birth name	Mary Jean Tomlin
birth date	September 01, 1939
birth place	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
domesticpartner	Jane Wagner (1971-present)
medium	Stand-up, television, film, theatre
nationality	American
genre	Observational comedy, improvisational comedy
website	lilytomlin.com
active	1965–present }}

Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960s when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's ''Laugh-in''. Her career has spanned television, comedy recordings, Broadway, and motion pictures, enjoying acclaimed success in each medium. She has won many awards including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award and has also been nominated for an Academy Award. Tomlin's humor is often sharp and insightful in the traditions of standup comedians, but also frequently endearing, slightly wacky, and generally quite "family friendly" in the tradition of television comediennes such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and Eve Arden.

Early life[link]

Tomlin was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Lillie Mae (née Ford), a housewife and nurse's aide, and Guy Tomlin, a factory worker. Tomlin's parents were Southern Baptists who moved to Detroit from Paducah, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. She is a 1957 graduate of Cass Technical High School. Tomlin attended Wayne State University, where her interest in the theater and performing arts began. After college, Tomlin began doing stand-up comedy in nightclubs in Detroit and later in New York City. Her first television appearance was on ''The Merv Griffin Show'' in 1965.

Stardom and classic Tomlin characters[link]

In 1969, after a brief stint as a hostess on the ABC Television series ''Music Scene'', Tomlin joined NBC's sketch comedy show ''Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.'' Tomlin was an instant success on the already established program, in which in addition to appearing in general sketches and delivering comic gags, she began appearing as regular characters she created that quickly became famous and went on to lives outside of the show in later recordings and television specials:

''Ernestine'' was a nosy, condescending telephone operator who generally treated customers with little sympathy. Ernestine often snorted when she let loose a barbed response or heard something salacious; she also wore her hair in a 1940s hairstyle with a hair net, although the character was contemporary. Ernestine was almost always at her switchboard taking calls in the sketches. She occasionally called her boyfriend, Vito, a telephone repair man, or her pal Phoenicia, another operator.

''Edith Ann'' is a precocious five-and-a-half year old girl who waxes philosophical on everyday life, either about life as a kid or things for which she feels she has the answers although she is too young to fully understand. She often ends her monologues with "And that's the truth," punctuating it with a noisy raspberry. Edith Ann sits in an over-sized rocking chair (to make Tomlin seem child-sized) with her rag doll, Doris, and often talks of life at home with her battling parents and bullying older sister, Mary Jean (Lily Tomlin's actual first name). Edith Ann has an over-sized, playfully aggressive dog named Buster and a boyfriend named Junior Phillips, a possibly unrequited love. (No one but Edith and "Doris" are seen in any of the Edith Ann sketches.)

''Mrs. Judith Beasley'', also known as "The Tasteful Lady", is a somewhat prudish and prissy, conservatively dressed middle-aged apolitical woman who dispenses advice on gracious living and a life of elegance.

''Susie the Sorority Girl'' is a blonde collegiate who could be the Tasteful Lady's daughter. Humorless and melodramatic, her biggest worries are the likes of who took her missing album by The Carpenters.

''The Consumer Advocate Lady'' is a dour, austere woman who rigidly inspects and tests products for their alleged value. The Consumer Advocate Lady is something of a variation of Mrs. Beasley, much like Tomlin's "male vocalist" characters Tommy Velour and Pervis Hawkins.

Tomlin was also one of the first female comedians to break out in male drag with her characters Tommy Velour and Rick. Though drag had been performed in Hollywood for some time by men, Tomlin broke new ground by not only crossing gender stereotypes, but racial ones as well. In 1982, she premiered Pervis Hawkins, a black rhythm-and-blues soul singer (patterned after Luther Vandross), with a mustache, beard and close-cropped afro hairstyle, dressed in a three-piece suit. Tomlin used very little, if any, skin-darkening cosmetics as part of the character, instead depending on stage lighting to create the effect.

Ernestine and Edith Ann were by far Tomlin's most popular characters, and she occasionally performed as them in various television programs over the years.

AT&T; offered Tomlin US$500,000 to play her character Ernestine in a commercial, but she declined, saying it would compromise her artistic integrity. In 1976 she appeared as Ernestine in a parody of a commercial on ''Saturday Night Live'' (Season 2 Episode 1, September 18, 1976), in which she proclaimed, "We don't care, we don't have to...we're the phone company." The character later made a guest appearance at ''The Superhighway Summit'' at UCLA, January 11, 1994, interrupting a speech being given on the information superhighway by then-Vice President Al Gore. In 2003, she made two commercials as Ernestine for WebEx.

Tomlin brought Edith Ann to the forefront again in the 1990s with three animated prime-time television specials and also publishing Edith Ann's "autobiography" ''My Life'' (co-written by Jane Wagner) in 1995.

Recordings[link]

Tomlin released her first comedy album on Polydor Records in 1971, ''This Is A Recording'', an album of Ernestine's run-ins with customers over the phone. The album hit #15 on the Billboard Hot 200, becoming (and remaining as of 2011) the highest-charting album ever by a solo comedienne. She would earn a Grammy award that year for Best Comedy Recording.

Tomlin's second album, 1972's ''And That's The Truth'', a collection of monologues as Edith Ann, was nearly as successful, peaking at #41 on the chart and earning another Grammy nomination. (Tomlin has two of the three top charting female comedy albums on Billboard, sandwiching a 1983 Joan Rivers release.)

Tomlin's third comedy album, 1975's ''Modern Scream'', a parody of movie magazines and celebrity interviews features her performing as multiple characters, including Ernestine, Edith Ann, Judith, and Suzie. Her 1977 release ''Lily Tomlin On Stage'', was an adaptation of her Broadway show that year. Each of these albums earned Tomlin additional Grammy nominations.

Motion pictures[link]

Tomlin made her dramatic debut in Robert Altman's ''Nashville'', for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, she played Linnea Reese, a straitlaced, gospel-singing, mother of two deaf children who has an affair with a womanizing country singer (played by Keith Carradine). The Oscar that year went to Lee Grant for her role in ''Shampoo''. A comedy-mystery, ''The Late Show'', teaming Tomlin with Art Carney, was a critical success in 1977. One of the few widely panned projects of Tomlin's career, however, was 1978's ''Moment by Moment'', directed and written by Wagner, which teamed Tomlin in a cross-generational older woman/younger man romance with John Travolta.

Tomlin soon had the greatest hit of her film career with 1980's ''Nine to Five'' in which she played a secretary named Violet Newstead who joins coworkers Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton in seeking revenge on their monstrous boss, Franklin M. Hart, Jr., played by Dabney Coleman. The film was a huge success and one of the year's top grossing films. Tomlin then starred in the 1981 science fiction comedy ''The Incredible Shrinking Woman'', a send-up of consumerism, and was the sickly heiress in the comedy ''All of Me'' opposite Steve Martin.

Tomlin and Bette Midler played two pairs of identical twins who were switched at birth in the 1989 comedy ''Big Business''. Tomlin also played chain-smoking waitress Doreen Piggott in Altman's 1993 ensemble film ''Short Cuts'', and, in two films by director David O. Russell; she appeared as a peacenik Raku artist in ''Flirting with Disaster'' and later, as an existential detective in ''I ♥ Huckabees.'' In 2007, a video recording surfaced showing Tomlin and Russell in a heated exchange over the shooting of a scene in Huckabees.

She collaborated again with director Robert Altman in what would prove to be his last film, ''A Prairie Home Companion'', playing Rhonda Johnson, one half of a middle-aged Midwestern singing duo with Meryl Streep.

Broadway[link]

Tomlin was the first woman to appear solo in a Broadway show with her premiere of ''Appearing Nitely'' at the Biltmore theatre in April 1977. The same month, she made the cover of ''Time'' magazine with the headline "America's New Queen of Comedy". Her solo show then toured the country and was made into a record album titled ''On Stage''. In 1985, Tomlin starred in another one-woman Broadway show ''The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe'', written by her long-time life partner, writer/producer Jane Wagner. The show won her a Tony Award, and was made into a feature film in 1991. Tomlin revived the show for a run on Broadway in 2000 which then toured the country through mid-2002. In 1989, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

Return to television[link]

Tomlin voiced Ms. Frizzle on the animated television series ''The Magic School Bus'' from 1994 to 1997. Also, in the 1990s, Tomlin appeared on the popular sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' as the title character's boss. In 2005 and 2006, she had a recurring role as Will Truman's boss Margot on ''Will & Grace''. She appeared on the dramatic series ''The West Wing'' for four years (2002–2006) in the recurring role of presidential secretary Deborah Fiderer.

In the 2008-2009 fifth season of ''Desperate Housewives'' she has a recurring role as Roberta, the sister of Mrs. McCluskey (played by Kathryn Joosten, who coincidentally had played Tomlin's secretarial predecessor on ''The West Wing''). During the 2008 Emmy Awards, Tomlin appeared as part of a tribute to the influential 1960s television series ''Laugh-In''. Tomlin voiced Tammy in the 2005 ''The Simpsons'' episode, "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas". Tomlin provided a voice for the film ''Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea'', which was released in August 2009.

Since its launch in 2008, Tomlin has been a contributor for wowOwow.com, a website for women to talk culture, politics and gossip.

Tomlin and Kathryn Joosten have been in talks to star in a ''Desperate Housewives'' spin-off, which was given the green light in May 2009. Tomlin premiered her one-woman show ''Not Playing with a Full Deck'' at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in November 2009. It was her first appearance in that city, though she did tape an Emmy-winning TV special, a spoof of Las Vegas called ''Lily: Sold Out'' which premiered on CBS in January 1981. Tomlin guest-starred as Marilyn Tobin in the third season of ''Damages'' and in an episode of ''NCIS'' in the episode, "The Penelope Papers", playing Agent Timothy McGee's Sean Murray grandmother, Penelope Langston. Tomlin is set to star in Reba McEntire's new TV series Malibu Country as Reba's character's mother Shirley. The pilot will be filmed in April and if picked up as a series, will start shooting in August.

Personal life[link]

Tomlin met her partner Jane Wagner in 1971. After watching an after school special written by Wagner, Tomlin invited her to Los Angeles to collaborate on a comedy album. Although Tomlin officially came out to the press in 2001, her sexual orientation has not really been a secret; in interviews she would often refer to Jane Wagner as her partner. As Tomlin herself stated in 2008, in an interview for ''Just Out'' magazine: "Everybody in the industry was certainly aware of my sexuality and of Jane... In interviews I always reference Jane and talk about Jane, but they don't always write about it."

Tomlin has been involved in a number of feminist and gay-friendly film productions, and on her 1975 album ''Modern Scream'' she poked fun at straight actors who make a point of distancing themselves from their gay and lesbian charactersanswering the pseudo-interview question, she replied: "How did it feel to play a heterosexual? I've seen these women all my life, I know how they walk, I know how they talk ..."

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

! Year	! Album	! Billboard Hot 200	! Label
1972			Polydor Records
1972	''And That's the Truth''		Polydor Records
1975	''Modern Scream''		Polydor Records
1978	''On Stage''		Arista Records
2003	''20th Century Masters: The Best oF Lily Tomlin''		Polydor Records

Awards[link]

Tomlin has received numerous awards, including: four primetime Emmys; a special 1977 Tony when she was appearing in her one woman Broadway show, ''Appearing Nitely''; a second Tony as Best Actress, two Drama Desk Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her one woman performance in Jane Wagner’s ''The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe''; a CableACE Award for Executive Producing the film adaptation of ''The Search''; a Grammy Award for her comedy album, ''This is a Recording'' (a collection of Ernestine the Telephone Operator routines) as well as nominations for her subsequent albums ''Modern Scream'', ''And That's the Truth'', and ''On Stage''; and two Peabody Awards — the first for the ABC television special, ''Edith Ann’s Christmas: Just Say Noël'' and the second for narrating and executive producing the HBO film, ''The Celluloid Closet''.

In 1992, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award. Tomlin was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2003 she was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Also in 2003, she was recognized again by Women in Film with the Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television. In March 2009, Tomlin received Fenway Health's Dr. Susan M. Love Award for her contributions to women's health.

On 16 March 2012 Lily Tomlin and her partner Jane Wagner received the 345th star on the Walk of Stars in Palm Springs, California. Senator Barbara Boxer and Palm Springs residents and fellow star recipients Carol Channing, actor Dane Andrew & Rascal The World's Ugliest Dog were among the attendees at the dedication ceremony.

Selected list[link]

;Tony Awards: Best Actress in a Play 1986 ''The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe'' Special Tony Award 1977 Lifetime Achievement

;Grammy Awards: Best Comedy Album 1972 ''This Is A Recording''

;Emmy Awards: Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series

1981 ''Lily: Sold Out'' (ABC)

::Lily Tomlin, executive producer and star; Rocco Urbisci, producer; Jane Wagner, executive producer

Outstanding Writing - Comedy-Variety or Music Special

1974 ''Lily'' (CBS)

::Rosalyn Drexler, Ann Elder, Karyl Geld, Robert Illes, Lorne Michaels, Richard Pryor, Jim Rusk, Herb Sargent, James R. Stein, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, Rod Warren, George Yanok, Writers

1976 ''Lily Tomlin'' (ABC)

::Ann Elder, Christopher Guest, Lorne Michaels, Earl Pomerantz, Jim Rusk, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, Rod Warren, George Yanok, Writers

1978 ''The Paul Simon Special'' (NBC)

::Chevy Chase, Tom Davis, Al Franken, Charles Grodin, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, Lily Tomlin, Alan Zweibel, Writers

Additionally, ''Lily'' (1973; above), in which she starred but did not produce, won for Outstanding Comedy-Variety, Variety Or Music Special, 1974 (Jerry McPhie, Herb Sargent, producers; Irene Pinn, executive producer)

;Daytime Emmy Award

1995 Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program

''The Magic School Bus"

Filmography [link]

+ List of film appearances
Title	Year	Role	Notes
''Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers''	1972	Telephone Voice	(uncredited)
! scope="row"	1975	Linnea Reese	''''	1977	Margo Sperling
''[[Moment by Moment">BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
''''	1977	Margo Sperling
''[[Moment by Moment''	1978	Trisha Rawlings
! scope="row"	1980	Violet Newstead
''''	1981	Pat Kramer/Judith Beasley	Fantafestival Award for Best ActressNominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
! scope="row"	1984	Edwina Cutwater	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
! scope="row"	1988	Rose Ratliff/Rose Shelton
''''	1991	Trudy, et. al	American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)Golden Needle Award for Best ActressNominated—Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music ProgramNominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy SpecialNominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
''Shadows and Fog''	1992	Prostitute
''''	1992	Herself
''''	1993	Miss Jane Hathaway
''Short Cuts''	1993	Doreen Piggot	''[[Blue in the Face">American Comedy Awards
''[[Blue in the Face''	1995	Waffle eater
! scope="row"	1996	Inga Mueller
! scope="row"	1996	Mary Schlichting	Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
''Krippendorf's Tribe''	1998	Prof. Ruth Allen
''Tea with Mussolini''	1999	Georgie Rockwell
''''	2000	Janet
! scope="row"	2002	Charlotte Cobb
''I Heart Huckabees''	2004	Vivian Jaffe
''''	2006	Rhonda Johnson
''''	2006	Mommo	Voice
''''	2007	Abigail
''''	2009	Mrs. Yvette Berenger
! scope="row"	2009	Toki	Voice

+ List of television appearances
Title	Year	Role	Notes
''''	1966–1967	Regular	unknown episodes
''Letters to Laugh-In''	1969	Panelist
! scope="row"	1969	Hostess, also did skits such as the "Eraser Freak"
''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''	1969–1973	Ernestine, the telephone operator; five-year-old Edith Ann; tasteful lady; other characters
! scope="row"	1973	Herself	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program
''''	1973
! scope="row"	1974	Herself	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy SeriesNominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program
''''	1975	Herself	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy ProgramNominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series
''Saturday Night Live''	1976–1977	Host/Ernestine/Various
''	1977	Herself	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program
''Sesame Street''	1979	Edith Ann
''Lily: Sold Out''	1981	Herself	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program
''Pryor's Place''	1984
! scope="row"	1993	Dr. Selma Dritz
''Frasier''	1994	Rita	(voice)
	1994–1997	Ms. Frizzle	''[[Homicide: Life on the Streets">Daytime Emmy Award
''[[Homicide: Life on the Streets''	1996	Rose Halligan	Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series
''Murphy Brown''	1996–1998	Kay Carter-Shepley
''''	1998	Lydia
! scope="row"	2000	Herself
''''	2002–2006	Deborah Fiderer	Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2003, 2005)Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (2003)
''''	2005	Tammy	Appeared on the episode "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas"
''Will & Grace''	2005–2006	Margot
''12 Miles of Bad Road''	2008	Amelia Shakespeare
''Desperate Housewives''	2008–2009	Roberta Simmons
! scope="row"	2010	Marilyn Tobin	Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series
! scope="row"	2011	Herself	Episode 3, guest judge
''	2011	Herself	Guest co-host
''A Quiet Word With ...''	2011	Herself	Season 1, episode 6, guest
! scope="row"	2011	Penelope Langston	Season 9, episode 3, guest
! scope="row"	2011	Putsy Hodge
! scope="row"	2012	Tammy Powers

References[link]

External links[link]

Lily Tomlin Official website

AfterEllen.com Tomlin profile.

AARP Magazine: Who's Lily Now?

Time Magazine cover: March 28, 1977

Metro Weekly interview

The Advocate interview March 15, 2005

AARP Magazine: Who's Lily Now?

Interview: Lily Tomlin! CherryGrrl.com interview with Lily Tomlin, April 2010

Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Michigan Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Cass Technical High School alumni Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Feminist artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Lesbian actors Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Mark Twain Prize recipients Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:Wayne State University alumni Category:Women comedians Category:LGBT comedians

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name	Cher
background	solo_singer
birth name	Cherilyn Sarkisian
alias	Cherilyn LaPiere, Cher Bono, Goddess of Pop
birth date	May 20, 1946
birth place	El Centro, California, U.S.
origin	Los Angeles, California
genre	Pop, rock, folk, dance, disco, pop rock
occupation	Singer, actress, film director, record producer, film producer, fashion designer, entrepreneur
instrument	Vocals
years active	1963–present
label	Warner Bros., Warner Music UK, Geffen, Columbia, Casablanca, MCA, Kapp, Atco, Atlantic, Imperial
associated acts	Sonny & Cher, Sonny Bono, Gregg Allman, Black Rose
website	100pxCher's signature }}

Cher () (born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer, and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes, and a Cannes Film Festival Award for her work in film, music, and television. She is the only person in history to receive all five awards. She began her career as a backup singer and came to prominence in 1965 as one-half of the pop rock duo Sonny & Cher with the success of their song "I Got You Babe". She subsequently established herself as a solo recording artist and became a television star in 1971 with ''The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'', a variety show for which she won a Golden Globe. A well-received performance in the film ''Silkwood'' earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress of 1983. In the following years, she starred in a string of hit films including ''Mask'', ''The Witches of Eastwick'', and ''Moonstruck'', for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress of 1987.

Cher, throughout a career spanning over 49 years, has broken many records. She is the only artist to reach #1 on a ''Billboard'' chart in each of the past six decades. Her hit dance single "Believe" is her biggest-selling recording and was the best-selling single of 1999, having sold over 10 million copies worldwide. She holds the Hot 100 record for the longest hit-making career span, with 33 years between the release of her first and last Billboard Hot 100 #1 singles (1965 and 1999) and 45 years between her first and last #1 ranking on any ''Billboard'' chart Cher ended her 3-year-long "Farewell Tour" in 2005 as the most successful tour by a female solo artist of all time. Cher has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. After a three-year hiatus and retirement from touring, she returned to the stage in May 2008 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas where she performed her show ''Cher at the Colosseum'' until February 2011. She has a deep contralto vocal range.

Early life [link]

Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946. Her father, John Paul Sarkisian, was Armenian American and was a truck driver. Her mother, Georgia Holt (born Jackie Jean Crouch in Sharp County, Arkansas on June 9, 1927), an aspiring actress and occasional model, is of Cherokee, English, French, German, and Dutch descent. Cher's half sister is actress Georganne LaPiere. Cher's parents divorced and she was raised primarily by her mother, who at one time was married to Gilbert Hartmann LaPiere (June 29, 1923 – February 7, 2012), a banker who adopted Cher. Due to financial problems, Cher's mother temporarily placed her in foster care. Later, her mother provided money for acting lessons to help further her career. Due to severe, undiagnosed dyslexia, she left Fresno High School at age 16. In those years, Cher had a brief relationship with actor Warren Beatty.

Career [link]

1960s: Sonny & Cher [link]

Sonny Bono, 11 years her senior, was working for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. Sonny and Cher became inseparable friends, eventual lovers, and later married. Through Sonny, Cher started as a session singer in 1963, and sang backup on several of Spector’s classic recordings, including The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", Darlene Love's "A Fine, Fine Boy", The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron", and The Ronettes' "Be My Baby". In the composition by Darlene Love, the listener can clearly hear Cher and Sonny close to the microphone (along with Love, who recorded her own backing vocals). Her first solo recording was the unsuccessful single "Ringo, I Love You", released under the pseudonym of Bonnie Jo Mason and produced by Phil Spector. Her second attempt was "Dream Baby", released under the name "Cherilyn" and written and produced by Sonny Bono. Both were released in 1964. With Sonny continuing to write, arrange, and produce the songs, Sonny and Cher’s first incarnation was as the duo "Caesar and Cleo". They received little attention, despite releasing the single "The Letter" in late 1964.

The first "Sonny and Cher" album, ''Look At Us'', was released in the summer of 1965. This album contained the overnight smash single "I Got You Babe" which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1965. Cher was 19 years old, Sonny 30. A re-released "Baby Don't Go" peaked at #8. Several more mid-level hits followed, notably "Just You," "But You're Mine", "What Now My Love" and "Little Man", before "The Beat Goes On" returned the duo to the Top 10. Sonny and Cher charted eleven ''Billboard'' Top 40 hits between 1965 and 1972, including six Top 10 hits, and sold 80 million albums worldwide.

The duo became a sensation, traveling and performing around the world. Following an appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' in the fall of 1965 in which Sullivan had infamously mispronounced her name 'Chur' during their introduction, the singer began spelling her name with an acute accent mark: Chér—a typographical feature she maintained through 1974. The couple soon appeared on other hit television shows of the era including ''American Bandstand'', ''Top of the Pops'', ''Hollywood A Go-Go'', ''Podunk'', ''Hollywood Palace'', ''Hullabaloo'', ''Beat Club'', ''Ready Steady Go!'' and ''Shindig!!''. While initially perceived as the slightly awkward and less important half of the popular singing duo, Cher disguised her stage fright and nervousness with quick-witted barbs directed at her partner. She soon rose to prominence as the more outspoken, daring and provocative half of the team. With her dark, exotic looks, she became a fashion trendsetter, helping to popularize fashions such as bellbottoms and incorporating eccentric gowns, "hippie" attire and elaborate costumes into live shows.

Later in 1965, Cher released her debut solo album, ''All I Really Want to Do'', which reached #16 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The album's cover of the Bob Dylan song "All I Really Want to Do" peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1966, Cher released her second solo album on the Imperial Records label, ''The Sonny Side of Chér''. It peaked at #26 in the US charts, and #11 in the UK chart. The album contained the singles "Where Do You Go (#25 on the Billboard Hot 100), as well as "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" (#2 on the Billboard Hot 100); both hits written and produced by Sonny Bono. In the United States, the latter was Cher's biggest solo hit of the 1960s. Her third solo album ''Chér'', also released in 1966, was not as successful as its predecessors, but did include the European Top 10 hit "Sunny".

In an attempt to capitalize on the duo’s initial success, Sonny speedily arranged a film project for the duo to star in. But the 1967 feature, ''Good Times,'' was a major bomb, despite the efforts of fledgling director William Friedkin and co-star George Sanders. Cher continued to establish herself as a solo artist and released the album ''Backstage''. The album was a flop. Sonny and Cher's career had stalled by 1968 as album sales dried up. Their gentle, easy-listening rock folk sound and drug-free life had become "unhip" in an era becoming increasingly consumed with psychedelic rock, and the overall evolutionary change in the American pop culture landscape during the late 1960s. Sonny and Cher's only child together, Chaz Bono, was born Chastity Bono on March 4, 1969. The duo made another unsuccessful foray into film later in 1969 with Bono writing and producing the film ''Chastity'', intended as a dramatic debut for Cher as an actress. That film (directed by first and only-time director Alessio De Paulo) was also a commercial failure. Sonny decided to forge ahead, carving a new career for the duo in Las Vegas resorts, where they sharpened their public persona with Cher as the wise-cracking singer, and Sonny as the good-natured recipient of her insults. In reality, Sonny controlled every aspect of their act, from the musical arrangements to the joke-writing. While success was slow to come, their luck improved when network TV talent scouts attended a show, noting their potential appeal for a variety series.

1970s: Transition to television [link]

In 1970, Sonny and Cher starred in their first television special, ''The Sonny and Cher Nitty Gritty Hour''. A mixture of slapstick comedy, skits and live music, the appearance was a critical success, which led to numerous guest spots on other television shows. Sonny and Cher caught the eye of CBS head of programming Fred Silverman while guest-hosting ''The Merv Griffin Show'', and Silverman offered the duo their own variety show. ''The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'' debuted in 1971 as a summer replacement series. The show returned to prime time later that year and was an immediate hit, quickly reaching the Top 10. The show received 15 Emmy Award nominations during its run, winning one for direction.

Among the many guests who appeared on ''The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'' were Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, Carol Burnett, George Burns, Glen Campbell, Dick Clark, Tony Curtis, Bobby Darin, Phyllis Diller, Farrah Fawcett, Merv Griffin, The Jackson Five, Jerry Lee Lewis, Liberace, Steve Martin, Ronald Reagan, Burt Reynolds, Lynn Anderson, The Righteous Brothers, Neil Sedaka, Dinah Shore, Sally Struthers, The Supremes, and Raquel Welch. The duo revived its recording career, releasing four more albums for Kapp Records and MCA Records that included two more Top 10 hits: "All I Ever Need Is You" in 1971, and "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done" in 1972.

Now 25, Cher continued to establish herself as a solo recording artist, enlisting the help of hit producer Snuff Garrett. Her first solo number-one hit was "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves". Released in September 1971, the album of the same name peaked at #16 on the Billboard 200, and remained on the chart for 45 weeks. Another single from the album, "The Way of Love" peaked at #7 in March 1972.

Cher scored her second number one with "Half-Breed" in 1973 which became a signature song from the gold-certified album of the same name. In 1974, Cher had her third #1 solo hit with "Dark Lady", also from the album of the same name. By the third season of the ''Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'', the marriage of Sonny and Cher was falling apart; the duo separated later that year. The show imploded, while still in the top 10 of the ratings. What followed was a nasty, very public divorce (finalized on June 27, 1975). Cher won a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy for ''The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'' in 1974.

Bono launched his own show, ''The Sonny Comedy Revue'', in the fall of 1974 while Cher also announced plans to host and star in a new variety TV series of her own. Bono’s show was abruptly canceled, however, after only six weeks. The couple would eventually reunite for two more seasons of their show. ''The Cher Show'' debuted as an elaborate, all-star television special on February 16, 1975 featuring Flip Wilson, Bette Midler and special guest Elton John. Cloris Leachman and Jack Albertson both won Emmy Awards for their appearances as guest stars a few weeks later, and the series received four additional Emmy nominations that year. Other guests included Pat Boone, David Bowie, Ray Charles, Dion, Patti Labelle, Cheryl Ladd, Wayne Newton, Linda Ronstadt, Lily Tomlin and Frankie Valli. The variety series' debut season ranked 22nd in the year-end Nielsen ratings.

A good deal of press was generated throughout 1975 regarding Cher's exposed navel and the daring ensembles created by famed designer Bob Mackie. Her show featured numerous outlandish costume changes, even more than typical variety shows. The ''Cher'' show ran for two half-seasons, before a pregnant Cher pulled the plug herself, deciding instead to reunite with her ex-husband for a revamped version of ''The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour''. Three days after finalizing her divorce from Sonny, Cher married rock musician Gregg Allman, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, on June 30, 1975. They had one son, Elijah, in July 1976. Together, they released the album, ''Two the Hard Way'', under the rubric Allman and Woman, which featured a cover of the Smokey Robinson hit "You've Really Got a Hold on Me". This project was not considered a critical or commercial success. They were divorced after two years of marriage.

From 1975 to 1978, Cher released a series of unsuccessful albums: ''Stars'', ''I'd Rather Believe in You'' and ''Cherished''. On February 2, 1976, ''The Sonny and Cher Show'' debuted with a Top 10 rating and high expectations. Some of the guests who appeared on The Sonny and Cher Show included Frankie Avalon, Muhammed Ali, Raymond Burr, Ruth Buzzi, Charo, Barbara Eden, Farrah Fawcett, Teri Garr, Bob Hope, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Tony Orlando, The Osmonds, Debbie Reynolds, The Smothers Brothers, Tina Turner, Twiggy, and Betty White. However, ratings soon fell, and the show was cancelled after its second season. In 1976, Mego Toys released a line of toys and dolls in the likeness of Sonny & Cher. The release of these fashion dolls coincided with the popularity of ''The Sonny & Cher Show''. Their overall television success, though brief, was unique because variety programming in general, other than ''The Carol Burnett Show'', was no longer attracting viewers.

She made a brief return to prime time starring in the television specials ''Cher... Special'', in 1978 (for which guest star Dolly Parton was nominated for an Emmy Award) and ''Cher ... and Other Fantasies'' in 1979. One highlight for her fans was a song and dance number based on the classic musical ''West Side Story'' in which Cher portrayed each of the main characters. In 1978, she legally changed her name from Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere Bono Allman to just Cher, with no surname or middle name. Heidi Stevens of the ''Chicago Tribune'' said Cher was "[t]ired of being saddled with surnames of her father, stepfather and ex-husbands[.]" Sonny and Cher performed together for the last time on ''The Mike Douglas Show'' in the spring of 1979 (until their much-discussed 1987 Letterman appearance), singing a medley of "United We Stand" and "Without You".

Later in 1979, Cher would capitalize on the disco craze, signing with Casablanca Records, and racking up another Top-10 single with "Take Me Home". Sales of the album ''Take Me Home'' may have been boosted by the image of a scantily-clad Cher in a Viking outfit on the album’s cover. The album was RIAA-certified Gold. For her second Casablanca release, ''Prisoner'', Cher appeared on the album's cover virtually naked and wrapped in chains, spurring controversy among some women's rights groups for her perceived "sex slave" image. This album produced the minor hit single "Hell on Wheels" and the tune was also featured in the film ''Roller Boogie''.

1980s: Film stardom, musical comeback [link]

In 1980, Cher penned her last disco song for the film ''Foxes'', called "Bad Love." Later in the same year, Cher formed the rock band Black Rose with her then-partner, guitarist Les Dudek, and released the album ''Black Rose''. The album failed to sell, despite an appearance on ''The Merv Griffin Show'', and the band broke up the following year. In 1981, Cher released her first Top 5 hit in UK in ten years: "Dead Ringer for Love", a duet with Meat Loaf for his album ''Dead Ringer''. In 1982, Cher released ''I Paralyze'', promoting it on ''American Bandstand'' and ''Solid Gold'', but with lack of radio support, sales were disappointing.

With album sales and hit singles again at a standstill, Cher decided to expand her career into serious film acting. Her earliest entertainment ambitions had always lain in film, as opposed to music. Her earlier films, like ''Good Times'' and ''Chastity'', had been poorly received. She soon found herself in an uphill battle trying to land credible roles for a woman now in her mid-30s with little acting experience. At the time, she was quoted as saying that she did not really care if she ever made another record. In 1982, Cher landed her first major role in a Broadway production of ''Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean''. That same year, she was cast in the film version, which was directed by Robert Altman and earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She was next cast alongside Meryl Streep and Kurt Russell in the drama ''Silkwood'' (1983) in which she played Streep’s blue-collar lesbian roommate. She received her first Academy Award nomination, as Best Supporting Actress. She also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for her performance.

Cher's next film was a starring role in ''Mask'' in 1985, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film also starred Eric Stoltz, Laura Dern, Estelle Getty and Sam Elliott. It opened at #3 at the box office and was considered her first critical and commercial success as a leading actress. For her role as a mother of a severely disfigured boy, Cher won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. In 1985, Cher was honored with Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Award.

On May 22, 1986, Cher made her first appearance on ''Late Night with David Letterman''. In her pre-interview with the show's producers, Cher had referred to host David Letterman with a derogatory term when asked why she had previously declined to appear on his program. He later confronted her about this on air during their interview, asking why she had refused so many earlier invitations. As she thought of an appropriate answer, he pushed her further saying, "Because you thought..." to which she replied "You were an asshole." She received a mixture of boos and laughter from the audience for the remark; however, Letterman quickly played off the incident as just fun. Cher returned to ''Late Night With David Letterman'' in an appearance on November 13, 1987, this time with ex-husband Sonny Bono, reuniting to sing "I Got You, Babe" for what would be the last time. She has since made multiple appearances on Letterman's CBS show. In 1987, Cher starred in three films. She was cast as Alexandra, the female lead in the dark comedy/fantasy film ''The Witches of Eastwick'' with Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer. She played a lawyer in the thriller ''Suspect'' opposite Dennis Quaid, and starred in the romantic comedy ''Moonstruck'', which co-starred Nicolas Cage and Olympia Dukakis and was directed by Norman Jewison. For her performance as a frumpy bookkeeper in ''Moonstruck'', she won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy, and the People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Star.

In 1987, Cher revived her recording career after a five-year hiatus, under the coordination of rock producer and A&R; man John Kalodner. Now with Geffen Records, Cher released the first of three highly successful rock albums, featuring songwriting contributions from the likes of Diane Warren, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child, Mark Mangold and Michael Bolton. Darlene Love and Bonnie Tyler provided guest vocals. In 1987, she also released her first fragrance, Uninhibited.

In 1989, Cher released the album ''Heart of Stone''. As on her previous album, Michael Bolton, Jon Bon Jovi, Diane Warren and Desmond Child handled songwriting and/or producing duties. The album was originally released with cover artwork featuring Cher sitting in front of a heart made of stone, creating the illusion of a skull. ''Heart of Stone'' would prove to be very successful, having sold 11,000,000 copies worldwide, and certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA. The album's biggest hit came with the rock hymn "If I Could Turn Back Time", which topped the charts in Australia for seven non-consecutive weeks, peaked at #3 in the US, reached #6 in the UK and charted in various other countries around the globe. Further hits from the album were "Just Like Jesse James", "Heart of Stone", and it also contained the hit duet with Peter Cetera, "After All", #6 in US.

The video for "If I Could Turn Back Time" caused controversy, because in it Cher wore a skimpy, see-through net outfit, which revealed a "butterfly" tattoo on her buttocks. Many networks on television, including MTV, initially refused to air the video because of the "partial nudity". MTV network eventually played the video, but only after 9 p.m. Cher launched the Heart of Stone Tour, which played throughout 1989 and 1990 in various parts of the world. She also starred in the television special ''Cher – Live at the Mirage'', which was filmed during a live concert in Las Vegas. In the late 1980s, Cher was considered for the role of the Grand High Witch in a movie adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel ''The Witches'', but the role was eventually given to Anjelica Huston.

1990s: Artistic development, death of Sonny Bono, success of Believe [link]

In 1990, Cher starred in the modest box office success ''Mermaids'' with Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder, and Christina Ricci. The film received many positive reviews from critics. Cher contributed two songs to its soundtrack. "Baby I'm Yours" and the album's second single, "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)", charted low on the US Billboard Hot 100 (at #33), but became a smash hit elsewhere, reaching #1 in the UK, #3 in Germany and France, and #5 in Australia. Around the globe, it became her most successful single to date, selling more than six million copies worldwide. In 1991, Cher completed her Geffen recording contract by releasing the album ''Love Hurts''. This album had a big impact in Europe and in the rest of the world, particularly in the UK where it debuted at #1 and stayed there for six consecutive weeks. Unlike her previous two records, ''Love Hurts'' received less attention in the United States where it was certified gold; in European countries, the album was certified multi-platinum. The European cover of the album was different from the American release, featuring Cher lying on a white background wearing a red wig. The European release also included the worldwide hit "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". The album also sparked another hit single, "Love and Understanding", a number 10 hit in UK as well as the album's only major hit in her native US, entering the Top 20. The follow-ups "Save Up All Your Tears", "Love Hurts", and "Could've Been You" were minor hits in Europe. The album ''Love Hurts'' has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide becoming her 2nd biggest-selling album of her career. In Germany, Cher received the prestigious ECHO award for the most successful female singer of the year. Cher embarked on the Love Hurts Tour throughout 1992. In the same period Cher released two VHS fitness programs, ''Cherfitness: A New Attitude'' and ''Cherfitness: A Body Confidence''. In 1992, the European compilation ''Greatest Hits: 1965-1992'' became a huge success, again peaking at #1 in the United Kingdom for seven non-consecutive weeks, and charting in the Top 10 in several other countries. The album, which contained three newly-recorded tracks ("Oh No Not My Baby", "Many Rivers to Cross" and "Whenever You're Near") was available in the United States only as an import. The album has sold 4.9 million copies world-wide.

In 1992, Cher took some time off, following what was widely reported as a case of Epstein-Barr virus or chronic fatigue syndrome. She made few public appearances during this period with the exception of appearing in a series of infomercials launching hair-care products for her friend Lori Davis, and for the sweetener Equal. Cher made cameo appearances in the Robert Altman films ''The Player'' (1992) and ''Prêt-à-Porter'' (1994). In 1994, she collaborated with MTV's cartoons Beavis and Butt-head for a rock version of Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe". The next year she and Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry and Eric Clapton topped the UK Singles Chart for one week with the charity single "Love Can Build a Bridge". Cher signed with Warner Music U.K.'s label WEA Records and recorded an album, mainly of covers, titled ''It's a Man's World'' released in 1995. The album, according to Jim Bessman from ''Billboard'', "came out of her conceit of covering men's songs from a woman's point of view." Jose F. Promis from ''Allmusic'' described it as "epic and beautiful", noting that "[the album] can safely be labeled as one of the singer's finest" and that it "finds the singer sounding vocally relaxed and self-assured". ''It's a Man's World'' was released in Europe at the end of 1995 and in North America in the summer of 1996. The album sparked two European hits: "Walking in Memphis" and "One by One". Cher starred in ''Faithful'' (1996) with Ryan O'Neal and Chazz Palminteri, and scored a minor comeback when she co-executive-produced and appeared in the highly anticipated, controversial HBO abortion drama ''If These Walls Could Talk,'' with Demi Moore, Sissy Spacek and Anne Heche. Nancy Savoca co-wrote all three segments and directed the first two sections starring Moore and Spacek, but Cher directed and co-starred in the third segment, earning a Golden Globe Nomination as Best Supporting Actress in a made-for-television movie.

Cher was in London in January 1998 when a call from daughter Chastity brought news of Sonny Bono's death in a skiing accident. He was 62. At the time of his death, Bono, by then a popular California Congressman, was married to his fourth wife, Mary Bono. Sonny and Cher had been divorced for nearly 23 years and he was remarried with two more children. However, the two had remained friendly over the years, and she was chosen to deliver Sonny's eulogy at his funeral. In front of a worldwide television audience, she tearfully and effusively praised Bono, calling him "the most unforgettable character I've ever met." Cher paid tribute to Bono in the CBS special ''Sonny and Me: Cher Remembers'' (1998), calling her grief "something I never plan to get over." In 1998, Sonny & Cher received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television. Cher appeared at the event with Mary Bono, who accepted the award on behalf of her late husband.

Cher's 23rd studio album, 1998's Grammy Award-winning ''Believe'' marked an extreme departure for Cher, as the record was a collection of up-tempo dance tracks. The album was a critical and commercial success, reaching the top spot in nearly every country where it was released, including the United States, Germany, Australia and France. ''Believe'' has been certified 4x Platinum in the United States and has sold 20 million copies worldwide. The Grammy Award-winning first single and title track was a worldwide smash, easily becoming the biggest hit of Cher's entire career. By March 1999, the song reached #1 in 23 countries around the world including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Australia. It was the best-selling recording of the year. "Believe" made Cher the oldest woman (at age 52) to have a number one hit in the Hot 100 rock era. It also gave her the distinction of having the longest span of #1 hits (more than 33 years) and the largest gap between number ones (10 days short of 25 years). Cher is also the only female artist to have solo Top 10 hits in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. On the UK Singles Chart, "Believe" claimed the number one slot for seven consecutive weeks, and also became the biggest-selling single ever by a female artist in the United Kingdom. It sold over 10 million copies worldwide. From the album, three other singles were released, with "Strong Enough" becoming a perfect follow-up hit in Europe, peaking at #3 in Germany and France as well as the UK Top Five, but failing to gain equally huge success in North America. "All or Nothing" and "Dov'è l'amore" were also solid hits in Europe, but did not get much attention in her native country.

Cher published her first memoir in late 1998, titled ''The First Time''. Rather than a tell-all, the book was a collection of Cher's most significant "first-time" memories from her childhood, life and Hollywood career. In January 1999, Cher performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" in front of the Super Bowl XXXIII television audience. Cher also performed on the highly rated television special ''VH1 Divas Live 2'', performing alongside contemporaries Tina Turner, Elton John, Chaka Khan, Faith Hill, Mary J. Blige, LeAnn Rimes, Diana Ross, Brandy and Whitney Houston. Later in 1999, Cher co-starred in the well-received Franco Zeffirelli film ''Tea With Mussolini'' (1999) with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Lily Tomlin. In May 1999, Cher was presented with the Lifelong Contribution to the Music Industry Award, at the World Music Awards. Her successful worldwide Do You Believe? Tour travelled throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, with the Emmy-nominated television special ''Cher: Live at the MGM Grand In Las Vegas'' airing by year's end. On November 30, 1999, she released a compilation album ''The Greatest Hits'' that continued to build upon her huge popularity in Europe. The album entered the German Charts at #1 (her second consecutive German No. 1 album) and peaked at #7 on the official UK Albums Chart. This compilation was only released outside the United States, due to the release of the North American only compilation, ''If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits'' which was released that same year. In Germany she again became best selling female artist of the year and was receiving her second ECHO Award (she and Madonna are the only female artists to do so). The Do You Believe? Tour continued throughout 2000 and became her most successful tour to that time.

2000s: Legacy of achievement, Farewell Tour, Las Vegas residency [link]

In 2000, she released an independent alternative-rock album titled ''Not.com.mercial'' (pronounced "not-dot-com-mercial"). This album was written mostly by Cher after attending a songwriting retreat in France in 1994. The album was quickly rejected by record labels for being "not commercial." Cher chose instead to sell the recording exclusively through her website. This marked the first time that Cher had written a majority of the material for one of her albums. In an online review, ''Rolling Stone'' described "Fit To Fly", a Cher-penned track from the album, as "the best Cher song ever." The tune was Cher's tribute to American veterans of war. On November 16, 2000, Cher also made a guest star appearance in the hit NBC TV series Will & Grace in the episode "Gypsies, Tramps and Weed" (Named after Cher's hit ''Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves''). The episode gave the show its second-highest rating ever. Also in 2000, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award, along with the rest of the creators and cast of If These Walls Could Talk, for her work as a director and actor on segment 1996 of If These Walls Could Talk. The Lucy Award recognizes excellence and innovation in creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.

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In February 2002, still in a dance mode, Cher released the highly anticipated follow-up to ''Believe'': ''Living Proof'', which entered the ''Billboard 200'' at number nine, making it her highest-charting album debut to date and extending her album-chart span to an excess of 37 years. It did not repeat the success of ''Believe'', showing no longevity in the charts. Outside the United States, things were little better: in the United Kingdom, France and Australia, ''Living Proof'' failed to reach the Top 40, while charting best in Germany by entering at #13. The album included several re-mixed songs that found their way onto the Hot Dance, Maxi-Single Sales, Club Play and Adult Contemporary charts. The album was eventually certified gold in the United States and Germany, and earned her two Grammy nominations. That year, Cher won the Dance/Club Play Artist of the Year and was presented with a special Artist Achievement Award at the Billboard Music Awards. In May 2002, Cher performed on the VH1 television special ''VH1 Divas Las Vegas'', with Shakira, Celine Dion, The Dixie Chicks, Anastacia, Cyndi Lauper and Mary J. Blige. In June, she announced plans for Living Proof: The Farewell Tour, which she said would be the final live concert tour of her career, though she vowed to continue recording and releasing music.

The show itself was a tribute to her nearly 40 years in show business. It featured vintage performance and video clips from the 1960s onwards, highlighting her successes in music, television, and film, all set amongst an elaborate backdrop and stage set-up, complete with backing band, singers and dancers, including aerial acrobatics. Dates were added, and the tour was extended several times, covering virtually all of the US and Canada (plus three shows in Mexico City), several cities in Europe, as well as the major cities of Australia and New Zealand. Going well past its original cut-off date, it was eventually redubbed the "Never Can Say Goodbye Tour". In April 2003 ''The Very Best of Cher'', a CD collection of all of her greatest hits spanning her entire career, was released. The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 album chart, extending her album chart span to over 38 years. The compilation has been certified double platinum and has sold 3.5 million copies worldwide. In September, Cher signed with Warner Bros. Records after she split with Warner U.K.'s WEA label last year.

She found success on television once again in the spring of 2003 with ''Cher: The Farewell Tour Live'', an NBC special taped on and November 7 and 8, 2002, at Miami's American Airlines Arena and aired in April 2003, attracting 17.3 million viewers. It was the highest-rated network-TV concert special of 2003, and earned Cher an Emmy Award as Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. She released the album ''Live: The Farewell Tour'' later in 2003, a collection of live tracks taken from the tour. She was also seen, as herself, in the Farrelly Brothers comedy ''Stuck on You'' (2003) with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear. In the film, she spoofed her own image, appearing in bed with a high-school boyfriend (Frankie Muniz). Also in 2003, Cher recorded a duet of "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" for Rod Stewart's ''As Time Goes By... The Great American Songbook Volume II'' album.

In February 2004, she received another Grammy Award nomination for Best Dance Recording for her song "Love One Another". During 2004, a Sonny & Cher DVD was released with nine Sonny & Cher shows from the famous Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and The Sonny and Cher Show, featuring some of the best shows during the 1970s. In 2004, Cher released the album ''Gold'', a 2-CD collection of all her greatest hits, spanning from her days as one-half of Sonny & Cher to her ''Living Proof'' era. It was only a year following the release of her multi-platinum ''The Very Best of Cher'' album, though Allmusic nevertheless gave it four and a half out of five stars. Cher closed the farewell tour in April 2005 at the Hollywood Bowl. It was the most successful tour by a single female solo artist at that time.

Cher returned to the stage on May 6, 2008, beginning a $60 million-dollar, 200-performance, three-year residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The show ran until February 5, 2011. It featured eighteen dancers, four aerialists and multiple costumes designed by Bob Mackie. In a review of the show, ''Los Angeles Times'' fashion critic Booth Moore wrote that "[...] they don't make style icons like Cher anymore. From the beginning of her career, [...] she understood that cultivating a look was as important as cultivating a sound. Unlike today's stars, Cher wasn't a billboard for sale to the highest bidder. She was the world's Barbie doll, a living fashion fantasy week after week on TV, who landed simultaneously on best- and worst-dressed lists. Love her or hate her, she always keeps us guessing." In November, 2008, while promoting her Las Vegas residency on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'', she spoke of an as-yet incomplete movie project called ''The Drop-Out'' and voiced her support for Barack Obama's candidacy for president.

2010s: Film comeback, 26th studio album [link]

Cher returned to the big screen in the November 2010 musical, ''Burlesque''. She recorded two new songs for the picture, "Welcome to Burlesque" and the Diane Warren-written ballad "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me". The latter won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and become a number one hit on the US dance charts. This made her the only female performer to achieve a number one on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades. On November 18, 2010, Cher was immortalized by placing her handprints and footprints in cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. In December 2010, Cher was honored with Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. She also lent her voice to the 2011 comedy ''Zookeeper''.

As of 2011, Cher is recording her first studio album since ''Living Proof'' in 2001. She is recording a "hardcore dance" album. One of Lady Gaga's unreleased songs will be re-recorded by Cher, and Lady Gaga as the featured artist. and produced by RedOne. The album also includes a song entitled "Red", and in the wake of false rumours of the star's death, Cher joked she would ask long-time collaborator Diane Warren to write a song for the album entitled "RIP". In February 2012, Cher announced via Twitter that she would embark on a tour in September 2012. She also tweeted that she had seen the sets for the show, and that "the whole set/look changes 4 (for) every song". She also indicated that the tour would start in Kansas, marking her first tour since her Farewell Tour ended in 2005.

Personal life [link]

Relationships [link]

Cher had a relationship with actor Warren Beatty in the early 1960s. Sonny Bono and Cher first met in 1962. They said they were married as early as 1963, and they had a wedding ceremony in Tijuana, Mexico on October 27, 1964. Their only child is Chaz Bono, previously named Chastity Bono, born on March 4, 1969. After 13 years together, Sonny and Cher divorced on June 27, 1975. The divorce resulted in the cancellation of ''The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour''.

Later that year Cher married rock and blues musician Gregg Allman. Their son Elijah Blue Allman (of the band Deadsy) was born on July 10, 1976. They separated after two years and finalized their divorce in 1979. Between Bono and Allman, Cher revealed that she had a fling with Elvis Presley while they were performing in Las Vegas, but rejected him when he asked her up to his room because she was nervous about spending the night with him. In February 2008, Cher stated on ''Good Morning America'' that she deeply regrets turning him down. In the interview, she also said she had been asked out by Marlon Brando during a plane ride. Cher was also involved with record executive David Geffen, KISS co-founder Gene Simmons, and senior account manager Garreth Crawford. Throughout the 1980s, Cher dated several younger men including actors Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, film producer Josh Donen, and Rob Camilletti, the 22-year-old bagel baker whom she met on her 40th birthday and lived with for three years.

Cher was involved with Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora for two years in the early 1990s, and was also linked to musicians Eric Clapton and Mark Hudson and actor Ray Liotta. In 2009, Cher dated 38 year-old biker Tim Medvetz. As of 2010, Cher is dating the American comedy writer Ron Zimmerman. They were first seen together in public in August 2010, having been dating for around six months.

Plastic surgery [link]

Cher's youthful-looking appearance has long been the subject of intense scrutiny, both by the public and the tabloid press. In the late 1990s, the ''National Enquirer'' published a series of photographs of Cher taken over a 20-year period, and had a doctor pointing out various surgical procedures done to her face during the time. The plastic surgeon pointed out evidence of surgical implants and other surgeries, including collagen applied to enhance her lips, facelifts to reduce wrinkles, skin peels to provide "younger"-looking skin, and an all over body lift. According to ''Up Against Foucault: Explorations of Some Tensions Between Foucault and Feminism'' author Caroline Ramazanoglu, "Cher's operations have gradually replaced a strong, decidedly 'ethnic' look with a more symmetrical, delicate, 'conventional' (i.e. Anglo-Saxon) and ever-youthful version of female beauty. Cher admits to having had her breasts 'done', her nose bobbed and her teeth straightened; reportedly she has also had a rib removed, her buttocks re-shaped, and cheek implants. [...] Her normalised image [...] now acts as a standard against which other women will measure, judge, discipline and 'correct' themselves." Cher denies most of the rumors about her plastic surgery, and stated: "If I'd had as much plastic surgery as they [say], you know, like I've got ass implants and calf implants and cheek implants. I've had the same cheeks my entire life. No butt lifts. No ribs removed. [...] If I want to put my tits on my back, it's nobody's business but my own."

Tattoos [link]

Cher became famous for her many tattoos, long before they were fashionable among women in Hollywood. Body art specialist Rae Schwarz says that "if you mentioned women and tattoos at that time [early 1980s], that [Cher] was what came to people's minds." According to the site ''Vanishing Tattoo'', "Cher was one of the first celebrities to openly and enthusiastically embrace tattoos and body art, and with her outrageous sense of style and fashion, she played a pivotal role in the acceptance of tattoos within mainstream popular culture. [...] Her influence can be seen in the first supermodels that got tattoos[.]" Among her tattoos were a large butterfly and floral design on her buttocks, a flowing necklace on her left upper arm with three charms hanging on it: an Egyptian ankh, a cross and a heart, a kanji on her right shoulder (力, meaning 'power'); a small cluster of Art Deco crystals on her inner right arm; a black orchid design just above the crease of her right thigh; and a chrysanthemum on her left ankle.

Media reports in recent years have indicated that Cher has since committed to having most of her tattoos removed, and the process has apparently been under way. Some pictures from her most recent concert tour have shown blank skin where some of the smaller tattoos once were. "When I got tattooed," she explains, "only bad girls did it: me and Janis Joplin and biker chicks. Now it doesn't mean anything. No one's surprised. I got a tattoo right after I left Sonny (Bono) and I was feeling real independent. That was my badge."

Personal wealth [link]

Cher owns several pieces of real estate, including homes in Aspen, Colorado, US, and London, UK, and maintains a home in Malibu, California, US, which she listed for sale in 2008 at $45 million. In April 2006, it was reported that Cher had purchased a condominium in the Sierra Towers in West Hollywood, California, for $3.5 million. In 2002 her personal wealth was reported to be estimated at $600m (£315m).

In July 2006, it was announced that Cher, in conjunction with Sotheby's and Julien's Auctions, was planning to auction about 800 of her personal possessions from her Italian Renaissance-themed Malibu estate, including numerous antiques, art collectibles, paintings, career memorabilia, furniture (including her bed) as well as numerous pieces of jewelry, clothing, stage costumes, gowns, a 2003 Hummer H2 and her 2005 Bentley. The event, which took place October 3–5, 2006, in Beverly Hills, California, raised $3.3 million. Cher had said a large percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Cher Charitable Foundation. Cher reportedly received $180 million for mounting her comeback at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

As a gay icon [link]

The reverence held for Cher by members of the gay community has been attributed to her accomplishments in her career, her sense of style and her longevity. Alec Mapa of ''The Advocate'' elaborates: "While the rest of us were sleeping, Cher's been out there for the last four decades living out every single one of our childhood fantasies... Cher embodies an unapologetic freedom and fearlessness that some of us can only aspire to." Cher has often been imitated by drag queens. Thomas Rogers of ''Salon'' magazine commented that "[d]rag queens imitate women like Judy Garland, Dolly Parton and Cher because they overcame insult and hardship on their path to success, and because their narratives mirror the pain that many gay men suffer on their way out of the closet." Cher's performance as a lesbian in the film ''Silkwood'' as well as her transition to dance music and social activism in recent years has further contributed to her becoming a gay icon.

Her oldest child, now Chaz Bono (born Chastity Bono), first came out as a lesbian at the age of seventeen, which caused Cher feelings of "guilt, fear and pain". However, Cher soon came to accept Chaz's sexual orientation, and came to the conclusion that LGBT people "didn't have the same rights as everyone else, [and she] thought that was unfair". She was the keynote speaker for the 1997 national Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) convention. Cher has since become one of the gay community's most vocal advocates. As of June 11, 2009, Chaz Bono came out as a transgender individual, and his transition to male was legally finalized on May 6, 2010.

In 1998, Cher was honored with a GLAAD Media Award (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and in November 1999, ''The Advocate'' named Cher as one of the '25 Coolest Women'. In October 2005 the Bravo program ''Great Things About Being...'' declared Cher "the number one greatest thing about being gay." William J. Mann, author of ''Gay Pride: A Celebration of All Things Gay and Lesbian,'' comments "[w]e'll be dancing to a ninety-year-old Cher when we're sixty. Just watch", and in a 2007 'Top Ten Gay Icons', formed by Digital Spy, it was stated that: "US comedian Jimmy James was spot-on when he quipped: "After a nuclear holocaust, all that will be left are cockroaches and Cher"." The NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'' acknowledged her status by making her the idol of gay character Jack McFarland. Cher guest-starred as herself twice on the sitcom, in 2000 and 2002. She also remarked that she watches C-SPAN every day. Though she simply identified herself as an unnamed entertainer with the USO, she was recognized by the C-SPAN host, who subsequently questioned her about her 1992 support for independent presidential candidate Ross Perot.

Back from her last tour in Europe, Cher declared that Europeans had a very bad image of Americans, mostly because of the Bush administration. "[Europeans] see us as the real terrorists since this stupid war in Iraq and because of all the innocent civilians that were killed within the first [...]somehow they're right." She shared the stage with Muhammad Muhammad in N.Y.C, an American actor who used to tell stories about the changes in American Muslims' lives since 9/11. On Memorial Day weekend in 2006, Cher called in again, endorsing Operation Helmet, an organization started by a doctor that provides helmet upgrade kits free of charge to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to those ordered to deploy in the near future. She identified herself as a caller from Malibu, California, and proceeded to complain about the then current presidential administration. She read aloud a letter from a soldier on the ground in Iraq, praising Operation Helmet's efforts, and decrying the lack of protection afforded by the military's provisions for troops.

Cher appeared on ''The Ed Schultz Show'' in May 2006 to discuss her work in support of US troops fighting abroad, as well as returning veterans. Schultz noted her involvement with both Operation Helmet and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which is constructing an advanced training skills facility at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. The center will serve military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those severely injured in other operations, as well as in the normal performance of their duties, combat and non-combat related. During the interview with Schultz, Cher again said she is an independent. Her comments about the then current political scene in the US led him to interject, "You're fed up with everybody", to which she replied, "I really am. I couldn't be a Republican 'cause I think I believe in too many services for poor people, but I'm fed up with the Democrats. I just think...you're gonna find all their spines where you find the elephant's graveyard."

Toward the end of the interview, Schultz asked Cher what she thinks about today's protest songs. She responded, "You know, I think it's the duty of artists to say what they want, in favor or in opposition. Unfortunately, I think that, with [the Bush administration], you haven't been able to really voice any opposition because of 9/11, if you say anything opposed to the administration, somehow they've been able to wrap themselves in the flag, so that if you have any opposing viewpoint, you're unpatriotic." She was about to offer her thoughts on this, but stopped, saying, "I don't know what you can say on your program, so I won't talk the way I normally talk. I don't like it...it rubs me the wrong way. And if I could say all those seven words," referring to George Carlin's Seven dirty words routine about profane language, "that's what I'd be saying." Cher supported Hillary Clinton in her Presidential campaign, as she noted on ''Entertainment Tonight'' in February 2008. Clinton, in return, said she was thrilled to have Cher's support. After Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, Cher supported his candidacy on radio and TV programs, including a November 3 appearance on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show''. Cher is still involved with Operation Helmet, and appeared with Dr. Bob Meaders (founder of Operation Helmet) on C-SPAN again on June 14, 2006. She then appeared with him on Capitol Hill on June 15, 2006. It has been reported that Cher has so far donated over US$130,000 to Operation Helmet.

Religion [link]

"I've played around with Buddhism for years," Cher said in 2010. "As corny as it sounds, the soul of the universe, everything that I need, I can find in its practice." She is a devotee of Pema Chödrön, an American Buddhist nun who she calls "a genius in Sheldon Leonard’s body".

Humanitarian work [link]

Cher has been involved with many humanitarian groups and charity efforts over the years. After appearing in the movie ''Mask,'' she served as National Chairperson and Honorary Spokesperson of the Children’s Craniofacial Association. Over the years while touring, she frequently donated concert tickets to families and non-profit groups for children and youth with facial deformities. In 1998, she co-hosted the annual Amfar AIDS Benefit at the Cannes Film Festival with Elizabeth Taylor. She is also the namesake of the Cher Charitable Foundation, which donates funds to various charities and causes close to her heart. In 1993, Cher participated in a humanitarian effort to Armenia (her father was the child of Armenian refugees), bringing much needed food and medical supplies.

Legacy [link]

In her early career Cher was a fashion trend-setter, popularizing long straight hair, bell-bottoms and an exposed midriff. She is noted as being the first woman to expose her bellybutton on television. Through her 1970s television shows she became a sex symbol and pushed the censors with her revealing outfits and creative ensembles, frequently designed by Bob Mackie. In 1989 she boarded the U.S. Navy's USS ''Missouri'' in thong and fishnets for the "If I Could Turn Back Time" music video, becoming one of the first videos by a mainstream pop artist to be banned by MTV (after the video was banned, it grew to mass popularity, causing MTV to play the video, though after 9 p.m.). In July 1999, Cher ranked 43rd on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll poll and in September 2002 ranked 26th on VH1’s 100 Sexiest Artists. She has appeared on the cover of ''People'' magazine 13 times. In a 2007 poll, A&E;'s ''Biography'' magazine ranked her as the third favorite actress of all time behind two of her Hollywood idols, Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn.

She has inspired many celebrities who have noted her as being a major influence on them, such as Beyoncé Knowles, Britney Spears, Tracy Chapman, Christina Aguilera, Oprah Winfrey, Cyndi Lauper, Gene Simmons, Meryl Streep, Anastacia, Rosie O'Donnell, Céline Dion, Gloria Estefan and Lady Gaga.

Discography [link]

''All I Really Want to Do'' (1965)

''The Sonny Side of Chér'' (1966)

''Chér'' (1966)

''With Love, Chér'' (1967)

''Backstage'' (1968)

''3614 Jackson Highway'' (1969)

''Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves'' (1971)

''Foxy Lady'' (1972)

''Bittersweet White Light'' (1973)

''Half-Breed'' (1973)

''Dark Lady'' (1974)

''Stars'' (1975)

''I'd Rather Believe in You'' (1976)

''Cherished'' (1977)

''Take Me Home'' (1979)

''Prisoner'' (1979)

''Black Rose'' (1980)

''I Paralyze'' (1982)

''Cher'' (1987)

''Heart of Stone'' (1989)

''Love Hurts'' (1991)

''It's a Man's World'' (1995)

''Believe'' (1998)

''Not.com.mercial'' (2000)

''Living Proof'' (2001)

Bibliography [link]

''Cher: Forever Fit – The Lifetime Plan for Health, Fitness and Beauty'' (1992)

''Cooking for Cher'' by Andrew Ennis (1997) – Cher is credited with writing the foreword

''The First Time'' with Jeff Coplon (1999)

''Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids'' by Kip Fulbeck (2010) – Cher is credited with writing the afterword

Filmography [link]

+ Film
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes	! Gross Revenue
1965	''Wild on the Beach''	Herself	Cameo appearance	?
1967		Herself/various characters		?
1969		Chastity		?
1982		Sissy	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated—Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress	$2,276,900 (adjusted)
1983	''Silkwood''	Dolly Pelliker	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role	$85,155,600 (adjusted)
1985		Florence 'Rusty' Dennis		$108,144,200 (adjusted)
1987		Kathleen Riley		$38,237,300 (adjusted)
1987	''''	Alexandra Medford		$129,816,200 (adjusted)
1987	''Moonstruck''	Loretta Castorini	Academy Award for Best ActressDavid di Donatello Awards – Best Foreign ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyItalian National Syndicate of Film Journalists – Best Actress – Foreign FilmKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actress	$156,239,800 (adjusted)
1990		Rachel Flax		$66,877,900 (adjusted)
1992	''''	Herself	Cameo appearance	$41,633,900 (adjusted)
1994		Herself	Cameo appearance	$20,967,000 (adjusted)
1996		Margaret		$3,789,900 (adjusted)
1999	''Tea with Mussolini''	Elsa Morganthal Strauss-Armistan		$22,566,200 (adjusted)
2003		Herself/Honey		$65,800,000 (unadjusted)
2010		Tess	Satellite Award for Best Original Song Shared with Diane Warren (lyrics) for the song "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me")Nominated—Critics' Choice Award for Best Song Shared with Diane Warren (lyrics) for the song "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me"Nominated—World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film Shared with Diane Warren (lyrics) for the song "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me"Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress	$89,500,000 (unadjusted)
2011		Janet the Lioness	voice-over role	$169,900,000 (unadjusted)

+ Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1967	''''	Ramona	Episode—"The Hot Number Affair"
1968
1970	''''	Herself — co-host
1971–1974	''''	Herself/various characters	Golden Globe Award — Best TV Actress — Musical/Comedy Tied with Jean Stapleton for ''All in the Family''Nominated—Emmy Award — Outstanding Single Program – Variety or Musical For episode on January 31, 1972Nominated—Emmy Award — Outstanding Variety Musical Series (1972, 1973, 1974)
1972	''The New Scooby-Doo Movies''	Herself	Voice in the episode "The Secret of Shark Island"
1975–1976	''''	Herself — host	Nominated—Emmy Award — Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series
1976–1977	''''	Herself — co-host
1978	''Cher... Special''	Herself
1979	''Cher... and Other Fantasies''	Herself
1983	''Cher: A Celebration at Caesars''	Herself	CableACE Award — Actress in a Variety Program
1990	''Cher Extravaganza: Live at the Mirage''	Herself
1996	''If These Walls Could Talk''	Dr. Beth Thompson	also director (segment "1996")Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television FilmNominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1998	''Sonny & Me: Cher Remembers''	Herself
1999		Performer
1999	''Cher: Live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas''	Herself	Nominated—Emmy Award — Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program
2000	''Will & Grace''	Herself	Episode—"Gypsies, Tramps and Weed"
2002		Herself/performer
2002	''Will & Grace''	Herself (as God)	Episode—"A.I.: Artificial Insemination"
2003		Herself	Emmy Award — Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special

Awards and nominations [link]

See also [link]

Honorific nicknames in popular music

List of unreleased Cher songs

List of best-selling music artists

List of best-selling music artists in the United States

Mononymous person

Notes [link]

External links [link]

Official Website

"The Films of Cher", video compilation of film clips, 4 minutes

Warner Bros. Records

Children's Craniofacial Association (CCA). National Spokesperson: Cher

Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:GLAAD Media Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Warner Bros. Records artists Category:Imperial Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Geffen Records artists Category:MCA Records artists Category:Female rock singers Category:American pop rock singers Category:American female pop singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American contraltos Category:American house musicians Category:American disco musicians Category:American dance musicians Category:American record producers

Category:American film actors Category:American television actors

Category:American musicians of Armenian descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of French descent Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:Actors from California Category:American adoptees Category:California Democrats Category:People from El Centro, California Category:People from Imperial County, California Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Sonny & Cher

af:Cher ar:شير an:Cher az:Şer (müğənni) be:Шэр be-x-old:Шэр bg:Шер bs:Cher ca:Cher (cantant) cs:Cher cy:Cher (cantores) da:Cher de:Cher (Künstlerin) et:Cher el:Σερ es:Cher eo:Cher (kantistino) eu:Cher (abeslaria) fa:شر (خواننده) fr:Cher (artiste) fy:Cher ga:Cher gl:Cher ko:셰어 (가수) hy:Շեր hr:Cher io:Cher id:Cher it:Cher (cantante) he:שר (זמרת) ka:შერი kk:Шер la:Cher lv:Šēra lt:Cher li:Cher (zangeres) lmo:Cher (dipartiment) hu:Cher mk:Шер nl:Cher (zangeres) ja:シェール no:Cher nn:Artisten Cher uz:Cher pl:Cher pt:Cher ro:Cher ru:Шер scn:Cher simple:Cher sk:Cher (speváčka) sl:Cher (umetnica) sr:Шер (пјевачица) sh:Cher fi:Cher sv:Cher tl:Cher th:แชร์ (นักร้อง) tg:Шер (овозxон) tr:Cher uk:Шер (співачка) vi:Cher yo:Cher zh:雪兒

name	Joan Rivers
birth name	Joan Alexandra Molinsky
birth date	June 08, 1933
birth place	Brooklyn, New York City New York, U.S.
active	1950–present
occupation	ActressComedianTelevision personality
spouse	James Sanger (1955)Edgar Rosenberg (1965–1987; his death)| website
medium	Stand-up, television, film
nationality	American
notable work	}}

Joan Alexandra Molinsky (born June 8, 1933), better known by her stage name Joan Rivers, is an American television personality, comedian, and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries. Rivers' comic style relies heavily on her ability to poke fun at herself and other Hollywood celebrities.

Early life[link]

Joan Rivers was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman; January 6, 1906 – October 1975) and Meyer C. Molinsky (December 7, 1900 – January 1985). She was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and her family later moved to Larchmont, in Westchester County, New York. She attended Connecticut College between 1950 and 1952 and graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a bachelor-of-arts degree in English literature and anthropology. Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and as a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, the agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short-run play, ''Driftwood'', playing a lesbian with a crush on a character played by a then-unknown Barbra Streisand. The play ran for six weeks. In 1961, Rivers briefly performed on stage in Chicago at The Second City comedy club. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End and The Gaslight Cafe, before making her first appearances as a guest on the TV program ''The Tonight Show'' originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar.

By 1965, Rivers had a stint on ''Candid Camera'' as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. She also made her first appearance on ''The Tonight Show'' with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. During the same decade, Rivers made other appearances on ''The Tonight Show'' as well as ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', while hosting the first of several talk shows. She had a brief role in ''The Swimmer'' (1968), starring Burt Lancaster. A year later, she had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, ''The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album'' and ''Joan Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories''.

By the 1970s, Rivers was appearing on various television comedy and variety shows, including ''The Carol Burnett Show'' and a semi-regular stint on ''Hollywood Squares''. From 1972 to 1976, she narrated ''The Adventures of Letterman'', an animated segment for ''The Electric Company''. In 1973, Rivers wrote the TV movie ''The Girl Most Likely to...'', a black comedy starring Stockard Channing. In 1978, Rivers wrote and directed the film ''Rabbit Test'', starring her friend Billy Crystal. During the same decade, she was the opening act for singer Helen Reddy on the Las Vegas Strip. In July 1970, Joan performed as the opening act for Sergio Franchi during an acclaimed appearance at the Mill Run Theater in Chicago. Joan also was the opening act for Sergio Franchi (three year contract) at the MGM Grand Hotel from 1974-1976. Joan became a Las Vegas Strip headliner herself in the 1980s.

1980s–1990s[link]

Rivers has spoken of her primary ''Tonight Show'' life as having been Johnny Carson's daughter, a reference to his longtime mentoring of her and, during the 1980s, establishing her as his regular guest host by August 1983. It was not her only work, however. On April 9, 1983, she hosted ''Saturday Night Live''. In the same period, she released a best-selling comedy album on Geffen Records, ''What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?'' The album reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.

Also in 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, ''The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz'', a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called ''Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz'', was not successful with the public.

The decade was controversial for Rivers. She sued female impersonator Frank Marino for $5,000,000 in 1986, after discovering he was using her real stand-up material in the impersonation of her that he included in his popular Las Vegas act. The two comics reconciled, even appearing together on television in later years.

Also in 1986 came the move that cost Rivers her longtime friendship with Carson, who had first hired her as a ''Tonight Show'' writer. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, ''The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers''. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson claimed he learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers herself. In 2008, during an interview with Dr. Pamela Connolly on television's ''Shrink Rap'', Rivers claimed she did call Carson, but he hung up on her at once and repeated the gesture when she called again.

''The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers'' turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both. On May 15, 1987, three months later, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (''The Late Show'') and rotating guest hosts.

A year after the ''Late Show'' debacle, Rivers was a guest on TV's ''Pee-Wee's Playhouse'' Christmas Special. By 1989, she tried another daytime TV talk show, ''The Joan Rivers Show'', which ran for five years and won her an Emmy in 1990 for outstanding talk show host.

In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards. Beginning in 1995, they hosted the annual E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Academy Awards. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City.

Rivers also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986-89 version of ''The Hollywood Squares'', hosted by John Davidson.

2000–present[link]

By 2003, Rivers had left her E! red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued between $6–8 million) to cover award-show red-carpet shows for the TV Guide Channel.

Rivers appeared in three episodes of the TV show ''Nip/Tuck'' during its second, third and seventh season playing herself. Rivers appears regularly on television's The Shopping Channel (in Canada) and QVC (in both the United States and the UK), promoting her own line of jewelry under brand name "The Joan Rivers Collection". She was also a guest speaker at the opening of the ''American Operating Room Nurses' 2000 San Francisco Conference''. Both Joan and Melissa Rivers are frequent guests on Howard Stern's radio show, and Joan Rivers often appears as a guest on UK panel show ''8 out of 10 Cats''.

Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.

In 2006, Rivers was featured on the adult animated show, Drawn Together as Princess Clara's vagina that had received too much plastic surgery. Clara's 'vajoana' often repeated the phrase "who are you wearing, who are you wearing?".

On August 16, 2007, Rivers began a two-week workshop of her new play, with the working title "The Joan Rivers Theatre Project," at The Magic Theatre in San Francisco. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed in the Royal Variety Show 2007 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present.

In January 2008, Rivers became one of 20 hijackers to take control of the Big Brother house in the UK for one day in spin-off TV show ''Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack''. On June 24, 2008, Rivers appeared on NBC-TV’s show ''Celebrity Family Feud'' and competed with her daughter, Melissa against Ice-T and Coco.

Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants in 2009 on the second ''Celebrity Apprentice''. Throughout the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse G. James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Joan was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.

Rivers was featured on the show ''Z Rock'' as herself and was also a special so-called pink-carpet presenter for the 2009 broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. She was also roasted in a Comedy Central special, taped on July 26, 2009, and aired on August 9, 2009. From August 2009, Joan began starring in the new reality TV series ''How'd You Get So Rich?'' on TV Land. A documentary film about Rivers, ''Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work'', premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theatre on May 6, 2010.

In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV.

Joan and her daughter Melissa Rivers premiered the new show ''Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best'' on WE tv. The series follows Joan moving to California to be closer to her family. She moves in with daughter Melissa while searching for a home of her own. It was recently revealed that WE TV has ordered a new season consisting of 10 episodes premiering in January 2012.

In 2011, Rivers was featured as herself in Season 2 of Louis C.K.'s self-entitled show ''Louie'', where she performed on-stage.

Personal life[link]

Rivers' first marriage was in 1955 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding. Her second marriage was on July 15, 1965 to Edgar Rosenberg, who committed suicide in 1987. Their only child, Melissa Warburg Rosenberg (now known as Melissa Rivers), was born on January 20, 1968. She has one grandson, Melissa's son Cooper (born Edgar Cooper Endicott on December 1, 2000) who is featured with his mother and grandmother in the WE tv series ''Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?''

In her book, ''Bouncing Back'' (1997), she described how she developed bulimia and contemplated suicide. Eventually, she recovered with counseling and the support of her family.

In 2002, Rivers told the ''Montreal Mirror'' that she was a Republican.

Rivers is open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and has been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. Her first procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 as an attempt to further her career.

Awards [link]

In 1990, Rivers won the Daytime Emmy Award (a TV citation) for Outstanding Talk Show Host. The same year, a star in her name was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Books [link]

''Having a Baby Can Be a Scream'' (1974, Self-Help/Humour)

''The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abromowitz'' (1984, Humour)

''Enter Talking'' (1986, Autobiography)

''Still Talking'' (1991, Autobiography)

''Jewelry by Joan Rivers'' (1995, Non-Fiction)

''Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too!'' (1997, Autobiography/Self-Help)

''From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage'' (1998, Self-Help)

''Don’t Count the Candles: Just keep the Fire Lit!'' (1999, Self-Help)

''Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery'' (2008, Non-Fiction)

''Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery'' (2009, Fiction)

''I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me'' (2012, Humour)

Filmography[link]

''Once Upon a Coffee House'' (1965)

''The Swimmer'' (1968)

''Rabbit Test'' (1978) (also director and writer)

''Uncle Scam'' (1981)

''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' (1984)

''Les Patterson Saves the World'' (1987)

''Spaceballs'' (1987) (voice)

''Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special'' (1988)

''Look Who's Talking'' (1989) (voice)

''Public Enemy # 2'' (1993)

''Serial Mom'' (1994)

''Napoleon'' (1995) (voice)

''Goosed'' (1999)

''The Intern'' (2000)

''Whispers: An Elephant's Tale'' (2000) (voice)

''The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family''' (2002) (documentary)

''Hip! Edgy! Quirky!'' (2002)

''Shrek 2'' (2004) (voice)

''First Daughter'' (2004)

''The Last Guy on Earth'' (2007)

''Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work'' (2010) (documentary)

''Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'' (2010) (uncredited)

''The Smurfs'' (2011) (uncredited)

''Tower Heist'' (2011) (uncredited)

Television work[link]

''That Show'' starring Joan Rivers (1968–69) (syndicated daytime talk show)

''The Electric Company'' (cast member from 1972–1977) (voice)

''Here's Lucy'' (1973)

''An Audience with Joan Rivers'' (1984)

''Joan Rivers: Can We Talk?'' (1986)

''The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers'' (host from 1986–1987)

''The New Hollywood Squares'' hosted by John Davidson (center square from 1988–1989)

''The Joan Rivers Show'' (1989–1993)

''How to Murder a Millionaire'' (1990)

''Lady Boss'' (1992)

''Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story'' (1994)

''Can We Shop?'' (1995–present)

''Another World'' (cast member in 1997)

''E! True Hollywood Story: Joan Rivers'' (parody episode of show aired April 1, 2001)

''Jack Dee Live at the Apollo'' (cast member in 2004, guest host in 2007)

''Nip/Tuck'' (2004–2005–2010)

''The Joan Rivers Position'' (2004–2006)

''An Audience with Joan Rivers'' (2006)

''8 out of 10 Cats'' (2006–2007)

''Joan Rivers: Before Melissa Pulls the Plug'' (2006)

''Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy'' (in-depth interview BBC 2006)

''The Graham Norton Show'' (2007)

''Straight Talk'' (2007)

''Shrink Rap'' (2008) – With Dr. Pamela Connolly – More4

''Celebrity Family Feud'' (2008)

''Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack'' (Celebrity Hijacker) (2008)

''Loose Women'' (2008)

''The Graham Norton Show'' (2008)

''Z Rock'' (2008) – Aunt Joan

''Spaceballs: The Animated Series'' (2008) (voice)

''Arthur'' (2008, 2010) (voice) – Bubby (Francine's Grandmother)

''Celebrity Apprentice'' (2009) – Herself

''How'd You Get So Rich?'' (2009) – Herself

''The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers'' (2009) – Herself

''Celebrity Ghost Stories'' (2009) – Herself

''The Graham Norton Show'' (December 31, 2009)

''Celebrity Apprentice 3'' (March 14, 2010)

''Fashion Police'' (September 10, 2010 – present)

''The Graham Norton Show'' (November 5, 2010)

''Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best'' (January 25, 2011 – present)

''Louie'' S02E04 – Joan (July 14, 2011) – Herself

''The Simpsons'' S23E08 – "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" (December 4, 2011) (voice) – Annie Dubinsky

Theater work[link]

The following is a selected list of theater work performed by Rivers.

''Broadway Bound'' by Neil Simon (replacement for Kate, 1988, Broadhurst Theatre)

''Sally Marr and Her Escorts'', a play suggested by the life of Lenny Bruce's mother (co-written with Erin Ladd Sanders and Lonny Price), May 1994, Helen Hayes Theatre, Broadway.

''Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress'' (February 2008, Geffen Playhouse)

''Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress'' (August 2008, Edinburgh Festival Fringe)

''Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress'' (September 2008, Leicester Square Theatre, London)

References[link]

External links[link]

Official website

E! Entertainment Bio

''BroadwayWorld.com'' interview with Joan Rivers, February 19, 2009

Category:1933 births Category:Actors from New York City Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American soap opera actors Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American vegetarians Category:American voice actors Category:Barnard College alumni Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Edinburgh Comedy Festival Category:Female film directors Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians Category:Living people Category:New York Republicans Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Second City alumni Category:The Apprentice (U.S. TV series) contestants Category:The Apprentice winners Category:Women comedians

cy:Joan Rivers de:Joan Rivers es:Joan Rivers fr:Joan Rivers hy:Ջոն Ռիվրզ it:Joan Rivers he:ג'ואן ריברס nl:Joan Rivers pl:Joan Rivers pt:Joan Rivers ru:Риверз, Джоан simple:Joan Rivers sv:Joan Rivers

name	Holly Throsby
background	solo_singer
birth name	Holly Sarah Throsby
birth date	December 28, 1978
origin	Sydney, Australia
instrument	guitar, piano.
genre	Folk, indie folk, indie pop
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	2004–present
label	Spunk Records
website	hollythrosby.com
notable instruments	}}

Holly Throsby (born 28 December 1978) is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and pianist from Sydney, Australia. Throsby was nominated for an Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) 'Best Female Artist' Award in 2006 for ''Under the Town'' and in the same category in 2008 for ''A Loud Call''.

Career [link]

Holly Throsby was raised in Sydney, Australia and began studying guitar at the age of 8. She is the daughter of the renowned ABC Classic FM radio presenter Margaret Throsby. Her uncle is the noted cultural economist, David Throsby, and her grandmother was a cellist in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As a child, Throsby was encouraged in her musical pursuits. She studied classical guitar techniques and began composing from the age of 11. After earning a B.A. degree (majoring in English) from the University of Sydney, Throsby worked in an art house video store and travelled extensively before recording her debut LP, ''On Night''.

Recorded with experimental producer Tony Dupe at his cottage on Saddleback Mountain on the NSW south coast in 2003, ''On Night'' was noted for its lyrical sophistication, emotional resonance and bare, unadorned production (native bird calls, frogs and barking dogs can be heard throughout). It was released by the influential indie label Spunk Records in 2004 and received critical praise in Australia and abroad. Throsby soon found herself touring with the likes of Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Joanna Newsom, Smog, M. Ward and Devendra Banhart.

In 2006, Throsby released her second LP, ''Under the Town'', again produced by Dupe and featuring a larger group of accompanying musicians. Retaining the literate warmth of the debut, ''Under the Town'' was again lauded by critics and Throsby was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Female Artist.

Throsby's third album, "A Loud Call", was recorded in Nashville by Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Andrew Bird) with string and horn arrangements recorded in the Kangaroo Valley, NSW, by Dupe. Featuring guest vocals by Will Oldham a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and guest musicians from Lambchop and Silver Jews, "A Loud Call" was hailed by the Australian and the British press as Throsby's strongest work. On 10 September she was nominated for the second time for ARIA Award's "Best Female Artist".

In October 2010 Throsby released an album of original children's songs called "See!". Billed as an alternative "black sheep" children's album, "See!" features special guest cameos by Darren Hanlon, J. Walker, Jack Ladder & Margaret Throsby. It was released through ABC Music.

In 2011, Throsby released her fifth album, "Team". Recorded in a 19th Century church with Dupe, "Team" received a slew of four star reviews in the Australian & British press (The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Times) and was lauded as Throsby's most experimental album, eschewing traditional song structure for layered, intersecting vocals expressing varying points of view around the subject of a relationship breakdown.

In June 2011, the debut album by Seeker Lover Keeper was released - a band comprising Throsby, Sarah Blasko and Sally Seltmann. The album, which was recorded in New York with engineer Victor Van Vugt (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave) and Dirty Three drummer Jim White, debuted at #3 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Seeker Lover Keeper completed a national sold-out tour in July, 2011.

Other projects [link]

In addition to recording, Throsby has written and illustrated two comic books which act as companion pieces to her albums.

Throsby, along with Sarah Blasko and Sally Seltmann is a member of the band Seeker Lover Keeper.

Trivia [link]

Throsby's song "A Heart Divided" is featured on an international TV and cinema campaign for Tourism Victoria, filmed in Australia and Finland. The ad was directed by Mike Daly and aired during the 2011 Australian Open and the 2012 Australian Open coverage in the US.

Throsby contributed a t-shirt design for The Yellow Bird Project to raise money for Amnesty International.

Throsby is a member of the Voiceless Council. Voiceless: The Animal Protection Institute is an independent non-profit think tank dedicated to alleviating the suffering of animals in Australia.

On her official website, Throsby lists her interests outside of songwriting as contemporary literature, political intrigue, cryptic crosswords, small towns and dogs.

Discography [link]

Albums [link]

''On Night'' (2004)

''Under the Town'' (2006)

''A Loud Call'' (2008)

''See!'' (2010)

''Team'' (2011)

Seeker Lover Keeper (2011) - with Sarah Blasko and Sally Seltmann

Singles/EPs [link]

''Things Between People'' (2004)

''Everything Sings Out'' [UK tour EP] (2006)

''One of You For Me'' (2007)

Compilations [link]

''She Will Have Her Way'' - cover of "Not the Girl You Think You Are" by Crowded House (2005)

''Like a Version: Volume 2'' - cover of "Mistress" by Red House Painters (2006)

''Like a Version: Volume 5'' - cover of "Berlin Chair" by You Am I (2009)

References [link]

External links [link]

Official site

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:Australian female singers Category:Australian musicians

fr:Holly Throsby

birth name	Mary Louise Streep
birth date	June 22, 1949
birth place	Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
alma mater	Vassar College;Yale School of Drama
spouse	Don Gummer (m. 1978–present; 4 children)
children	4 (including Mamie Gummer and Grace Gummer)
partner	John Cazale (1975–1978, his death)
occupation	Actress
years active	1971–present }}

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. She is widely regarded as one of the most talented actors of all time.

Streep made her professional stage debut in ''The Playboy of Seville'' (1971), before her screen debut in the television movie ''Deadliest Season'' (1977). In that same year, she made her film debut with ''Julia'' (1977). Both critical and commercial success came quickly with roles in ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978) and ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' (1979), the former giving Streep her first Academy Award nomination and the latter her first win. She later won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in ''Sophie's Choice'' (1982) and ''The Iron Lady'' (2011).

Streep has received 17 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and 26 Golden Globe nominations, winning eight, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, five New York Film Critics Circle Awards, two BAFTA awards, an Australian Film Institute Award, five Grammy Award nominations, and a Tony Award nomination, amongst others. She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2009 for her contribution to American culture through performing arts, the youngest actress in each award's history.

Early life and background[link]

Streep was born Mary Louise Streep in Summit, New Jersey. Her mother, Mary Wolf (née Wilkinson; 1915-2001), was a commercial artist and former art editor, and her father, Harry William Streep, Jr. (1910-2003), was a pharmaceutical executive. She has two brothers, Dana David and Harry William III. Her patrilineal ancestry originates in Loffenau, Germany, from where her second great-grandfather, Gottfried Streeb, emigrated to the United States, and where one of her ancestors served as mayor. Another line of her father's family was from Giswil in the canton of Obwalden, a small town in Switzerland. Her maternal ancestry originates in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, and partly traces back to 17th century immigrants from England. Her eighth great-grandfather, Lawrence Wilkinson, was one of the first Europeans to settle Rhode Island. Streep is also a distant relative of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and records show that her family were among the first purchasers of land in the state.

She was raised a Presbyterian, and grew up in Bernardsville, New Jersey, where she attended Bernards High School. She had many school friends who were Catholic, and regularly attended Mass because she loved its rituals. She received her B.A., in Drama at Vassar College in 1971 (where she briefly received instruction from actress Jean Arthur), but also enrolled as an exchange student at Dartmouth College for a quarter before it became coeducational. She subsequently earned an M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. While at Yale, she played a variety of roles onstage, from the glamorous Helena in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' to an eighty-year-old woman in a wheelchair in a comedy written by then-unknown playwrights Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Streep performed in several theater productions in New York and New Jersey after graduating from Yale School of Drama, including the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of ''Henry V'', ''The Taming of the Shrew'' with Raúl Juliá, and ''Measure for Measure'' opposite Sam Waterston and John Cazale. She started a relationship with Cazale, and was to live with him until his death three years later. She starred on Broadway in the Brecht/Weill musical ''Happy End'', and won an Obie for her performance in the all-sung off-Broadway production of ''Alice at the Palace''.

Streep began auditioning for film roles, and later recalled an unsuccessful audition for Dino De Laurentiis for the leading female role in ''King Kong''. De Laurentiis commented to his son in Italian, "She's ugly. Why did you bring me this thing?" and was shocked when Streep replied in fluent Italian. In New York City, she appeared in the 1976 Broadway double bill of Tennessee Williams' ''27 Wagons Full of Cotton'' and Arthur Miller's ''A Memory of Two Mondays''. For the former, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her other early Broadway credits include Anton Chekhov's ''The Cherry Orchard'' and the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical ''Happy End'' in which she originally appeared off-Broadway at the Chelsea Theater Center. She received Drama Desk Award nominations for both productions.

Streep's first feature film was ''Julia'' (1977), in which she played a small but pivotal role during a flashback scene. Streep was living in New York City with Cazale, who had been diagnosed with bone cancer. He was cast in ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), and Streep was delighted to secure a small role because it allowed her to remain with Cazale for the duration of filming. She was not specifically interested in the part, commenting, "They needed a girl between the two guys and I was it."

She played a leading role in the television miniseries ''Holocaust'' (1978) as a German woman married to a Jewish artist in Nazi era Germany. She later explained that she had considered the material to be "unrelentingly noble", and had taken the role only because she had needed money. Streep travelled to Germany and Austria for filming while Cazale remained in New York. Upon her return, Streep found that Cazale's illness had progressed, and she nursed him until his death on March 12, 1978. She spoke of her grief and her hope that work would provide a diversion; she accepted a role in ''The Seduction of Joe Tynan'' (1979) with Alan Alda, later commenting that she played it on "automatic pilot", and performed the role of Katherine in ''The Taming of the Shrew'' for Shakespeare in the Park. With an estimated audience of 109 million, ''Holocaust'' brought a degree of public recognition to Streep, who was described in August 1978 as "on the verge of national visibility". She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her performance.

''The Deer Hunter'' (1978) was released a month later, and Streep was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

Streep played a supporting role in ''Manhattan'' (1979) for Woody Allen, later stating that she had not seen a complete script and was given only the six pages of her own scenes, and that she had not been permitted to improvise a word of her dialogue. Asked to comment on the script for ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' (1979), in a meeting with the producer Stan Jaffee, director Robert Benton and star Dustin Hoffman, Streep insisted that the female character was not representative of many real women who faced marriage breakdown and child custody battles, and was written as "too evil". Jaffee, Benton and Hoffman agreed with Streep, and the script was revised. In preparing for the part, Streep spoke to her own mother about her life as a mother and housewife with a career, and frequented the Upper East Side neighborhood in which the film was set. Benton allowed Streep to write her dialogue in two of her key scenes, despite some objection from Hoffman. Jaffee and Hoffman later spoke of Streep's tirelessness, with Hoffman commenting, "She's extraordinarily hardworking, to the extent that she's obsessive. I think that she thinks about nothing else but what she's doing."

Streep drew critical acclaim for her performance in each of her three films released in 1979: the romantic comedy ''Manhattan'', the political drama ''The Seduction of Joe Tynan'' and the family drama, ''Kramer vs. Kramer''. She was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her collective work in the three films. Among the awards won for ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' were the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

1980s[link]

After prominent supporting roles in two of the 1970s' most successful films, the consecutive winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture, ''The Deer Hunter'' and ''Kramer vs. Kramer'', and praise for her versatility in several supporting roles, Streep progressed to leading roles. Her first was ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' (1981). A story within a story drama, the film paired Streep with Jeremy Irons as contemporary actors, telling their modern story as well as the Victorian era drama they were performing. A ''New York Magazine'' article commented that, while many female stars of the past had cultivated a singular identity in their films, Streep was a "chameleon", willing to play any type of role. Streep was awarded a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work.

Her next film, the psychological thriller, ''Still of the Night'' (1982) reunited her with Robert Benton, the director of ''Kramer vs. Kramer'', and co-starred Roy Scheider and Jessica Tandy. Vincent Canby, writing for ''The New York Times'', noted that the film was an homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, but that one of its main weaknesses was a lack of chemistry between Streep and Scheider, concluding that Streep "is stunning, but she's not on screen anywhere near long enough".

As the Polish holocaust survivor in ''Sophie's Choice'' (1982), Streep's emotional dramatic performance and her apparent mastery of a Polish accent drew praise. William Styron wrote the novel with Ursula Andress in mind for the part of Sophie, but Streep was very determined to get the role. After she obtained a pirated copy of the script, she went to Alan J. Pakula and threw herself on the ground begging him to give her the part. Streep filmed the "choice" scene in one take and refused to do it again, as she found shooting the scene extremely painful and emotionally exhausting. Among several notable acting awards, Streep won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. Roger Ebert said of her performance, "Streep plays the Brooklyn scenes with an enchanting Polish-American accent (she has the first accent I've ever wanted to hug), and she plays the flashbacks in subtitled German and Polish. There is hardly an emotion that Streep doesn't touch in this movie, and yet we're never aware of her straining. This is one of the most astonishing and yet one of the most unaffected and natural performances I can imagine."

She followed this success with a biographical film, ''Silkwood'' (1983), in which she played her first real-life character, the union activist Karen Silkwood. She discussed her preparation for the role in an interview with Roger Ebert and said that she had met with people close to Silkwood to learn more about her, and in doing so realized that each person saw a different aspect of Silkwood. Streep concentrated on the events of Silkwood's life and concluded, "I didn't try to turn myself into Karen. I just tried to look at what she did. I put together every piece of information I could find about her... What I finally did was look at the events in her life, and try to understand her from the inside."

Her next films were a romantic drama, ''Falling in Love'' (1984) opposite Robert De Niro, and a British drama, ''Plenty'' (1985). Roger Ebert said of Streep's performance in ''Plenty'' that she conveyed "great subtlety; it is hard to play an unbalanced, neurotic, self-destructive woman, and do it with such gentleness and charm... Streep creates a whole character around a woman who could have simply been a catalogue of symptoms."

''Out of Africa'' (1985) starred Streep as the Danish writer Karen Blixen and co-starred Robert Redford. A significant critical success, the film received a 63% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Streep co-starred with Jack Nicholson in her next two films, the dramas ''Heartburn'' (1986) and ''Ironweed'' (1987), in which she sang onscreen for the first time since the television movie, ''Secret Service'', in 1977. In ''A Cry in the Dark'' (1988), she played the biographical role of Lindy Chamberlain, an Australian woman who had been convicted of the murder of her infant daughter in which Chamberlain claimed her baby had been taken by a dingo. Filmed in Australia, Streep won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for several other awards for her portrayal of Chamberlain.

In ''She-Devil'' (1989), Streep played her first comedic film role, opposite Roseanne Barr. Richard Corliss, writing for ''Time,'' commented that Streep was the "one reason" to see the film and observed that it marked a departure from the type of role for which she had been known, saying, "Surprise! Inside the Greer Garson roles Streep usually plays, a vixenish Carole Lombard is screaming to be cut loose."

1990s[link]

From 1984 to 1990, Streep won six People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture Actress and, in 1990, was named World Favorite.

In the 1990s, Streep continued to choose a great variety of roles, including a drug-addicted movie actress in a screen adaptation of Carrie Fisher's novel ''Postcards from the Edge'', with Dennis Quaid and Shirley MacLaine. Streep and Goldie Hawn had established a friendship and were interested in making a film together. After considering various projects, they decided upon ''Thelma and Louise'', until Streep's pregnancy coincided with the filming schedule, and the producers decided to proceed with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. They subsequently filmed the farcical black comedy, ''Death Becomes Her'', with Bruce Willis as their co-star. ''Time'''s Richard Corliss wrote approvingly of Streep's "wicked-witch routine" but dismissed the film as "''She-Devil'' with a make-over".

Biographer Karen Hollinger describes this period as a downturn in the popularity of Streep's films, which reached its nadir with the failure of ''Death Becomes Her'', attributing this partly to a critical perception that her comedies had been an attempt to convey a lighter image following several serious but commercially unsuccessful dramas, and more significantly to the lack of options available to an actress in her forties. Streep commented that she had limited her options by her preference to work in Los Angeles, close to her family, a situation that she had anticipated in a 1981 interview when she commented, "By the time an actress hits her mid-forties, no one's interested in her anymore. And if you want to fit a couple of babies into that schedule as well, you've got to pick your parts with great care."

In 1995, Streep played opposte Clint Eastwood in the love story ''The Bridges of Madison County'' (1995). Based on a best-selling novel by Robert James Waller, it relates the story of Robert Kincaid (Eastwood), a photographer working for ''National Geographic'', who has a love affair with a middle-aged Italian farm wife in Iowa named Francesca (Streep). Streep and Eastwood got along famously during production and such was their on-screen chemistry that a number of people believed that the two were having an affair off-camera, although this was denied by both. The film was a hit at the box office and grossed $70 million in the United States. The film, unlike the novel, surprised film critics and was warmly received. Janet Maslin of ''The New York Times'' wrote that Clint had managed to create "a moving, elegiac love story at the heart of Mr. Waller's self-congratulatory overkill", while Joe Morgenstern of the ''The Wall Street Journal'' described ''The Bridges of Madison County'' as "one of the most pleasurable films in recent memory".

In addition, Streep appeared with Glenn Close in the movie version of Isabel Allende's ''The House of the Spirits''; ''The River Wild''; ''Marvin's Room'' (with Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio); and ''One True Thing''.

2000s[link]

Streep entered the 2000s with Steven Spielberg's ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'', a science fiction film about a child-like android, played by Haley Joel Osment, uniquely programmed with the ability to love, voicing the Blue Fairy. The same year, Streep co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert concert with Liam Neeson which was held in Oslo, Norway on December 11, 2001 in honour of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the United Nations and Kofi Annan.

In 2002, Streep returned to the stage for the first time in more than twenty years, playing Arkadina in The Public Theater's revival of Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull'', directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The same year, she began work on Spike Jonze's comedy-drama ''Adaptation'' (2002), in which she portrayed real-life journalist Susan Orlean. Lauded by critics and viewers alike, the film won Streep her fourth Golden Globe in the Best Supporting Actress category. Also in 2002, Streep appeared alongside Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore in Stephen Daldry's ''The Hours'', based on the 1999 novel by Michael Cunningham. Focusing on three women of different generations whose lives are interconnected by the novel ''Mrs. Dalloway'' by Virginia Woolf, the film was generally well received and won all three leading actresses a Silver Bear for Best Actress the following year.

thumb|right|Streep in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2004. The following year, Streep had a cameo as herself in the Farrelly brothers comedy ''Stuck on You'' (2003) and reunited with Mike Nichols to star with Al Pacino and Emma Thompson in the HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's six-hour play ''Angels in America'', the story of two couples whose relationships dissolve amidst the backdrop of Reagan Era politics. Streep, who was cast in four roles in the mini-series, received her second Emmy Award and fifth Golden Globe for her performance. In 2004, Streep was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute,. She appeared in Jonathan Demme's moderately successful remake of ''The Manchurian Candidate'', co-starring Denzel Washington, playing the role of a woman who is both a U.S. senator and the manipulative, ruthless mother of a vice-presidential candidate. The same year, she played the supporting role of Aunt Josephine in ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'' alongside Jim Carrey, based on the first three novels in Snicket's book series. The black comedy received generally favorable reviews from critics, and won the Academy Award for Best Makeup.

Streep was next cast in the 2005 comedy ''Prime'', directed by Ben Younger. In the film, she played Lisa Metzger, the Jewish psychoanalyst of a divorced and lonesome business-woman, played by Uma Thurman, who enters a relationship with Metzger's 23-year-old son (Bryan Greenberg). A modest mainstream success, it eventually grossed US$67.9 million internationally. In August and September 2006, she starred onstage at The Public Theater's production of ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The Public Theater production was a new translation by playwright Tony Kushner (''Angels in America''), with songs in the Weill/Brecht style written by composer Jeanine Tesori (''Caroline, or Change''); veteran director George C. Wolfe was at the helm. Streep starred alongside Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton in this three-and-a-half-hour play in which she sang and appeared in almost every scene.

Also in 2006, Streep, along with Lily Tomlin, portrayed the last two members of what was once a popular family country music act in Robert Altman's final film ''A Prairie Home Companion''. A comedic ensemble piece featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline and Woody Harrelson, the film revolves around the behind-the-scenes activities at the long-running public radio show of the same name. The film grossed over US$26 million, the majority of which came from domestic markets. Commercially, Streep fared better with a role in ''The Devil Wears Prada'' (2006), a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. Streep portrayed the powerful and demanding Miranda Priestly, fashion magazine editor (and boss of a recent college graduate played by Anne Hathaway), and her performance drew rave reviews from critics and earned her many award nominations, including her record-setting 14th Oscar bid, as well as another Golden Globe. Upon its commercial release, the film became Streep's biggest commercial success yet, grossing more than US$326.5 million worldwide.

In 2007, Streep was cast in four films. She portrayed a wealthy university patron in Chen Shi-zheng's much-delayed feature drama ''Dark Matter'' (2007), a film about a Chinese science graduate student who becomes violent after dealing with academic politics at a U.S. university. Inspired by the events of the 1991 University of Iowa shooting, and initially scheduled for a 2007 release, producers and investors decided to shelve ''Dark Matter'' out of respect for the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007. The drama received negative to mixed reviews upon its limited 2008 release. Streep played a U.S. government official who investigates an Egyptian foreign national suspected of terrorism in the political thriller ''Rendition'' (2007), directed by Gavin Hood. Keen to get involved in a thriller film, Streep welcomed the opportunity to star in a film genre for which she was not usually offered scripts and immediately signed on to the project. Upon its release, ''Rendition'' was less commercially successful, and received mixed reviews.

Also in 2007, Streep had a short role alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close and her eldest daughter Mamie Gummer in Lajos Koltai's drama film ''Evening'', based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Susan Minot. Switching between the present and the past, it tells the story of a bedridden woman, who remembers her tumultuous life in the mid-1950s. The film was released to lukewarm reactions by critics, who called it "beautifully filmed, but decidedly dull [and] a colossal waste of a talented cast." Streep's last film of 2007 was Robert Redfords ''Lions for Lambs'', a film about the connection between a platoon of United States soldiers in Afghanistan, a U.S. senator, a reporter, and a California college professor.

In 2008, Streep found major commercial success when she starred in Phyllida Lloyd's ''Mamma Mia!'', a film adaptation of the musical of the same name, based on the songs of Swedish pop group ABBA. Co-starring Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård and Colin Firth, Streep played a single mother and a former backing singer, whose daughter (Seyfried), a bride-to-be who never met her father, invites three likely paternal candidates to her wedding on an idyllic Greek island. An instant box office success, ''Mamma Mia!'' became Streep's highest-grossing film to date, with box office receipts of US$602.6 million, also ranking it first among the highest-grossing musical films of all-time. Nominated for another Golden Globe, Streep's performance was generally well received by critics, with Wesley Morris of the ''Boston Globe'' commenting "the greatest actor in American movies has finally become a movie star." Streep's other film of 2008 was ''Doubt'' featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis. A drama revolving around the stern principal nun (Streep) of a Bronx Catholic school in 1964 who brings charges of pedophilia against a popular priest (Hoffman), the film became a moderate box office success, but was hailed by many critics as one of the best of 2008. The film received five Academy Awards nominations, for its four lead actors and for Shanley's script.

In 2009, Streep played chef Julia Child in Nora Ephron's ''Julie & Julia'', co-starring Amy Adams and Stanley Tucci. The first major motion picture based on a blog, it contrasts the life of Child in the early years of her culinary career with the life of young New Yorker Julie Powell (Adams), who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Child's cookbook ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' in 365 days, a challenge she described on her popular blog, ''The Julie/Julia Project'', that would make her a published author. The same year, Streep also starred in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy ''It's Complicated'', with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. She also received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for both of these films and won the award for the former. Streep later received her 16th Oscar nomination for ''Julie & Julia''. She also lent her voice to Mrs. Felicity Fox in the stop-motion film ''Fantastic Mr. Fox''.

2010s[link]

Streep's first film of the 2010s was Phyllida Lloyd's ''The Iron Lady'' (2011), a British biographical film about Margaret Thatcher, which takes a look at the Prime Minister during the Falklands War and her years in retirement. Streep, who sat through a session at the House of Commons to observe British MPs in action in preparation for her role, called her cast "a daunting and exciting challenge," and further added: "I am trying to approach the role with as much zeal, fervour and attention to detail as the real Lady Thatcher possesses – I can only hope my stamina will begin to approach her own." While the film met with mixed critics, Streep's performance got rave reviews, earning her Best Actress awards at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs as well as a third statuette at the Academy Awards.

In July 2010, it was announced that Streep will star in an upcoming comedy entitled ''Mommy & Me'' alongside Tina Fey who will play her daughter. The film is being directed by Stanley Tucci.

Accents and dialects[link]

Streep is well known for her ability to imitate foreign and domestic accents, from Danish in ''Out of Africa'' (1985); to British RP in ''Plenty'' (also 1985), ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' (1981) and ''The Iron Lady'' (2011); and from Italian in ''The Bridges of Madison County'' (1995); to a Minnesota accent in ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (2006). In ''A Cry in the Dark'' (1988), critics were impressed with Streep's ability to master an Australian accent with shades of New Zealand English. For her role in the film ''Sophie's Choice'' (1982), she took language courses to speak both English and German with a Polish accent. In ''The Iron Lady'', she reproduced the vocal style of Margaret Thatcher, from the time before she became Britain's Prime Minister, and after she had taken elocution lessons to change her pitch, pronunciation and delivery. Despite the accolades accorded to her, Streep has emphasised that adopting accents is an element she simply considers an obvious part of creating a character. When asked whether accents helped her get into character, she responded, "I'm always baffled by this question... How could I play that part and talk like me?" When questioned as to how she reproduces different accents, Streep replied, "I listen."

Music[link]

After Streep appeared in ''Mamma Mia!'', her rendition of the song "Mamma Mia" rose to popularity in the Portuguese music charts, where it peaked at #8 in October 2008.

At the 35th People's Choice Awards, her version of ''Mamma Mia'' won an award for "Favorite Song From A Soundtrack". In 2008, Streep was nominated for a Grammy Award (her fifth nomination) for her work on the ''Mamma Mia!'' soundtrack.

Philanthropy[link]

Streep is the spokesperson for the National Women's History Museum, to which she has donated a significant amount of money (including her fee for ''The Iron Lady'') and hosted numerous events.

Personal life[link]

Streep lived with actor John Cazale for three years until his death in March 1978. Streep married sculptor Don Gummer on September 15, 1978. They have four children: Henry "Hank" Wolfe Gummer (born November 13, 1979), Mary Willa "Mamie" Gummer (born August 3, 1983), Grace Jane Gummer (born May 9, 1986), and Louisa Jacobson Gummer (born June 12, 1991). Both Mamie and Grace are actresses. Hank is a musician who performs under the name Henry Wolfe.

When asked if religion plays a part in her life, in an interview in 2009, Streep replied, "I follow no doctrine. I don't belong to a church or a temple or a synagogue or an ashram." Streep does not rule out the possibility that God exists, “I do have a sense of trying to make things better. Where does that come from?”

Awards and nominations[link]

In 1999, Streep was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film. Streep holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations of any actor, having been nominated 17 times since her first nomination in 1979 for her performance in ''The Deer Hunter'' (fourteen for Best Actress and three for Best Supporting Actress) – five more than both Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson, who are tied in second place. With her third Oscar win for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in ''The Iron Lady'' (2011) in 2012, Streep became the fifth performer to receive three Academy Awards: Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan all earned three, while Hepburn won four.

In 2009, Streep became the most-nominated performer in Golden Globe Awards history when her double lead actress nods for ''Doubt'' (2008) and ''Mamma Mia!'' (2008) gave her 23 in total, breaking the tie with Jack Lemmon, who had received 22 lead nominations before his death in 2001. The following year, Streep surpassed Jack Nicholson and Angela Lansbury, with six Golden Globe awards wins each, after receiving her seventh Globe for her performance as Julia Child in ''Julie & Julia'' (2009). In 2012, she broke her own record when she garnered her 26th nomination and overall eighth win for ''The Iron Lady'' at the 69th Golden Globe Awards.

As with both the Oscars and the Golden Globe Awards, Streep holds the BAFTA record for most nominations at 14 in total. She received her second Best Actress award for ''The Iron Lady'' at the 65th ceremony in February 2012, following her first win in 1981 for her performance in ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' (1981).

In 1983, Yale University, from which Streep graduated in 1975, was the first university to award her an honorary degree, a Doctorate of Fine Arts. In 1998, Women in Film awarded Streep with the Crystal Award, an honor for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. The same year, Streep received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2003, Streep was awarded an honorary César Award by the French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma. In 2004, at the Moscow International Film Festival, Streep was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school. Also in 2004, Streep received the AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2008, Streep was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. In 2009, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by Princeton University. In 2010, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.

On December 4, 2011 (program aired on CBS-TV on December 27, 2011), Streep received the 2011 Kennedy Center Honor (along with Neil Diamond, Yo-Yo Ma, Sonny Rollins, and Barbara Cook). On February 14, 2012, Streep received the Honorary Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. She previously won the Berlinale Camera at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival in 1999.

Selected filmography[link]

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1978	''The Deer Hunter''	Linda
1979		Jill	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1979	''Kramer vs. Kramer''	Joanna Kramer	Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Manhattan and The Seduction of Joe Tynan)National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (and also The Seduction of Joe Tynan)Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1981		Sarah/Anna	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
1982		Sophie Zawistowski	Academy Award for Best ActressBoston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNational Board of Review Award for Best ActressNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1983	''Silkwood''	Karen Silkwood	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1985		Karen Blixen
1987		Helen Archer	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
1988	''A Cry in the Dark''		Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressBest Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)Nominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1990		Suzanne Vale
1992	''Death Becomes Her ''	Madeline Ashton	Nominated - Saturn Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1995		Francesca Johnson	Nominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1998	''One True Thing''	Kate Gulden	Nominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1999	''Music of the Heart''	Roberta Guaspari	Nominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2002		Susan Orlean	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressFlorida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureSatellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureSilver Bear for Best ActressSoutheastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2002		Clarissa Vaughan	Silver Bear for Best Actress in Berlin International Film Festival (with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman)Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004		Eleanor Shaw	Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2006		Miranda Priestly	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyLondon Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActressOnline Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressSatellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - MTV Movie Award for Best VillainNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2008		Donna	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year
2008		Sister Aloysius Beauvier	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNational Board of Review Award for Best CastPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2009	''Julie & Julia''	Julia Child	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressSatellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedySoutheastern Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2009		Jane Adler	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2011		Margaret Thatcher	Academy Award for Best ActressAACTA International Award for Best ActressBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleDenver Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Online Award for Best ActressLondon Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressUK's Annual Regional Film Awards for Best Actress Nominated - Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best ActressNominated - Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Actress Defying Age and AgeismNominated - Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Female Icon AwardNominated - Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (runner-up) Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated - Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActresNominated - Iowa Film Critics Awards for Best ActressNominated - Irish Film & Television Award for Best International ActressNominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressNominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated - Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion PictureNominated - St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated - Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2012		Maeve Soames

See also[link]

List of people from New Jersey

List of American actresses

List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

Napoleon, Davi (1991). ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater.'' Includes discussion of Streep's performance in Robert Kalfin's production of ''Happy End'' at the Chelsea Theater and on Broadway. Iowa State University Press. ISBN-0-8138-1713-7.

''Finding Herself: The Prime of Meryl Streep'' by Molly Haskell, ''Film Comment'', May/June 2008.

External links[link]

Official web site

Meryl Streep at BAFTA forty-minute webcast, January 2009

Meryl Streep at Emmys.com

Category:1949 births Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Swiss descent Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:César Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Obie Award recipients Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Bernardsville, New Jersey Category:People from Summit, New Jersey Category:Vassar College alumni Category:Yale School of Drama alumni Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients

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