Every Time Meryl Streep, Human Chameleon, Played A Real Historical Figure

Listen to Julia Child on her cooking show — her breathy intonations, her sentences punctuated by laughter — and you'd think, that is a woman with a speech pattern so unique it's impossible to replicate. In another universe, you might be right. But in our universe, we have Meryl Streep, and there's not a single accent she can't take on, or a person she can't embody.

Streep's ability to completely inhabit an individual has allowed her to play some of history's most extraordinary and singular women. Most recently, she played Kay Graham, the first-ever woman publisher of an American newspaper, in The Post. Streep looks and sounds like Graham, right down to her careful, serious drawl. Thanks to Streep's almost chameleonic ability to mimic a person's mannerisms, combined with her incredible acting, The Post successfully brings one of history's most trailblazing individuals back to the public's attention.

Graham and Child are just two of many historical figures Streep has embodied over the course of her incomparable career. Here are the rest of the women whose stories Streep has brought to the big screen, shining a light on some very important issues in the process.