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 (1986). As of 2006 she had recorded over 60 albums and was the bestselling female singer of all time.

Streisand has also starred in several television specials, and she produced the television movie Serving in Silence in 1995. Also in 1995 she was awarded two Emmy Awards for her cable-television special, “Barbra Streisand: The Concert.” She won another Emmy in 2001 for “Timeless, Live in Concert.” In 2006 she embarked on her first national concert tour since 1994.