53 Reasons Why Meryl Streep Is The Best

Happy 63rd Birthday to one of the finest people on the planet.

1. The millions she gives away

Via forbes.com

2. Her activism

Via onearth.org

What first drew you to environmental health issues?

Humans are very self-interested. I became interested in all these things when I was consciously feeding a baby and had a sense that everything you do is going to have an outcome further down the road. So I was very conscious to try to do the right thing and do well by our kids. Being naturally sort of slovenly, I had to sit up and pay attention, because I really think about my work most of the time. When kids came into the picture, everything I read made me think "Yes, you are right, You are right." Everything we now know about the developing brain and young children reminds us that the first things, even in utero, that you introduce into their little fragile developing systems bear an outcome later on.

3. Her demand for more female roles in Hollywood

Via guardian.co.uk

As you can see, their problems were significant because they cost a fraction of what the big tent-pole failures cost … Let's talk about The Iron Lady. It cost $14m to make it and brought in $114m. Pure profit! So why? Why? Don't they want the money?

4. Her logical sensibility

Via perezhilton.com

5. When she introduced Hillary Clinton at the Women in the World Summit

I find a lot of similarities: We’re roughly the same age, we both have two brothers — mine are annoying — we both grew up in middle-class homes with spirited, big-hearted mothers who encouraged us to do something valuable and interesting with our lives. We both went from public high schools to distinguished women’s colleges. …We both went on to graduate school at Yale, which is where the two paths diverged in the wood.

Where Hillary aimed her life and where it landed was evident very early on. While I was a cheerleader, she was the president of the student government. Where I was the lead in all three musicals, people who know her tell me she should never be encouraged to sing. Regardless, she has turned out to be the voice of her generation. I’m an actress, and she is the real deal.

…

This is what you get when you play a world leader. But if you want a real world leader, and you’re really, really lucky, this is what you get.

Watch

6. How she greets everyone with a kiss, like here

Via vulture.com

7. And here

Via vulture.com

8. And here

Via vulture.com

9. And here

Via vulture.com

10. This moment she shared with Jean Dujardin

Via gofugyourself.com

11. And this one with Shirley MacLaine

Via arabia.msn.com

12. Her love for Viola Davis

Via theedgeoftheframe.com

13. When she unveiled the 'Iron Lady'

Via huffingtonpost.com

14. The way she holds this cat

Via theaceblackblog.com

15. Her hair in A Cry In The Dark

Via bluecarrotshop.blogspot.com

16. Her moustache

Via buzzfeed.com

17. Her famous walk

Via Flickr: migueloz

18. Her beautiful family

Via zimbio.com

19. And the fact that Mamie shares her mother's talents

Via thirdage.com

Watch her in The Good Wife.

20. This amazing high school portrait

Via amygrindhouse.com

21. And this one

Via hollywood.com

22. Her sex appeal

Via theaceblackblog.com

23. Her ageless beauty

Via blameitonthevoices.com

24. This truth uttered by Liz Lemon

Via awkwardlifeisawesome.tumblr.com

25. This amazing photo taken by Annie Leibovitz

26. This portrait shot by Martin Schoeller

Via latkovic.wordpress.com

27. And this beautiful shot

Via listal.com

28. When she became Vogue's oldest cover girl at 62

Via whosdatedwho.com

29. And the photo spread in that issue

Via vogue.tumblr.com

30. Her ability to look fabulous on a placard

Via hollywoodreporter.com

31. Her amazing talent

Via listal.com

32. Her time on stage

Via broadway.com

33. Her chameleon-like abilities on the big screen

Via allmoviephoto.com

34. Her first role in a feature film

Via Flickr: 29004166@N07

Julia (1977)

35. Her first leading role

Via cinemagia.ro

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

36. Her first oscar win for Kramer vs. Kramer

Via oscars.org

37. The heartbreaking choice she made as Sophie

38. And how beautiful she looked in it that movie

Via bohemea.tumblr.com

39. Her first degree with Kevin Bacon

Via theaceblackblog.com

40. That time she bought the flowers herself

Via gracillius.tumblr.com

41. Her cameo in Stuck On You

Via bluecarrotshop.blogspot.com

42. When she danced like a queen

43. When she taught us how to cook

Via sarutaridecinema.ro

44. This reaction shot

Via plaidagenda.tumblr.com

45. Her reaction to winning Best Actress at the 2012 Golden Globes

Via buzzfeed.com

46. The acceptance speech that followed

Only Meryl sounds classy while cursing.

47. Her acceptance speech at the 2007 Golden Globes

48. Everyone's tribute to her at the 34th Annual Kennedy Center Honors

Tracy Ullman introduces the 15-minute long segment, which also features a speech from Robert De Niro. Or you can skip to 8:34 for Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci and Kevin Kline, oh yeah, and Anne Hathaway doing the splits.

49. Her surprisingly good singing voice

50. Also heard in A Prairie Home Companion

51. This text from Hillary

Via thehollywoodgossip.com

52. Meryl Streep memes

Via thebigster.com

53. Cam sums it up nicely