Her Mother Gave Her Confidence
Mary Louise Streep was born on June 22, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey, to Harry Streep, a pharmaceutical company executive, and Mary Streep, a commercial artist. Her father came from a German and Swiss background. Her mother had an English, German, and Irish background. It turns out that Meryl’s eighth great-grandfather, Lawrence Wilkinson, was one of the first Europeans to have settled in Rhode Island.
Source: simplystreep.com
Meryl’s mother, whom she has always compared to Dame Judi Dench in both appearance and manner, always encouraged her and instilled confidence in the young Meryl from the very beginning. Streep once said: “She was a mentor because she said to me, ‘Meryl, you’re capable. You’re so great.’ She was saying, ‘You can do whatever you put your mind to. If you’re lazy, you’re not going to get it done. But if you put your mind to it, you can do anything.’ And I believed her.”