 Although she had not set out for a film career , Robert De Niro 's performance in Taxi Driver ( 1976 ) had a profound impact on young Streep , who said to herself , " that 's the kind of actor I want to be when I grow up " . Streep began auditioning for film roles , and underwent an unsuccessful audition for the lead role in Dino De Laurentiis 's King Kong . Laurentiis stated in Italian to his son : " This is so ugly . Why did you bring me this " . Unknown to Laurentiis , Streep understood Italian and she remarked , " I 'm very sorry that I 'm not as beautiful as I should be but , you know — this is it . This is what you get " . She continued to work on Broadway , appearing in the 1976 double bill of Tennessee Williams ' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Arthur Miller 's A Memory of Two Mondays . For the former , she received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination . Streep 's other Broadway credits include Anton Chekhov 's The Cherry Orchard and the Bertolt Brecht @-@ Kurt Weill musical Happy End , in which she had originally appeared off @-@ Broadway at the Chelsea Theater Center . She received Drama Desk Award nominations for both productions . 
