1980's The Arts | Streep, Meryl 1949-

ACTRESS

Early Years.

Born Mary Louise Streep in New Jersey, Meryl Streep often felt unpopular and out of step with many of the other children in her neighborhood, especially when she began singing at age twelve and spent four subsequent years in rigorous voice training in New York. During her teen years Streep was a cheerleader, acted in high-school plays, and became homecoming queen, but she was obsessed with improving her self-described "ugly" looks. Competition for and with boys disappeared when Streep entered the all-female Vassar College (A.B., 1971) in 1967: "I remember feeling, I can have a thought. I can do anything, because everything is allowed.' Oh, it was a great relief." Streep's reading of some lines from A Streetcar Named Desire in a drama class led her instructor, Clint Atkinson, to cast her in the title role of Miss Julie at Vassar. Struck by her instinctive acting talent, Atkinson directed...