Meryl Streep Wins SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Meryl Streep, who stars in the film Doubt as the stern Sister Aloysius , has won the 2008 SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for playing the part.

Streep was up for an Academy Award for her performance in The Devil Wears Prada. She is a two-time Oscar winner for Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie's Choice, and has been nominated for an additional 11 Oscars. Other film credits include The Deer Hunter, Silkwood, Out of Africa, Postcards from the Edge, Heartburn, The Bridges of Madison Countyand Adaptation. She was last seen on screen as Donna in the film version of the Broadway hit Mamma Mia!. Her many theatre credits include Trelawney of the 'Wells,' The Taming of the Shrew, Happy End, The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull and Mother Courage (she starred in the latter two at the Delacorte Theatre).

Doubt opened on Broadway on March 9th, 2005 and ran through July 2nd, 2006; it had originally played a hit run at Manhattan Theatre Club. With Tony-winning performances by Cherry Jones and Adriane Lenox, and Tony-nominated work by Brian F. O'Byrne, the show won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play in addition to the Pulitzer Prize. Doug Hughes won a Tony for directing the play.

"Set against the backdrop of a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, the show is the story of a strong-minded woman faced with a difficult decision. Should she voice concerns about one of her male colleagues...even if she's not entirely certain of the truth?," stated press notes for the show's Broadway run.

The 15th Annual SAG Awards® are being simulcast Live Nationally on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT and 6 p.m. MT from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. An encore presentation will air on TNT at 11 p.m. (ET/PT). For satellite and HD viewers, the live presentation can be seen on TBS and TNT at 8 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (PT), while the encore can be seen on TNT at 11 p.m. (ET)/8 p.m. (PT).

The 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards is produced by Jeff Margolis Productions in association with Screen Actors Guild Awards®, LLC. Jeff Margolis is the executive producer and director. Kathy Connell is the producer. JoBeth Williams, Daryl Anderson, Shelley Fabares, Paul Napier and Yale Summers are producers for SAG. Gloria Fujita O'Brien and Mick McCullough are supervising producers. Benn Fleishman is executive in charge of production. More information is available online at www.sagawards.org.

Screen Actors Guild is the nation's largest labor union representing working actors. Established in 1933, SAG has a rich history in the American labor movement, from standing up to studios to break long-term engagement contracts in the 1940s to fighting for artists' rights amid the digital revolution sweeping the entertainment industry in the 21st century. With 20 branches nationwide, SAG represents more than 120,000 actors who work in film, television, industrials, commercials, video games, music videos and all other new media formats. The Guild exists to enhance actors' working conditions, compensation and benefits and to be a powerful, unified voice on behalf of artists' rights. SAG is a proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO. More information is available online at www.sag.org.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.