Meryl Streep’s 13 Most Dramatic Movie Transformations

Calin Van Paris
Updated

Meryl Streep’s 13 Most Dramatic Movie Transformations inline

Manhattan, 1979
Manhattan, 1979
Photo: Everett Collection
The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1969
The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1969
Photo: Everett Collection
Out of Africa, 1985
Out of Africa, 1985
Photo: Everett Collection
Death Becomes Her, 1992
Death Becomes Her, 1992
Photo: Everett Collection
The Bridges of Madison County, 1995
The Bridges of Madison County, 1995
Photo: Everett Collection
Suffragette, 2015
Suffragette, 2015
Photo: Everett Collection
The Hours, 2002
The Hours, 2002
Photo: Everett Collection
The Devil Wears Prada, 2006
The Devil Wears Prada, 2006
Photo: Everett Collection
The Iron Lady, 2011
The Iron Lady, 2011
Photo: Everett Collection
Into the Woods, 2014
Into the Woods, 2014
Photo: Everett Collection
Sophie’s Choice, 1982
Sophie’s Choice, 1982
Photo: Everett Collection
Florence Foster Jenkins, 2016
Florence Foster Jenkins, 2016
Photo: Everett Collection
The Post, 2017
The Post, 2017
Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Meryl Streep is nothing if not chameleonic. The record-breaking 21-time Oscar nominee is the owner of three golden statuettes, a mounting collection of politically charged acceptance speeches, and an ever-growing arsenal of vastly divergent beauty looks that render each of Streep’s characters unforgettable. Just look to her most recent film, Steven Spielberg’s The Post, which sees Streep inhabiting real-life American power publisher Katharine Graham, who led The Washington Post's landmark Watergate coverage in the early 1970s—her brushed-back brunette bouffant coifed to perfection, its high-reaching volume acting as a visual marker of a woman in command.

Throughout her career, an ongoing series of above-the-neck choices have transformed her distinctive features—high cheekbones, down-to-there blonde hair, an aquiline nose, and a glittering gaze—in unimaginable ways, often allowing the versatile actress to disappear that much more entirely into her roles. Consider that Manhattan found the Woody Allen muse pouting gamely from behind gold-spun lengths, while her turn as Baroness Blixen in Out of Africa called for a mane of fuzzy, curly brunette—topped with a series of brimmed hats—and a ready smile.

The cult film Death Becomes Her is defined by the actress’s campy and glamorous combination of exaggerated eyeliner, streaks of blush, and an unmovable platinum blowout—a head-turning counterpoint to the vulnerable, bare-faced brunette with ever-present gold hoops of Streep’s Francesca, the perfect Italian war bride in The Bridges of Madison County. And while magazine editor Miranda Priestly’s I-want-it-now mentality is best represented by immaculate makeup and a silver coif, it's easy to re-imagine Streep as a woods-bound witch in Into the Woods with grown-out-greys, a claw-like manicure and a sinister expression. Here, the decorated actress’s 13 most transformative beauty looks of all time.

Meryl Streep Talks to Anna Wintour About Her New Movie, Harvey Weinstein, and Her Most Challenging Role (No, Not That One)

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