After Dinner Speakers: Barbra Streisand, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank, Zoe Ball

Barbara Joan Streisand was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. She is one of two daughters. After she graduated from Erasmus High School in 1959, she moved to Manhattan to pursue an acting career. At which time, she took the letter "a" out of her first name to make her stand out. Her name is now spelled Barbra. In the early 1960s, she sang in New York nightclubs and in 1961 she appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In 1962, Barbra had her Broadway debut in the play "I Can Get It For You Wholesale." A year later, she made her first album with Columbia Records which, was named after her. This album made her the top-selling female singer in America. The following year, in 1964, she played the part of Fanny Brice in the movie "Funny Girl" starring opposite Omar Shariff. Her career was on a role and escalated. Although she was a shy person, Ms. Streisand did concert tours until 1967 when she received a death threat. After taking a twenty-year hiatus from concerts, Ms. Streisand starting doing concerts again and to much success. Her fans waited for her to come back. Barbra became very politically involved. All of her concerts have been fundraisers for political candidates or causes that she has strongly believed in. In 1987, she founded the Barbra Streisand Foundation to support liberal political causes, which have included gay rights, environmentalism and women’s rights issues. She has been a controversial subject because of her private life and because of this, the Academy refused to grant her an Academy Award for many years, regardless of the fact she is a very talented artist. Through the span of thirty years, this talented artist, through hard work and her take charge attitude, gained the title of being a superstar. Aside from singing, Barbra has written songs, produced and directed movies and albums. She has cut over twenty albums, made over fifteen films, appeared on several television shows and starred in the theatre. In 1995, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Brandeis University. In her private life, she was married to actor Elliot Gould for eight years, lived many years with Jon Peters, was rumored to have she dated high political figures and is now married to actor James Brolin. After working for over fifty years, Ms. Streisand is contemplating retirement so she can enjoy her life with her husband. They currently reside in California.