Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand, born in 1942, American singer, stage and motion-picture actor, director, and producer. She was born Barbara Streisand in Brooklyn, New York. After winning a talent contest, she had a succession of singing engagements and occasional television performances. In 1961 Streisand appeared in an off-Broadway play that lasted only one night but gained her a job singing at the Blue Angel Club in New York City. She then was given a role in the Broadway production of I Can Get It For You Wholesale, which opened in 1962. When the play closed nine months later, Streisand received offers from nightclubs, television and Broadway producers, and record companies.

Streisand’s portrayal on Broadway of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (1964) earned critical acclaim, and in 1968 she won an Academy Award for her film debut in the same role. Her subsequent films included Hello Dolly! (1969); On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970); Up the Sandbox (1972); The Way We Were (1973); A Star Is Born (1976); The Main Event (1979); All Night Long (1981); Yentl (1983), which she also wrote, directed, and produced; Nuts (1987); The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), both of which she also directed and co-produced; and Meet the Fockers (2004). At the Golden Globe Awards in 2000 Streisand was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Her first record album, The Barbra Streisand Album (1963), sold more than a million copies. In 1987 she was awarded a Grammy Award as best female pop vocalist for The Broadway Album (1985). Other albums by Streisand include My Name Is Barbra (1965), Simply Streisand (1967), The Way We Were (1974), Songbird (1978), Guilty (1980), Back to Broadway (1993), and Guilty Pleasures (2005). She became one of the bestselling female singers of all time. Streisand also starred in several television specials for which she won Emmy Awards.