How Meryl Streep Gets in Character

Meryl Streep is often lauded for her acting abilities. In Berlin last week, she said she has always enjoyed playing difficult women and there is a method to her ability to get into the character’s head.

“I do like difficult women, or at least the ones that are difficult to understand — I do like translating them,” she told reporters at the Berlin International Film Festival.

She added that she looks for characters that are similar to those she already possesses as a starting point, but, she said: “I won’t identify the ones that coincide with Margaret Thatcher’s.”

Streep also said she learned a lot that surprised her about Thatcher and she believes that Thatcher “was a feminist whether she liked it or not — she opened doors for women.”

“When I grew up, there were no women presidents of corporations, very few got into law school, medical school … there was a certain ceiling,” she added. “That has changed, and it’s changed because of women like Margaret Thatcher, who just put their head down and went ahead.”

Streep, 62, has two Oscars under her belt:

She won her first in 1980 for her supporting actress role in “Kramer vs. Kramer.” Dustin Hoffman won the Best Actor award and the film itself won Best Picture. She portrayed a woman who leaves her son and husband and then decides she wants her son back.

Streep picked up her Best Actress Oscar in 1983 for “Sophie’s Choice,” in which she played a Nazi concentration camp survivor. Many people consider this to be her finest performance.

Streep’s competition at the Oscars this year are :

Glenn Close for “Albert Nobbs” — Glenn has been nominated for Best Actress 5 other times, her last nomination being in 1989 for “Dangerous Liaisons,” but she has never won.

First time nominee, Rooney Mara for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

Viola Davis in “The Help.” This is Viola’s first Best Actress nomination. She was previously nominated for a Best Supporting Actress in 2009 for her performance in “Doubt.”

Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn. Michelle was nominated for a Best Actress award last year in “My Blue Valentine.” She was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award in 2006 for “Brokeback Mountain.”