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Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n
Mon 24 August 2026 17:45, UK <\/p>\n
Naming the greatest actor of all time is a question that has plagued film fans for decades, and realistically, it\u2019s not one that can ever be answered. However, if you were to use the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a metric, then the best to ever do it might just be Meryl Streep<\/a>.<\/p>\n Though Katherine Hepburn might have the most Academy Awards as an actor at four, her great rival is just behind her <\/a>with three. More importantly, while Hepburn was nominated 12 times across her career, Streep has done so an astonishing 21 times. Starting with The Deer Hunter in 1979 and going right up to The Post in 2018, she has been represented at just 20% of every Oscars ceremony in history. <\/p>\n We can\u2019t rule out the possibility that she could add to that number before she bows out of the acting game, and as one of the most versatile actors of this or any generation, Streep is thus an idol<\/a> to many, but if you were to ask the woman herself, you shouldn\u2019t pay her any attention whatsoever. <\/p>\n In an interview with\u00a0People<\/a>\u00a0in 2026, she shocked everyone when she proclaimed that she \u201cdoesn\u2019t know how to act,\u201d and while you might think that this is just a legend trying to stay humble or making a joke, she was 100% serious. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know how people do it,\u201d she doubled down, \u201cI go into everything, not knowing how people do it. And you sort of feel and listen and pick it up as you go along. I don\u2019t have a method. But you have a feeling you know what you need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n To illustrate her point, she referenced the Broadway production of Arthur Miller\u2019s Death of a Salesman that she\u2019d seen recently. She was keen to praise the cast, which includes Nathan Lane, Christopher Abbott, and Ben Ahlers, but one performer particularly caught her eye. <\/p>\n \u201cLaurie Metcalf just blew my mind,\u201d she gushed, \u201cI thought, \u2018Well, I better just retire, because I don\u2019t know how she did that. What an artist’\u201d.<\/p>\n Further reading: Cutting Room Floor<\/p>\n Metcalf is one of those actors who you\u2019ve definitely seen multiple times, even if you don\u2019t recognise her name or face. She started in the 1970s, making some waves in the following decade, including appearing as a cast member for a single episode<\/a> of Saturday Night Live. <\/p>\n Her big TV break was on the sitcom Roseanne, and younger fans might know her as the voice of Andy\u2019s mum in the Toy Story franchise or the mother of the titular character in Greta Gerwig\u2019s Lady Bird. She took on the role of Linda Loman in the 2026 revival of Miller\u2019s play, the wife of the titular character, serving as the backbone of the Loman family, desperately devoted to her struggling husband. <\/p>\n Streep wasn\u2019t the only one who thought Metcalf did a great job, as the latter won the Tony Award for \u2018Best Featured Actress in a Play\u2019, appropriately bringing her career total to three. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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