.

05. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) – Best Supporting Actress (Winner)

With her second nomination, Meryl wins gold in the family drama that took the nation by storm and was the highest-grossing film in 1979. What a time to be alive! A portrait of a failing marriage, Meryl’s Joanna walks out on her husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman) and their son.

A true supporting performance. Once Meryl’s Joanna leaves Ted Meryl disappears for a long stretch of the film, until she returns claiming that after working and going to therapy she is in a better place to be a parent.

It’s easy to see why she won the Oscar this year. What she does with limited screen time is indelible, especially in her courtroom scene and her final scene with Ted. Meryl shows in 20 minutes why she is going to dominate Hollywood and the Academy.

Not only is this a lasting role because she won the Oscar but what Joanna represented in 1979. She spoke for many unhappy women being a stay-at-home Mother.

Not every woman wants to be a Mother (despite what Harrison Butker thinks) and that is ok. By this time in the United States it was time to have this conversation and Meryl’s Joanna led the way.

04. The Devil Wears Prada (2006) – Best Actress

Is there a character Meryl has brought to life that is more iconic than Miranda Priestly? This film has been meme’d, TikToked, and every other lexiconical phrase for an indelible social imprint.  As Miranda would say, “No, no. That wasn’t a question.”

It would be easy for Miranda to be an up-and-out villain, with no empathy, no breaks, and pure evil. Don’t get me wrong Miranda is not good. But Meryl brings a lot of complexity and empathy to the dragon lady.

It would also be easy for this role to go over the top into cartoon villainy. However, this is quite a restrained performance from Meryl, who can do just as much with a look as she can with a cutting line of dialogue.

Meryl is way better than her film, most times this film would not be good. But, the whole cast is great. My only qualm with this nomination is it probably should’ve been in Supporting. However, Miranda looms so large over the film that I understand why she ended up in the lead category.

03. A Cry in the Dark (Evil Angels) (1988) – Best Actress

The true story of Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain a 9-week-old baby who was killed by a dingo. Her mother Lindy Chamberlin spent three years in prison for the murder of her daughter. She was released only after Azaria’s jacket was found near a dingo lair.

Meryl is dealt a tough hand with this role. We as an audience are led to question whether Lindy and Michael are guilty or not. Lindy remains very reserved and in doing so we begin to dislike Lindy, we see her as passive, which is the point of the film because we begin to feel how the Australian public did.

Interesting that the film would cast an American in the role of an Australian and a very famous one at the time. Likely to do with financing, the bigger the star the bigger the budget/guarantee it gets made.

Nevertheless, Meryl nails the Australian accent. If we didn’t have 15 years with her by then we’d think they discovered a great new Australian actress. Her reserve and accent work are what make this role rank so high.

I went into this film with no expectations because no one ever talks about this nomination of Meryl’s. However, I was blown away by it and think more people should be checking this one out.

02. Sophie’s Choice (1982) – Best Actress (Winner)

The great Alan Pakula adaptation of William Styron’s novel of the same name. It follows a writer named Stingo…yes, you read that right…Stingo. He comes to know Sophie and her lover Nathan and Sophie’s tragic past.

This entire film is…not great. We could use more Meryl and given how famous the “Scene” is in Sophie’s Choice I spent the whole film prepping for it and it does not come until the end of the film.

However, throughout my dislike of this film, Meryl is truly incredible. This is widely considered a top-ten win in the Best Actress category and it holds up to that expectation. Her Polish accent work is spot on once again.

In a scene that should not hold up today given how the term “it’s a real Sophie’s Choice” is used ironically. It hits like a ton of bricks through Meryl’s gut-wrenching performance. The only reason this film lives on today is because of Meryl’s triumphant performance.

 01. The Bridges of Madison County (1995) – Best Actress

I know what you’re thinking. How can a performance considered one of the best winners ever not be her best nomination? If The Bridges of Madison County did not exist, it would be number one.

When I sat down to watch this film I didn’t know what to expect. I was just surprised Clint Eastwood made this seemingly sappy romantic drama. Wholly crap was I not ready for this film and Meryl’s performance.

Firstly, let’s give Clint credit for giving Meryl this role. Most Hollywood studios, even now, would want to cast someone 20 years younger. But this is actually an age-appropriate relationship.

Not only is it an adult relationship, but it’s one of those rare films that show Meryl as someone with sexual prowess. It’s not something we get/got to really see from her. Add that to another accent performance, this time Italian.

All of this added to a character that is incredibly deep and well-written. It’s one of the meatiest roles Meryl has ever been given and she crushes it. I don’t want to take away Susan Sarandon’s Oscar, but if I could switch Meryl’s win for The Iron Lady with another lead performance it would be this one.

1995 is one of the best Best Actress lineups ever. Any of them would be a great winner, especially this indelible one from Meryl Streep.

Meryl is one of our greatest actors ever. Sometimes her Oscar nominations can be a bit automatic, but one thing is for sure, she always brings her A-Game and has given some brilliant performances, nominated for Oscars and not.