Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand was married to actor Elliott Gould from 1963 to 1971, and they had one son, Jason Gould. Jason later played her character's son in The Prince of Tides.

She married actor James Brolin in 1998. They have no children together, although Brolin has children from earlier marriages, including actor Josh Brolin.

Streisand began performing in New York nightclubs and cabarets before making her Broadway debut in I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1962. Her performance earned a Tony Award nomination and a New York Drama Critics' Poll award. She also attracted attention through television appearances, including The Judy Garland Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Tonight Show.

Her breakthrough came in 1964, when she played Fanny Brice in the Broadway musical Funny Girl. The production introduced her signature song "People," and she reprised the role in the 1968 film adaptation. Her performance won the Academy Award for Best Actress, which she shared with Katharine Hepburn.

Streisand signed with Columbia Records and retained extensive creative control over her material. Her debut album, The Barbra Streisand Album (1963), won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and the award for Best Female Vocal Performance. Albums such as People, Stoney End, Guilty, The Broadway Album, Higher Ground, Partners, and Walls extended her success across traditional pop, contemporary pop, Broadway, and duet recordings.

Her songs for film became major achievements in their own right. "The Way We Were" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Evergreen," from A Star Is Born, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Streisand wrote the music for "Evergreen," making her the first woman honored with that Oscar as a composer.

Streisand's recording career also produced a long series of chart milestones. She became the first woman to have 11 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and the only recording artist to reach number one on that chart in six different decades.

After Funny Girl, Streisand starred in films including Hello, Dolly!, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, The Owl and the Pussycat, What's Up, Doc?, The Way We Were, Funny Lady, and A Star Is Born. Her roles often combined comic timing, emotional vulnerability, and determined, independent characters. She also appeared in the comedies Meet the Fockers, Little Fockers, and The Guilt Trip.

Streisand made her directing debut with Yentl in 1983, a film in which she also starred, cowrote, and coproduced. She became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major studio film. She later directed The Prince of Tides and The Mirror Has Two Faces.

Streisand's honors include two Academy Awards, 10 Grammy Awards, five Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Legend Award, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2008 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

She has supported Democratic candidates and causes, LGBT rights, voting rights, civil liberties, women's health, environmental protection, and nuclear disarmament. In 1984, she donated the Emanuel Streisand Building for Jewish Studies to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in memory of her father. She founded the Streisand Foundation in 1986, and her charitable work has included support for women's cardiovascular research and education.

The term “Streisand effect” describes an attempt to hide or remove information that instead draws greater public attention to it. The phrase originated after Streisand sued over an aerial photograph of her Malibu home that appeared in an online collection documenting coastal erosion.

The photograph had received little attention before the lawsuit. Publicity surrounding the case led many more people to view and share it, giving the phenomenon its enduring name.

Streisand published her memoir, My Name Is Barbra, in 2023. The book covers her childhood in Brooklyn, her rise through nightclubs and Broadway, and her work in music, acting, and filmmaking.