Meryl Streep on the Joy of Julia Child

Aug. 3, 2009— -- Actress Meryl Streep says she related to her latest character, legendary chef Julia Child in the new film "Julie & Julia," because of her spirit, not because of her skills in the kitchen.

"Julia, that spirit was very like my mother's spirit," Streep told "Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer. "Joie de vivre. She had it. And a great sense of fun and [an] infectious ability to bring people along in whatever adventure she cared to take charge of."

But, Streep said, her mother was most certainly "not a cook." Growing up, Streep didn't know that one could do more with a potato than bake it.

"I knew what a potato looked like -- had a brown skin and you threw it in the oven, and forgot about it for about an hour-and-a-half, or two," she said, laughing. "But I'd never seen a peeled white potato ... we got mashed potatoes out of the box. And I had gone up to a friend's house when I was about 10, and they were in there peeling what looked like white tennis balls. I said, 'What are you doing?' They said, 'We're gonna make mashed potatoes.' And I said, 'They come in a box. What are you doing?'"

Meryl Streep has been nominated for 15 Academy Awards in her career, more than any other actor, for roles and films ranging from "Out of Africa" to "The Devil Wears Prada."

"Julie & Julia" centers on a young woman's attempt to cook all of Julia Child's dishes from "The Art of French Cooking" in one year, and blog about it.

But the film isn't just about the connection between Streep's Julia and co-star Amy Adams' Julie. It also focuses on the relationship between Child and her husband, played by Stanley Tucci. In one scene he calls her "the butter to my bread and the breath to my life."