Streep was born Mary Louise Streep in Summit, New Jersey, USA. Her father, Harry Streep, Jr., was a pharmaceutical executive and her mother, Mary, was a commercial artist of Swiss, Irish and English descent. Streep has said that her father's family is of Dutch descent, and that the family's original surname, Messerschnitz, was changed to Streep in the Netherlands by her Sephardic Jewish ancestors. However, census records suggest that Streep may not, in fact, descend from a Dutch family of the name Streep but rather from a German family of the name Streeb. Thus, her ancestry may be German and Protestant rather than Dutch and Jewish.
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