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Barbra Streisand b. 1942

Barbra Streisand is one of the most commercially successful recording artists in history, having sold more albums than any other female artist. She was born in Brooklyn and began her career singing in nightclubs. Her first album, "The Barbra Streisand Album" (1963), won two Grammys and her first film, "Funny Girl" (1968), earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Streisand became the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song as a composer for "Evergreen," from the soundtrack of "A Star is Born" (1976). With "Yentl" (1983), she became the first woman ever to produce, direct, write and star in a major motion picture. She is the only artist ever to receive Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe, National Endowment for the Arts, and Peabody Awards, as well as the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the first female director to receive The Kennedy Center Honors. Since founding the Streisand Foundation in 1981, she has raised and distributed $21 million to organizations supporting environmental issues, constitutional rights, AIDS research, women's issues, and race relations, and has raised approximately $20 million, through performances and appearances, for additional causes and charities.