Miranda Priestly

Miranda Priestly is the main antagonist of The Devil Wears Prada.

She is portrayed by Meryl Streep.

Fictional Biography
Miranda Priestly was born Miriam Princhek in the East End of London in October 1949. Her family members were poor but devout orthodox Jews. The family relied on the community for support, because her father worked odd jobs occasionally and her mother died in childbirth. Miriam's grandmother moved in with the family to assist in raising the children. Miriam saved the small bills that her siblings would give her and worked as an assistant to a British designer. She made a name for herself in London's fashion world and studied French at night and was made junior editor of the Chic magazine in Paris. When she was twenty-four Miriam changed her name to Miranda Priestly and replaced her rough accent with a sophisticated one. Miranda spent ten years at French Runway before Elias-Clark transferred her to American Runway. She, her twin daughters, and her husband moved to a penthouse apartment on Fifth Avenue and 76th Street. She is the editor-in-chief of Runway, a very chic and influential fashion magazine published by the Elias-Clark company. She is known for wearing a white Hermès scarf in her everyday outfit and treating her subordinates in a manner that borders on emotional and psychological abuse.

While she reminds employees "a million girls would kill for this job", Priestly's cruel treatment of staff causes a high turnover rate among personal assistants; the focus of her characterization in the book and the film being her newest assistant, recent journalism graduate Andrea Sachs.

Priestly has twin daughters (from her second of three husbands), Caroline and Cassidy, who one review suggested "look like extras from The Omen."

In the film version, her past is not mentioned at all.

Film
In the film she is a more sympathetic character than portrayed in the book. Whilst she remains just as ruthless and manipulative as she was in the book she is seen in a few moments of vulnerability three quarters of the way into the film in she confides to Andrea her distress about her failing marriage and the effect she is worried it will have on her daughters. The film incarnation of Priestly also speaks with an American accent, which strongly suggests the film character is not a Briton as portrayed in the novel.

Most, if not all reviews and articles of the movie made reference to Anna Wintour. Nicknamed "Nuclear Wintour", Anna has been known to possess most of the same traits as Priestly, although she has shown more redeeming traits. Streep has told multiple reporters that she did not personally base her portrayal on Wintour, but instead on men she has known; Streep actually didn't meet Wintour until a pre-release screening of the movie. Other inspirations for Streep's portrayal include Martha Stewart and the ghost of Joan Crawford from Mommie Dearest.

Nearly all critics of the film raved about Meryl Streep's performance as the cold, calculating Miranda Priestly. Meryl Streep received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress but lost to Helen Mirren in The Queen. It was Streep's 14th nomination, furthering her impressive record. Streep received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her portrayal of Priestly, that being her sixth Golden Globe.