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Barbra Streisand Biography

Singer / Actor / Filmmaker

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Barbra Streisand is the top-selling female artist in American music recording history. After her splashy debut on Broadway in 1962's I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Barbra Streisand played entertainer Fanny Brice in the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl. Her 1965 television special, My Name is Barbra, won five Emmy awards and made her a small-screen star. In 1968 she went herself one better, winning the best actress Oscar for the film version of Funny Girl. A legendary case of stage fright kept Streisand from performing publicly for the next two decades, but in those years she remained a top star in recording and movie studios. She wrote, directed and starred in 1983's Yentl and 1991's The Prince of Tides (with Nick Nolte). In 1986 she began singing in public again, and in 1998 she married actor James Brolin. As of 2009, she had won more gold records than any other performer in history. While not making movies or singing, Streisand kicks up dust in the political arena as an outspoken Democrat.

Extra credit: Streisand shared the 1968 best actress Oscar with Katharine Hepburn, who was honored for The Lion in Winter... Streisand won a second Oscar as a co-writer (with Paul Williams) of the song "Evergreen" from the 1977 film A Star is Born... She was married to actor Elliot Gould from 1963 until their divorce in 1971. Their son, Jason Gould (b. 1966), is also an actor.

Streisand makes an appearance in our loop Dolly Shot, along with Dolley Madison and Dolly the Sheep.

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