Amy Adams in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Courtesy of Focus Features

Adams will stretch her range even further as she takes on very different parts in two Meryl Streep-headlined films. In John Patrick Shanley's big-screen adaptation of his play Doubt, Adams plays Sister James, a youthful nun who must confront the realities of abuse in her 1960s Bronx parish. Streep is the hard-boiled no-nonsense Sister Aloysius who believes one of the priests, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), represents a danger to the boys at her school. "We did three weeks of rehearsals and so I had some time to get used to the idea before we actually started filming. They are such amazing actors," Adams says of Hoffman and Streep, "and I just wanted to make sure that I raised my game up to where I believe their standard is. It is a lot pressure to put on yourself to act with Meryl Streep." She will also appear opposite Streep in Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia, as a government employee who spends a year cooking recipes from Julia Child's classic cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Streep plays the grande dame of American culinary skills. Having the opportunity to work with both McDormand and Streep has had a profound impact on Adam's approach to her career. "I think that they represent hope. When you get into the industry, [you're told] there aren't a lot of roles for women. It is only when you are young. Here are two people — and I think it is what they have in common — who both are very genuine, they know who they are and they pursued their careers with a lot of dignity. And that is an amazing lesson for me just starting out in a way, having these women to stand as role models."

Adams not only finds inspiration and guidance from actresses of an older generation, but is equally affected by some of her contemporaries. She singles out her Sunshine Cleaning co-star, Emily Blunt, and is magnanimous in her praise of the British actress who sparred with Anne Hathaway in 2006's The Devil Wears Prada. "She is like my English twin. We are similar gals. When she was cast, I was like: 'Oh no, she is so good!' I watched Summer of Love and thought, 'Oh Gosh. What am I going to do?' When it's your peer, you have got to look it in the face. We go up for the same roles and I am so happy that I worked with her because now I feel like I am her biggest cheerleader. I want her to do everything. And she is really great and she is a great person and we have a lot of fun together. So, now I can look her in the eyes and have nothing but love for her and hope for her future. She told me that they were doing Doubt. We were on set and she goes, 'I just read something and it is what you are going to do next.' We support each other. It is really nice to have a peer like that."

For the fourth of seven children from Castle Rock, Colorado, Adams has come a long way in a relatively short period of time and remains grounded in both her work and her relationship. She has been dating actor Darren Le Gallo for over five years and credits him with altering her approach to her career and life in general. "I know it sounds so clichéd but my boyfriend changed my life, changed my path," she says. "And I think that is sort of what Miss Pettigrew is saying. When you open yourself up to the fact that someone can love you just the way you are, you don't have to change, you don't have to be somebody else for somebody, that changes the course of your life. You are not struggling to try to be someone else. You can now focus on who you are and where you are going."