Meryl Streep has smashed her own record to earn her 20th Oscar nomination, just weeks after US president Donald Trump called her one of the most “over-rated actresses in Hollywood”.

She received a best actress nod for her role in comedy-drama Florence Foster Jenkins, in which she plays a tone-deaf opera singer, as the nominations were announced on Tuesday.

Meryl, 67, was criticised by Mr Trump after she took aim at him during her Golden Globes acceptance speech on January 8 while picking up the Cecil B DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding contribution to entertainment.

Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep (Ian West/PA)

The Hollywood star said Mr Trump’s actions legitimised bullying and cited the moment he appeared to ridicule a disabled reporter, saying it “kind of broke my heart”.

“There was one performance… that stunned me. It sank its hook in my heart not because it was good, there was nothing good about it, but it was effective, and it did its job,” she said, while not mentioning him by name.

“It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth.

“It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back.

“It kind of broke my heart, and I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.

“And this instinct to humiliate when it’s modelled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing.

“Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use definition to bully others, we all lose.”

Following the speech, Trump – who was, at the time, the US president-elect – wrote on Twitter: “Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes.”

He called her a “Hillary flunky” for her support of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and added: “I never ‘mocked’ a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him ‘grovelling’ when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad.

“Just more very dishonest media!”

Meryl previously held the record for Oscar nominations with 19 under her belt and three wins – two best actress accolades for Sophie’s Choice and The Iron Lady and the best supporting actress prize for Kramer Vs Kramer.

She will compete against Isabelle Huppert for Elle, Ruth Negga for Loving, Natalie Portman for Jackie and Emma Stone for La La Land at this year’s Oscars.