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Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand’s screen presence has always carried the qualities that first distinguished her as a performer: emotional precision, sharp humor and a voice capable of turning a song into a fully acted scene. Born in Brooklyn on April 24, 1942, she initially pursued acting, gaining early stage experience before nightclub performances brought wider attention to her singing. Her Broadway breakthrough came in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, followed by her acclaimed performance as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Streisand reprised Fanny Brice for her first film, Funny Girl, in 1968. The performance won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, shared with Katharine Hepburn, and established her as a movie star without sanding down the individuality that had driven her stage career. Her film work during the 1970s moved easily between comedy and drama. What’s Up, Doc? gave her room for screwball energy, while The Way We Were paired her with Robert Redford and earned her another Best Actress nomination. In A Star Is Born, her acting and music met directly; “Evergreen,” written with Paul Williams, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Creative control became an increasingly important part of Streisand’s filmmaking. She established Barwood Films in 1972 and served as producer, director and star of Yentl, later taking the same three roles on The Prince of Tides and The Mirror Has Two Faces. Those projects show the shape of her career particularly well: performance was never her only interest. She also worked as a writer and screenwriter, and co-wrote Yentl with Jack Rosenthal. Her screen appearances became less frequent after the early 1980s, but she later returned to comedy as Roz Focker in Meet the Fockers and Little Fockers, followed by The Guilt Trip. Across musicals, romantic dramas and broad comedy, Streisand has remained a performer who makes every role feel closely considered—an actor, singer and filmmaker whose different creative lives have continually informed one another.