“I’ve thought a lot about the power of empathy. In my work, it’s the current that connects me and my actual pulse to a fictional character in a made up story.”–Meryl Streep (May 4, 2006)

Little doubt exists that Meryl Streep is the most well loved actress in Hollywood.  Indeed, she was heralded America’s greatest actress thirty years ago when she won the Oscar for Kramer vs. Kramer.  She has graced the screen in over sixty films and appeared in some of Broadway’s most well received plays, though she postponed her stage career to raise four children with husband, famed sculptor, Don Gummer. However, other than her family, what makes Meryl extraordinary has more to do with her heart and soul than anything else.

Although superior roles for women are lacking, Meryl along with other celebrities keep advocating for more female voices. Critics and fans alike are amazed by Meryl’s portrayal of dynamic women. Meryl’s greatest performances from The Holocaust to Sophie’s Choice, to Silkwood, to Angel’s in America to Doubt and her numerous humanitarian efforts exemplify for the world how one woman’s inner strength can change society through empathy’s power. 

Meryl Streep chooses roles based on her children; her commitment to family comes before everything.  How, then, has Meryl achieved her position among and forged friendships with stage and screen’s elite? One of her most endearing qualities explains this achievement; Meryl has the capacity to learn from and about all those who make the world in which she thrives successfully revolve.  Meryl’s empathetic nature creates an impact beyond her fame; she argues that we all must act from this empathetic place.  This trait reverberates throughout her life and art.

When called to address audiences who have little to do with the entertainment industry, Meryl does so with exuberant grace.  In the foreword to Healthy Child, Healthy World, Meryl writes a text, which brings to light those environmental/chemical dangers greatly affecting our children.  She found Mothers and Others, an organization that argues before businesses and even Congress for bans on chemicals such as Alar.  Among other reasons, Meryl’s empathetic nature sewed the seeds necessary to reap the fruits this group now offers to children and the world.

When Meryl spoke at “What Women Want,” an event to help the women of Afghanistan, she said “The story burned a hole in my heart when I found out about it.”   During her own speech, “The Power of Empathy,” Meryl confessed that “when confronted with these insurmountable issues, [she] questioned her own reaction at the heart’s core when plights such as those in Afghanistan fully hit us in the face”. The answer she found makes Meryl an inspiration to all.  She declared “empathy is the engine that powers all the best in us. It is what civilizes us.” She discovered “it is what connects us to these women who live enshrouded and muffled and beaten down and broken, in cities and towns so far away from us as if to be a different galaxy. Empathy enables us to feel what people around us feel.”  Empathy builds community.

Ever humble, Meryl Streep finds accolades difficult to accept partly because her actions are natural, without pretense.  This empathetic person looks outwardly and praises those around her for life’s miracles. This empathetic person feels what others feel and acts, sometimes unknowingly, on those feelings to enrich the world.  Merly Streep’s impact through her life and art genially touches the lives of others who might never have felt empathy’s power.