These Are The 30 Greatest Performances of Meryl Streep’s Iconic Career

22. One True Thing (1998)

Image Source: IMDb

In this adaptation of Anna Quindlen’s novel, Streep plays a mother dying of cancer. Ultimately, she calls her estranged journalist daughter (up and comer Renee Zellweger) to help her in her last days. Streep’s character (Kate) is uncompromising in how suffocating she is as unappreciated matriarch of the Gulden family. In one of Streep’s most underrated and interesting performances, she helps us understand that love and familial devotion — even at their most total and tender — never come without daily sacrifices. By illuminating this, Streep carries us to a realm of everyday experience. This performance would mark Streep’s 11th Oscar nomination.