For this year’s Academy Awards, Meryl Streep took the easy route (the backdoor instead of the red carpet), before taking the stage to present the Best Actor Academy Award to Daniel Day-Lewis. So far, over 100 pictures from the show and the press room have been added to the image library, with more to follow. Edit: Additional 70 pictures from the show and press room have been added. A video of Meryl’s presentation and screencaptures will be added as time permits.

The Academy Awards are taking place tonight and Meryl, alongside an array of celebrities, is announced to be a presenter. Her history with the Academy Awards is as long as her career itself, so let’s have a (long overdue) look at her previous appearances at the ceremonies from 1979 to 2012 in this most recently added flipbook. Feel free to discuss your favorite Oscar appearance – or gown – in the comments.

Additionally, if you want to impress your friends and fellow Oscar-watchers tonight with some must-know, unnecessary knowledge of Meryl’s Oscar history, have a look at this collection of bits:

The fact that Meryl has received 17 acting nominations sounds much already, but her films together have received a whopping 99 Academy Award nominations. Combined, her films have won 27 Academy Awards in various categories. Six of Meryl’s co-stars have won Oscars for their performances: Vanessa Redgrave (Julia), Jason Robards (Julia), Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter), Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer), Chris Cooper (Adaptation) and Nicole Kidman (The Hours). 16 of her co-stars have received nominations: Jane Fonda (Julia), Maximilian Schell (Julia), Robert De Niro (The Deer Hunter), Mariel Hemingway (Manhattan), Jane Alexander (Kramer vs. Kramer), Justin Henry (Kramer vs. Kramer), Cher (Silkwood), Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa), Jack Nicholson (Ironweed), Diane Keaton (Marvin’s Room), Nicolas Cage (Adaptation), Julianne Moore (The Hours), Ed Harris (The Hours), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), Amy Adams (Doubt) and Viola Davis (Doubt).

Three of Meryl’s films have won the coveted Best Picture Oscar: The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs. Kramer and Out of Africa. Two more films have been nominated in the Best Picture category: Julia and The Hours. An honorable mention goes to Fantastic Mr. Fox, which received a nomination Best Animated Feature. The film with the most Oscar wins is Out of Africa, winning seven and followed by Kramer vs. Kramer and The Deer Hunter, both winning five. Her career’s biggest “losing” films are The Hours, which only won one award out of nine nominations, Julia, winning three out of nine and followed by both The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Silkwood, losing each of their five nominations. The longest time span that Meryl went without being nominated is a mere four years – between 1991 and 1996. The only time Meryl didn’t attend the ceremony in a year in which she was nominated was 1991. This year she was nominated for Best Actress in “Postcards from the Edge”. The film’s song “I’m Checking Out”, which Meryl sang in the film, was nominated as well. Due to her pregnancy, Meryl skipped the ceremony. Singer Reba McEntire stepped in to perform “I’m Checking Out” at the Academy Awards. Unfortunately neither the song nor the performance won in their respective categories.

Be sure to find coverage of Meryl’s appearance tonight here on Simply Streep (in case she’s definately there, after canceled appearances at the Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards ;-)

Another batch of pictures have been added. Since there aren’t as many from the earlier years than from the more recent, three years have been combined – 2000 to 2002. Updates include Meryl’s appearances at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Academy Awards for “Music of the Heart”, screencaptures of her hosting job (alongside Liam Neeson) at the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize Concert and the 2002 promotion for “Adaptation” and “The Hours”. Two more updates, covering the 1990s and 1980s, will follow this week. To view all last added pictures, simply click one of the previews below.

Appearances – 2002 – Last uploaded pictures
Appearances – 2001 – Last uploaded pictures
Appearances – 2000 – Last uploaded pictures

While they may raise children, cook, clean and honor their spouses, the women celebrated in the PBS-AOL collaboration “Makers” are the daring ones who ventured out of the house to lead the women’s liberation movement, who broke barriers and became emblems in the fight for equality. “Makers: Women Who Make America” is a broadcast and digital effort, already online and premiering as a three-hour documentary narrated by Meryl Streep on PBS on Feb. 26. Bra burning? Yes, that’s part of the story, along with Supreme Court appointments, the first female astronaut, anchorwomen, congresswomen, corporate executives, coal miners, Boston marathoners and more. From the victory of Roe v. Wade to the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, from consciousness-raising about advertising imagery to the admission of women in sports, it has been a long, not always winning slog. The complete article on the documentary can be read here.

And while we’re at it, here’s the pictures update for 2003. Although we’ve tracking the appearances back ten years, I vividly remember 2003 as one of the most exciting years in Meryl’s recent career. She won the Golden Globe for “Adaptation” (her first win in 20 years), was honored with the Cesar in France and received Oscar, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination. With “The Hours” and “Adaptation” as well as the television landmark “Angels in America” (which premiered in late 2003), Meryl sort of made a comeback as an actor of relevance. That being said, it’s much easier to forget she also did “Stuck on You” in 2003 :-) To view all last added pictures, click any of the previews below.

The coverage continues with 2004. This has been one of the most extensive years for Meryl, winning both the Golden Globe and Emmy Award for “Angels in America”, receiving the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award and promoting two films, “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”. Over 1.000 additional pictures have been added to the image library. To launch all last added pictures, click any of the previews below.

Another batch of additional pictures, this time covering the year 2005, have been added to the image library. 2005 has been a rather quiet year, featuring the theatrical release of “Prime”, but not that much otherwise except some appearances – including the Golden Globe Awards as a nominee for “The Manchurian Candidate” and various benefit events. To launch all last added pictures, click one of the previews below.

In a recent interview, actress Margo Martindale has dished on the recent filming of “August: Osage County”: August was a wonderful, incredible two months. It will look beautiful. The script is magnificent. The actors are all fabulous. Will it all work? That will be a mystery. I was wildly happy to get that part, and I said to myself, after seeing it on Broadway, “I want to play that in the movie.” Rondi Reed, who played it on stage, I couldn’t have perfected that. There was no need to do it on stage. So I decided to set my sights on the movie. You’ve worked with Meryl Streep, who plays your sister Violet, a few times in your career. Did that previous experience with her help build your relationship as sisters? Tremendously. We spent our off time together. She’s a great, great person. These sisters really lean on each other, and I’ve known Chris Cooper, who plays my husband, since 1981. I love him so much. I think that when everyone got this job, you had that looming around in the back of your mind. Juliette Lewis said, “So much came with getting these roles,” and I responded, “I know. I wish we had never had that. I wish we had just been out here doing a movie.” Which we were, but there was so much expectation. There’s something about that that makes it hard.” The complete article can be read here.

And the public appearances updates continue with over 1.000 additional pictures from 2006 events. This has been another busy year for Meryl, promoting both “A Prairie Home Companion” and “The Devil Wears Prada” in the US and overseas, including the Venice, Deauville and Berlin Film Festival. She also returned to the stage with “Mother Courage” and presented the Lifetime Achievement Academy Award to Robert Altman. All last added pictures can be viewed by clicking one of the previews below. P.S. I’ve received lots of emails asking if Meryl attends the BAFTA Awards tonight. There have been news, but I don’t know how reliable they are. However, if Meryl will attend the ceremony tonight, be sure to find up-to-date coverage here at Simply Streep.

Another batch of public apperances pictures have been added, this time covering 2007. That year, Meryl won a Golden Globe for her performance in “The Devil Wears Prada” and released a total of four films – Dark Matter, Evening, Rendition and Lions for Lambs – the latter two promoted at various premieres. In 2007, Meryl also attended Belfast to promote their arts museum and presented Al Gore with the Global Environmental Citizen Award. To view all last added pictures, click one of the previews below.