Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand, born in 1942, is an American singer, actress and filmmaker who matters to media history chiefly as a director and producer who took creative control of her own screen work. With Yentl in 1983 she became the first woman to write, produce, direct and star in a major studio film, and she received the Golden Globe for Best Director for it, the first woman to win that award. She went on to produce and direct The Prince of Tides in 1991 and The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996. Earlier she had moved from nightclubs and Broadway to television specials and to film acting, winning an Academy Award for Funny Girl. Her recording career gave her unusual leverage, since she negotiated full artistic control over her performances from the start of her contract with Columbia Records. Her honours span Grammy, Golden Globe, Peabody and Emmy awards, an Honorary Palme d'Or and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.