Barbra Streisand's Biography

Her father Emanuel, who was a teacher, died when Barbra Streisand was less than 2 years old.

She attended Bais Yakov School and Erasmus High School in Brooklyn, where she first met Neil Diamond, whom she would later work with.

Streisand won a singing contest at a small Manhattan club and started singing as a teenager in a few New York clubs.

In 1962, Barbra Streisand signed a contract with Columbia Records and she started to have huge commercial success as a singer. In addition she earned great critical acclaim, picking up her first two Grammys in 1963 (Best Female Vocal Performance and Album of the Year).

In 1963 she married the actor Elliott Gould, although they broke up in 1971.

Her Broadway debut performance starring in I Can Get It For You Wholesale won her the New York Drama Critics Award.

Streisand's singing and acting career continued, for example, in films such as Funny Girl, for which she won (jointly with Katherine Hepburn) the Oscar for best actress in a leading role; The Way We Were, and A Star is Born (where she won an Oscar with Paul Williams for best original song for Evergreen).

In 1983, Barbra Streisand added another string to her bow, when she directed Yentl, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for best director.

She later received critical acclaim for her direction of The Prince of Tides.

On 1 July 1998, Barbra Streisand married James Brolin.

In 2004, Barbra Streisand played Rozalin Focker in the commercial success Meet The Fockers.

As well as all this, Barbra Streisand has had numerous successful concerts and TV shows and her philanthropy is highlighted by The Streisand Foundation, which contributes to a variety of causes.