Meryl Streep celebrates her birthday on 22^nd June. She is generally considered the G.O.A.T. when it comes to acting. She’s the most decorated actress with a total of 21 Oscar nominations and three wins along with 31 Golden Globe nominations and eight wins, across her decades-long career.

She is an unstoppable tour-de-force every time she’s on-screen. Meryl Streep can don any wardrobe, accent, role and manage to make it seem as authentic as possible. She has not limited herself to a specific genre or character type, nor has she limited herself to just one film a year. Often, she’ll pull off a light, breezy, comedic performance and a dramatic, award-winning serious performance in the same year. Each and every one of her roles is worth checking out just for her performance alone as she moves to a ripe age of 72 years.

Here are some of the best films which deserve recognition far above the rest

1)     The Bridges of Madison County

Streep’s most frequently overlooked role is that of a bored housewife Francesca Johnson in Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of Robert James Waller’s best-selling novel. Francesca is the embodiment of loneliness and frustration living with her husband and their children in an isolated farmhouse set against the vast stretches of land in Iowa, US. Streep takes the schmaltzy romance of the original material and transforms it into something with gravitas and passion. Where any other actor might not be as convincing, Streep persuades the audience that her character believes her affair with Eastwood’s roaming photographer Robert Kincaid is necessary to help her escape her humdrum existence. A fierce, unhurried performance is what builds the superb tension in this film.

2)     Mamma Mia!

There's nothing Meryl Streep can't do, including musicals featuring the music of ABBA. Mamma Mia! is the story of a bride-to-be, Sophie, trying to find her real father. Itwouldn’t be half as good without Meryl’s standout performance as Donna Sheridan-Carmichael, Sophie's mother and owner of the hotel Villa Donna. She sings, she dances, and has three former lovers in the form of Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and StellanSkarsgard vying for her affections – what more could you want?

3)     The Devil Wears Prada

There’sa boss from Hell, and then there’s Miranda Priestly. In David Frankel’s adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s best-seller, Streep plays a fire-breathing fashion editor who terrorizes her assistant with impossible demands, from procuring an unpublished manuscript of the next ‘Harry Potter’ book to finding a new wardrobe. Streep was rightly Oscar-nominated for the role and deserved to win for her cerulean sweater monologue alone.

4)     The Iron Lady

Another groundbreaking real-life woman who got the Streep treatment is former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. She took home an Oscar for this movie, creating another great history lesson in the form of entertainment. While this role helped Streep win many awards, one of the most iconic moments of The Iron Lady's success was when Streep won her third Oscar, 29 years after her second one.

5)     The River Wild

Meryl Streep as an Action Hero? Okay, not exactly, but The River Wild did put Streep in an unfamiliar territory. She played Gail Hartman, a wife and mother who must protect her family during a whitewater-rafting trip after they befriend fellow outdoorsmen who turn out to be dangerous criminals on the run. This movie is all about a big buildup to the final run through the terrifying rapids. The movie remains a charming novelty because of Streep’s presence till date.

Collated by Verus Ferreira