Bafta award is latest accolade for Meryl Streep Born Mary Louise Streep in New Jersey in 1949, she has won acclaim for roles such as The Deer Hunter, Silkwood, Out of Africa and A Cry in the Dark. Famous for her perfectionism when preparing for her roles, she is particularly known for her ability to master accents, and learned to play the violin by practising for six hours a day for eight weeks for her part in Music of the Heart in 1999. Before becoming famous she was a high school cheerleader, studied drama at Yale, and worked as a waitress. Streep has been married to sculptor Don Gummer since 1978, and has a 32-year-old son and three daughters aged 28, 25, and 20. In 2000, she was named an officer of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.