If you answered 'none of the above,' then you are probably already clued into what has become one of the more surprising success stories to hit Hollywood in quite sometime. Need a hint? She turned 60 in June. Yes, Meryl Streep, she of the multitudes of Oscar nominations, has for the first time in her career become genuinely popular, at a time when most of her female peers have been shoved into early quasi-retirement, and even slightly younger male cohorts, like Kevin Costner and Bruce Willis, are shedding commercial viability as fast as their hair. The woman, once famed for playing a suffering Holocaust victim ('Sophie's Choice') and chilly ex-wives ('Manhattan' and 'Kramer vs. Kramer') is now best known to audiences of all ages for eating young fashion assistants for breakfast in 'The Devil Wears Prada,' enthusiastically jumping up and down on a bed, wearing overalls and singing Abba tunes in $600 million smash hit 'Mamma Mia,' and trilling happily in Julia Child's distinctive voice in this summer's 'Julie & Julia.' It's been a grim year for the A-list. Many recent expensive star vehicles have fizzled at the box office, including Adam Sandler's 'Funny People,' Will Ferrell's 'Land of the Lost,' Russell Crowe's 'State of Play' and 'The Taking of Pelham 123,' which starred John Travolta and Denzel Washington. Even Julia Robert's 'Duplicity' failed to connect with moviegoers. And now, for the first time in two decades, the industry is seriously re-evaluating movie-star worth and applying downward pressure to actor paydays. Yet Streep has not only survived but prospered. In the face of the summer's typical onslaught of teenage-boy-oriented whammies and explosions, she's gaily offered character and panache, going full tilt after the usually ignored female audience. In the last three years, she's mixed up the menu, jetting from comedies to musicals to biopics with a stopover at classic Oscar fare. Unlike Nicholas Cage or Robert DeNiro who seemed to consign their credibility when they went ultra-commercial in films such as 'Con Air' and 'Analyze This,' Streep remains a perennial Oscar darling, nominated (yet again) last year for her turn as the tough but protective nun in 'Doubt.' Although While she is not bullet-proof commercially (the arthouse films 'Evening' and 'Dark Matter' both sank quietly), Streep has finally gotten rid of her elite air. She is no longer a figure more admired than beloved, and has become a movie star for the masses. 'She's found the right hybrid that mixes her dramatic and comedic skills,' says David Frankel, who directed her as the steely fashion editrix in the 2006 hit 'The Devil Wears Prada.' 'There's a warmth to her performances now that I think maybe wasn't there earlier in her career. There's also a joy to her performances. In `Julie & Julia,' she's downright giddy.' 'We don't have to worry about her suffering anymore,' says film historian Jeanine Basinger, referring to her onetime penchant for painful roles. 'It looks as if she's matured to a point that very few actresses get to, arriving at the `Hell, I don't really care anymore' place. She's not afraid to be mean or hated. She's not afraid to be unglamorous. She's more at ease with it. It looks like she's over the career part and just having fun with the roles. That energizes everything she's done.' The list of actresses who enjoy careers that span multiple decades is not a particularly long one: Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn for example, all stayed in the spotlight for close to 50 years or more. But the number of actresses who experience a commercial resurgence during their third decade on screen is even shorter, especially in this era of instant and often talentless celebrity. For many, Streep's 'presence in a film is an endorsement that says to the ticket buyers that you're not going to be cheated,' says Basinger. 'That is what stardom has come down to -- value for your money.' Until recently Streep was primarily known for her accents and dramatic sweep, but she did make a stab at doing comedies in the early '90s, churning out such films as 'Death Becomes Her,' 'She-Devil,' and 'Postcards from the Edge.' Dealing with topics like plastic surgery and drug addiction, these comedies alienated some of her core constituency. 'A lot of it was painful comedy, very punishing for the female presences,' says Basinger. Streep declined to comment for this story but last year pointed out that three of her last four movies ('Mamma Mia', 'Julie and Julia', and the upcoming comedy 'It's Complicated') were directed by women, and all her box-office hits were championed by female movie executives or female producers. 'People operate on instinct, and they do things that kind of make them feel good on some level, and so every time we complain there's not enough things for women, that's because the people that are making the decisions are not turned on by material we are,' Streep said. 'It's a very simple equation.' (Optional add end) Many of Streep's recent hits have opened solidly but not spectacularly, but then kept chugging along, bucking the Hollywood trend of movies making the majority of their money in the first weekend (her movies have 'legs,' to use the industry parlance, indicating positive word of mouth from audiences after they leave the theater). Her current movie, 'Julie & Julia,' which has Oscar prognosticators predicting a nomination for Streep, had a $20 million opening weekend and has earned $82 million domestically so far (it will continue rolling out around the world this fall). With the exception of her upcoming film 'It's Complicated' with a budget of $75 million, Streep's films have also tended to be moderately priced ('Julie & Julia,' for example, was made for around $40 million), and her reported $7 million to $8 million salary is about half what A-list actresses like Jolie or Witherspoon can command, let alone the top male stars. With her four children largely grown, Streep has also been working more frequently than many of her younger peers who are juggling toddler-care with movie stardom. 