Meryl Streep's stage fright is no act

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep has two Academy Awards and 13 Oscar nominations during an illustrious 30-year Hollywood career, but still suffers from stage fright. "As intrepid as actors are, and as long as a career may be, you still are terrified of walking in front of people," she said at a ceremony where she received an award from the Coolidge Corner Theatre, a film art-house.

In her latest film, A Prairie Home Companion, Streep faced an audience in Minnesota, singing country ballads on a radio show, with her onscreen sister played by Lily Tomlin.

A day earlier, director Robert Altman prepared Streep by keeping the cameras rolling and making her improvise. "He kept us going. He was unafraid, and it made us unafraid," Streep said.

A Prairie Home Companion, which also features Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Lindsay Lohan and Kevin Kline, opens in June. It tells the story of an old-fashioned radio show threatened with closure.