Age, Biography, and Wiki
Barbra Streisand is 83 years old as of April 2025. She was born to Diana and Emanuel Streisand in Brooklyn, New York. Streisand's early life was marked by her love for music, which led her to begin singing at local nightclubs and on Broadway. Her breakthrough came with her appearance on Broadway in the musical "I Can Get It for You Wholesale," followed by her iconic role in "Funny Girl," which catapulted her to international fame.
| Occupation | Autobiographer |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 24 April 1942 |
| Age | 83 Years |
| Birth Place | New York City, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Streisand's height is reported to be around 5 feet 5 inches (165 cm), though specific details about her weight are not widely available.
| Height | 5 feet 5 inches |
| Weight | |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Barbra Streisand has been married to actor James Brolin since 1998. Prior to her marriage to Brolin, she was married to Elliott Gould from 1963 to 1971. Streisand and Brolin have maintained a long and stable relationship, often sharing insights into their life together.
Her mother had been a soprano in her youth and considered a career in music, but later became a school secretary. Her father was a high school teacher at the same school, where they first met. Streisand's family is Jewish. Her paternal grandparents emigrated from Galicia (modern-day Poland and Ukraine) in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and her maternal grandparents from the Russian Empire, where her grandfather had been a cantor.
In August 1943, a few months after Streisand's first birthday, her father died at age 34 from complications from an epileptic seizure, possibly the result of a head injury years earlier. The family fell into near poverty, with her mother working as a low-paid bookkeeper. As an adult, Streisand remembered those early years as always feeling like an "outcast", explaining, "Everybody else's father came home from work at the end of the day. Mine didn't." Her mother tried to pay their bills but could not give her daughter the attention she craved: "When I wanted love from my mother, she gave me food," Streisand says.
Streisand recalled that her mother had a "great voice" and sang semi-professionally on occasion. In a 2016 interview with Rosie O'Donnell, Streisand recounted that when she was 13, she and her mother recorded some songs on tape during a visit to the Catskills. That session was the first time Streisand ever asserted herself as an artist, which also became her "first moment of inspiration."
She made her singing debut at a PTA assembly, where she became a hit to everyone but her mother, who was mostly critical of her daughter. Streisand was invited to sing at weddings and summer camp, along with having an unsuccessful audition at MGM records when she was nine. By the time she was 13, her mother began supporting her talent, helping her make a four-song demo tape, including "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" and "You'll Never Know".
She graduated from Erasmus Hall in January 1959 at age 16, and despite her mother's pleas that she stay out of show business, she set out trying to get roles on the New York City stage. After renting a small apartment on 48th Street in the heart of the theater district, she accepted any job she could involving the stage, and at every opportunity, she "made the rounds" of the casting offices.
Living on her own at 16, Streisand took various menial jobs to have some income. During one period, she lacked a permanent address, and found herself sleeping at the home of friends or anywhere else she could set up the army cot she carried around. When desperate, she returned to her mother's flat in Brooklyn for a home-cooked meal. However, her mother was horrified by her daughter's "gypsy-like lifestyle", wrote biographer Karen Swenson, and again begged her to give up trying to get into show business, but Streisand took her mother's pleadings as even more reason to keep trying: "My desires were strengthened by wanting to prove to my mother that I could be a star."
Streisand asked her boyfriend, Barry Dennen, to tape her singing, copies of which she could then give out to possible employers. Dennen found a guitarist to accompany her:.
After an eight-year hiatus of screen roles, Streisand returned to film acting for the comedy Meet the Fockers (2004, a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner, and Robert De Niro.
Paramount Pictures gave the green light to begin shooting the road trip comedy My Mother's Curse in early 2011, with Seth Rogen playing Streisand's character's son. Anne Fletcher directed the project, with a script by Dan Fogelman, produced by Lorne Michaels, John Goldwyn, and Evan Goldberg. Executive producers included Streisand, Rogen, Fogelman, and David Ellison, whose Skydance Productions co-financed the road movie. Shooting began in spring 2011 and wrapped in July; the film's title was eventually altered to The Guilt Trip, and the movie was released in December 2012.
Streisand has been married twice. Her first husband was actor Elliott Gould, whom she married on September 13, 1963. They announced their separation on February 12, 1969, and divorced on July 6, 1971. They had one child, Jason Gould, who appeared as her on-screen son in The Prince of Tides.
She started a relationship with hairdresser/producer Jon Peters in 1973. He went on to be her manager and producer. They broke up in 1982 during the making of Yentl, but remain friends. She is the godmother of his daughters, Caleigh Peters and Skye Peters.
Streisand briefly dated film director Michael Cimino in early 1983, though they kept their relationship secret. Cimino had considered her for a role in his planned adaptation of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, which was not made.
Streisand dated tennis champion Andre Agassi from 1992 to 1993. Writing about the relationship in his 2009 autobiography, Agassi said: "We agree that we're good for each other, and so what if she's twenty-eight years older? We're simpatico, and the public outcry only adds spice to our connection. It makes our friendship feel forbidden, taboo – another piece of my overall rebellion. Dating Barbra Streisand is like wearing Hot Lava."
Her second husband is actor James Brolin, whom she married on July 1, 1998. They have no children together. Brolin has two sons from his first marriage, including actor Josh Brolin, and one daughter from his second marriage.
In 1984, Streisand donated the Emanuel Streisand Building for Jewish Studies to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the Mount Scopus campus, in memory of her father, an educator and scholar who died when she was young.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Elliott Gould (m. 1963-1971) James Brolin (m. 1998) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Barbra Streisand's net worth is estimated to be between $400 million and $430 million. Her income comes from a variety of sources, including singing, acting, directing, and producing. She has been known to earn significant amounts from her concerts; for instance, a single concert during her "Magic" tour in 2017 earned her $3.6 million. Additionally, she owns substantial real estate holdings, particularly in Southern California, valued at up to $200 million.
Streisand's career began in the early 1960s performing in nightclubs and Broadway theaters. Following guest appearances on various television shows, she signed to Columbia Records—retaining full artistic control in exchange for accepting lower pay, an arrangement that continued throughout her career. Her studio debut, The Barbra Streisand Album (1963), won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Throughout her recording career, Streisand has amassed a total of 31 RIAA platinum-certified albums, including People (1964), The Way We Were (1974), Guilty (1980), The Broadway Album (1985) and Higher Ground (1997). She was the first woman to score 11 number-one albums on the US Billboard 200—from People to Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway (2016)—and remains the only artist to top the chart in six decades. Streisand also topped the US Billboard Hot 100 with five singles: "The Way We Were", "Evergreen", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", and "Woman in Love".
In February 2008, Forbes listed Streisand as the No. 2-earning female musician between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about $60 million. On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what would be her 63rd album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album. Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies.
Streisand has been an active supporter of the Democratic Party and many of its causes. She was among the celebrities on President Richard Nixon's 1971 list of political enemies. In 1972, she assisted the presidential campaign of anti-war candidate George McGovern by headlining the benefit concert Four for McGovern, organized by actor Warren Beatty and record producer Lou Adler; her concert recording was released as Live Concert at the Forum. The next year, in association with liberal activist Stanley Sheinbaum and the American Civil Liberties Union, Streisand performed a benefit at the mansion of film mogul Jennings Lang to pay for the legal defense of Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame. Accompanied by a small combo including Marvin Hamlisch on piano, Streisand took paid song requests from the star-studded audience and by telephone to bring the night's total to $50,000.
Career, Business, and Investments
Streisand's career has been remarkable, with achievements in music, film, and theater. She is one of the few individuals to have won an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards). In music, she has released 84 albums, with "Guilty" being her best seller, featuring 15 million copies sold. Her film career includes iconic roles in "Funny Girl," "A Star is Born," and "Yentl," which she also directed. Streisand has also made significant investments in real estate and art, with a notable collection that includes a John Singer Sargent painting valued at $20 million.
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the first performer to earn Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards.
With sales exceeding 150 million records worldwide, Streisand is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the second-highest certified female artist in the United States, with 68.5 million certified album units. Billboard ranked Streisand as the greatest solo artist on the Billboard 200 chart and the top Adult Contemporary female artist of all time. Her accolades span ten Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grammy Legend Award; nine Golden Globe Awards; five Emmy Awards; four Peabody Awards; two Academy Awards; the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
During the summer of 1957, she landed her first stage experience as a walk-on at the Playhouse, in Malden Bridge, New York. That small part was followed by a role as the kid sister in Picnic and as a vamp in Desk Set. In her second year, she took a night job at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, helping backstage. When she was a senior, she rehearsed for a small part in Driftwood, a play staged in a midtown attic space.
Streisand took a job as an usher at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater for The Sound of Music early in 1960. During the run of the play, she heard that the casting director was auditioning for more singers, and it marked the first time she sang in pursuit of a job. Although the director felt she was not right for the part, he encouraged her to begin including her talent as a singer on her résumé when looking for other work.
Dennen grew enthusiastic and he convinced her to enter a talent contest at the Lion, a gay nightclub in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. She performed two songs, after which there was a "stunned silence" from the audience, followed by "thunderous applause" when she was pronounced the winner. She was invited back and sang at the club for several weeks. During this time, disliking her name, she changed it from "Barbara" to "Barbra". In early days of her career, Streisand was repeatedly told she was too ugly to be a star and was advised to get a nose job; which she declined to do.
Streisand accepted her first role on the New York stage in Another Evening with Harry Stoones, a satirical comedy play in which she acted and sang two solos. The show received terrible reviews and closed the next day. With the help of her new personal manager, Martin Erlichman, she had successful shows in Detroit and St. Louis. Erlichman then booked her at an even more upscale nightclub in Manhattan, the Blue Angel, where she became a bigger hit during the period from 1961 to 1962. Streisand once told Jimmy Fallon, with whom she sang a duet, on the Tonight Show, that Erlichman was a "fantastic manager" and still managed her career after 50 years.
In May 1962, Streisand appeared on The Garry Moore Show, where she sang "Happy Days Are Here Again" for the first time. Her sad, slow version of the 1930s upbeat Democratic Party theme song became her signature song during this early phase of her career.
In December 1962, Streisand made the first of a number of appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. She was later a cohost on The Mike Douglas Show, and also made an impact on a number of Bob Hope specials. Performing with her on The Ed Sullivan Show was Liberace, who became an instant fan of the young singer. Liberace invited her to Las Vegas to perform as his opening act at the Riviera Hotel. He is credited with introducing Streisand to audiences on the West Coast. The following September, during her ongoing shows at Harrah's Hotel in Lake Tahoe, she and Elliott Gould took time off to get married in Carson City, Nevada. With her career and popularity rising so quickly, she saw her marriage to Gould as a "stabilizing influence".
After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots. Columbia Records objected that the songs she wanted to sing were not pop songs, but Streisand asserted the full creative control her contract gave her—'I've always had the right to sing what I want' —with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted No. 1 Billboard position for three straight weeks and being certified quadruple platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for album of the year, and handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to release another album of Broadway songs in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including "On My Own" (from Les Misérables), a medley of "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?", and "Heather on the Hill" (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), "All I Ask of You" (from The Phantom of the Opera), "Warm All Over" (from The Most Happy Fella), and an unusual solo version of "Make Our Garden Grow" (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was scrapped. Only "Warm All Over" and a reworked, lite FM-friendly version of "All I Ask of You" were ever released, the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You. At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her film directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities, and previously unreleased material.
The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit, as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance, hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at No. 1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's Janet to the No. 2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of "I Have A Love" / "One Hand, One Heart", a duet with Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.
Along with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, and later Steve McQueen, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969 so that actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).
In the early years of her career, Streisand's interest in politics was limited, with the exception of her participation in activities of the anti-nuclear group Women Strike for Peace in 1961 and 1962. In 1968, her political activism increased, and she helped promote the presidential campaign of Eugene McCarthy who held an anti–Vietnam War stance. In July 1968, with Harry Belafonte and others, she performed at the Hollywood Bowl in a fundraising concert sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to benefit the poor.
In 1984, Streisand joined Jane Fonda and ten other television and film industry notables to establish the activist group Hollywood Women's Political Committee (HWPC), the membership eventually growing to 300. The HWPC fought for liberal causes for more than a decade, contributing to the Democratic Party's taking majority control in the 1986 U.S. Senate elections, and in 1992 funding Bill Clinton's presidential election as well as helping to usher in the Year of the Woman by electing more women senators. In 1995 Streisand spoke at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government about the role of the artist as citizen, in support of arts programs and funding.
Streisand was presented the Distinguished Merit Award by Mademoiselle in 1964, and selected as Miss Ziegfeld in 1965. In 1968, she received the Israel Freedom Medal, the highest civilian award of Israel, and she was awarded Pied Piper Award by ASCAP and Prix De L'Academie Charles Cros in 1969, Crystal Apple by her hometown City of New York, Woman of Achievement in the Arts by Anti-Defamation League in 1978. In 1984, Streisand was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. She received the Woman of Courage Award by the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Scopus Award by American Friends of the Hebrew University.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton presented Streisand with the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor specifically given for achievement in the arts, and Library of Congress Living Legend, she also received the highest honor for a career in film AFI Life Achievement Award from American Film Institute and Liberty and Justice Award from Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Gracie Allen Award, First Annual Jewish Image Awards in 2001, and Humanitarian Award "for her years of leadership, vision, and activism in the fight for civil liberties, including religion, race, gender equality and freedom of speech, as well as all aspects of gay rights" from Human Rights Campaign in 2004. In 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented Streisand with Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France, and President George W. Bush presented her Kennedy Center Honors, the highest recognition of cultural achievement.
In 1970, she received a Special Tony Award named "Star of the Decade", and was selected "Star of the Decade" by the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) in 1980, "Star of Decade" by NATO/ShowWest and President's Award by NARM in 1988. That year she was also named as All-Time Favorite Musical Performer by People's Choice Awards. In 1986, Life named her as one of "Five Hollywood's Most Powerful Women". In 1998, Harris Poll reported that she is the "Most Popular Singer Among Adult Americans of All Ages." She was also featured on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll, Top 100 Singers of all time by Mojo magazine, named the century's best female singer in a Reuters/Zogby poll, and "Top Female Artist of the Century" by Recording Industry Association of America in 1999. In 2006, Streisand was one of honorees at Oprah Winfrey's white-tie Legends Ball.
Barbra Streisand is one of the most decorated entertainers in history. She has won two Academy Awards – one for Best Actress in Funny Girl (1968) and another for Best Original Song for Evergreen (1976), making her the first woman to receive the latter. Streisand has earned 10 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for The Barbra Streisand Album. She was also awarded the prestigious Grammy Legend Award, an honor received by only 14 other artists, as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She has won five Emmy Awards, comprising four Primetime Emmys and one Daytime Emmy. She has received four Peabody Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and nine Golden Globes. Additionally, she received a Special Tony Award in 1970, recognizing her contributions to Broadway. In 2011, she was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year by the Grammy Foundation for her artistic achievement in the music industry.
Streisand's writing of her autobiography stalled at various stages, and Viking Press announced in May 2015 that they anticipated publishing her long-awaited memoir in 2017, spanning Streisand's entire life and career.
Social Network
While Streisand isn't extremely active on social media platforms, she does maintain a presence to engage with her fans and share updates on her projects.
Streisand has recorded 50 studio albums, almost all with Columbia Records. Her early works in the 1960s (her debut The Barbra Streisand Album, The Second Barbra Streisand Album, The Third Album, My Name Is Barbra, etc.) are considered classic renditions of theatre and cabaret standards, including her pensive version of the normally uptempo "Happy Days Are Here Again". She performed this in a duet with Judy Garland on The Judy Garland Show. Garland referred to her on the air as one of the last great belters. They also sang "There's No Business Like Show Business", with Ethel Merman joining them.
Beginning with My Name Is Barbra, her early albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials. Starting in 1969, she began attempting more contemporary material, but like many talented singers of the day, she found herself out of her element with rock. Her vocal talents prevailed, and she gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented Richard Perry-produced album Stoney End in 1971. The title track, written by Laura Nyro, was a major hit for Streisand.
In 1993, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century". In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years (discounting her Las Vegas nightclub performances between 1969 and 1972). What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Las Vegas led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets for the tour sold out in under an hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500, making Streisand the highest-paid concert performer in history at the time. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top-grossing concert of the year and earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, while the taped broadcast on HBO was the highest-rated concert special in HBO's 30-year history. Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on acting and directing duties as well as a burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin.
In 1997, she finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely inspirational nature that also featured a duet with Céline Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and once again debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts. Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics complaining about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged "If You Ever Leave Me", a duet with Vince Gill.
Streisand was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on February 11, 2011, two days prior to the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. That same year, Streisand sang "Somewhere" from the Broadway musical West Side Story, with child prodigy Jackie Evancho, on Evancho's album Dream with Me.
During the early-to-mid-1990s, Streisand was in romantic relationships with several high-profile men, including newscaster Peter Jennings, and actors Liam Neeson, Jon Voight and Peter Weller.
Streisand changed her name from "Barbara" to "Barbra" because, she said, "I hated the name, but I refused to change it." Streisand further explained, "Well, I was 18 and I wanted to be unique, but I didn't want to change my name because that was too false. You know, people were saying you could be Joanie Sands, or something like that. (My middle name is Joan.) And I said, 'No, let's see, if I take out the 'a,' it's still 'Barbara,' but it's unique." A 1967 biography with a concert program said, "the spelling of her first name is an instance of partial rebellion: she was advised to change her last name and retaliated by dropping an "a" from the first instead."
According to Streisand, her surname is pronounced with an "s" sound "like sand on the beach," not the "z" sound often used. The Apple voice digital assistant Siri originally pronounced her surname wrong, prompting Streisand to personally contact Apple CEO Tim Cook to complain about the pronunciation, which Apple soon corrected.
In an October 2018 interview with Emma Brockes of The Guardian, Streisand discussed the theme of her new album Walls: the danger she believed President Donald Trump posed towards the United States. She said, "This is a dangerous time in this nation, this republic: a man who is corrupt and indecent and is assaulting our institutions. It's really, really frightening. And I just pray that people who are compassionate and respect the truth will come out and vote. I'm saying more than just vote. Vote for Democrats!" In November 2023, she praised President Joe Biden, saying "I like Biden. I think he has done a good job. I think he is compassionate, smart, supports the right things."
Education
Streisand attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and later studied at the New School in New York City. However, she did not complete her formal education, instead focusing on her career in music and theater.
In summary, Barbra Streisand is a cultural icon with a storied career, impressive net worth, and enduring influence on the entertainment industry. Her legacy continues to inspire new generations of artists and fans alike.
Streisand began her education at the Jewish Orthodox Yeshiva of Brooklyn when she was five. She was considered bright and inquisitive; however, she lacked discipline, often shouting answers to questions out of turn. She next attended Public School 89 in Brooklyn, and during those early school years began watching television and going to movies. "I always wanted to be somebody, to be famous... You know, get out of Brooklyn."
In 1956, she attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where she became an honor student in modern history, English, and Spanish. She also joined the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, where she sang with another choir member and classmate, Neil Diamond. Diamond recalls, "We were two poor kids in Brooklyn. We hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes." The school was near an art movie house, and he recalls that she was always aware of the films they were showing. She had a crush on 15-year-old US Chess Champion and fellow student Bobby Fischer, whom she found to be "very sexy".
While she is predominantly a pop singer, Streisand's voice has been described as "semi-operatic" due to its strength and quality of tone. According to Adam Feldman of Time Out, Streisand's "signature vocal style" is "a suspension bridge between old-school belting and microphone pop." She is known for her ability to hold relatively high notes, both loud and soft, with great intensity—which led classical pianist Glenn Gould to call himself "a Streisand freak" —as well as for her ability to make slight but unobtrusive embellishments on a melodic line.
Streisand has personally raised $25 million for organizations through her live performances. The Streisand Foundation, established in 1986, has contributed over $16 million through nearly 1,000 grants to "national organizations working on preservation of the environment, voter education, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, women's issues and nuclear disarmament".
In 2009, Streisand gifted $5 million to endow the Barbra Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research and Education Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Women's Heart Center. In September that year, Parade magazine included Streisand on its Giving Back Fund's second annual Giving Back 30 survey, "a ranking of the celebrities who have made the largest donations to charity in 2007 according to public records", as the third most generous celebrity. The Giving Back Fund claimed Streisand donated $11 million, which The Streisand Foundation distributed. In 2012 she raised $22 million to support her women's cardiovascular center, bringing her own personal contribution to $10 million. The program was officially named the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center.
She received Breakthrough Awards for "making films that portray women with serious complexity" at the Women, Men and Media symposium in 1991. In 1992, she was given the Commitment to Life Award by AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), and the Bill of Rights Award by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the Dorothy Arzner Special Recognition by Women in Film, and the Golden Plate by the Academy of Achievement. She was honored with the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award from the ASCAP in 1994 and the Peabody Award in 1995, the same year she was accorded an Honorary Doctorate in Arts and Humanities by Brandeis University. She was also awarded Filmmaker of the Year Award for "lifetime achievement in filmmaking" by ShowEast and Peabody Award in 1996, Christopher Award in 1998.
In 2011, she was given Board of Governors Humanitarian Award for her efforts on behalf of women's heart health and her many other philanthropic activities." by Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. She received the L'Oréal Paris Legend Award in 18th Elle Magazine Women in Hollywood. In 2012, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women Film Critics Circle. She was accorded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013. In that year, she was also recipient of the Charlie Chaplin Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Film Society of Lincoln Center as the only female artist to direct, write, produce and star in the same major studio film, Yentl, along with a Lifetime Achievement Glamour Awards.
