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Meryl Streep is one of the biggest actors of her generation. Her star power continues to rise with every project she takes on, and many people want to work with her.
Streep’s status as a revered star is something to behold, but it may be a hindrance for her children. Streep’s daughters, Mamie and Grace Gummer, both used stage names early in their careers.
Meryl Streep’s daughters used stage names to get into the industry
Celebrities use stage names all the time. This is especially true for singers who prefer an alias that separates their work and personal life. For some actors, having a stage name comes out of necessity, as some stars like Martin Sheen and John Mellencamp had to change their names to more Americanized names.
Streep is a huge star, but her fame and stature put her kids’ careers under the threat of nepotism. The actor has four children with her husband Don Gummer. The first one is Henry Gummer, the second is Mamie Gummer, the third is Grace Gummer, and her last child, Louisa, prefers not to go with their surname, instead opting for her middle name, Jacobson.
The List postulates that Jacobson opted to go with her middle name to step out of her mother’s long shadow. It also theorizes that the move might have been because of another actor who already went by Louisa Gummer and who may have prevented Jacobson from taking on her family’s name.
According to BuzzFeed, Mamie and Grace also had different names during the early stages of their career. Mamie joined the industry in 1986 when she appeared in Heartburn alongside her Oscar-winning mother at only 20 months old.
At the time, she was credited as Natalie Stern to avoid accusations of nepotism but decided to change her name to Mamie when she booked her next role in 2003.
Similarly, Mamie’s sister Grace’s 1993 role in The House of the Spirits saw her get credited as Jane Gray. Like her sister, Grace decided to revert to her real name when her acting career took off in 2010.
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Grace and Mamie are as talented as their mother
Streep passed on every bit of herself to her children, especially Mamie and Grace. The pair are not only dead ringers for their mother but also have the acting bug. After her first role, Mamie made her off-Broadway debut in Mr. Marmalade. In 2006, she made her film debut in The Hoax alongside Richard Gere.
The following year, she played the younger version of her mother in Evening and appeared in John Adams in 2008. Mamie had a guest role in The Good Wife for one season but returned for two more episodes in Season 2. She has since appeared in Off the Map, Manhattan, The Collection, and The Detective.
Her sister Grace’s first role was playing Streep’s younger version. In 2010, Grace starred in Gigantic and Larry Crowne. The actor made her Broadway debut in 2011 with Arcadia and appeared in Smash the following year. Grace found success in TV when she appeared in Zero Hour in 2013.
She also appeared in The Newsroom, The Homesman, and American Horror Story: Freak Show during this time. She has since appeared in Confirmation, The Long Dumb Road, Standing Up, Falling Down, Mr. Robot, and Beast of Burden.
Mamie Gummer said she had a normal upbringing
Flaawsome Talk asked Mamie how it felt to have the actor as a mother. The Manhattan star said, “I grew up gratefully in Connecticut — the industry didn’t loom large over everything — so I had a pretty normal upbringing.”
Streep said she tried to keep her children out of the public eye and prevent them from getting into show business. But their paths merged with hers in the industry. Henry is the only sibling who isn’t in the acting industry, instead choosing to pursue music.
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