President Shimon Peres received a lovely surprise on his tour of DreamWorks studios on Friday in Los Angeles: A meeting with iconic Jewish actress and singer Barbra Streisand. Peres is in L.A. on the tail end of his coast-to-coast U.S. tour. Peres toured the DreamWorks animation studio, part of Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenbergs company that has produced such hits as Shrek and The Prince of Egypt. He spoke before some 1,500 studio employees and had lunch with 10 important studio heads in Hollywood. Peres and Streisand have been acquainted for many years. Their closeness was evident in Streisands welcome, which involved a warm hug and kiss. The two were then seen chatting like old friends. During his tour of Tinseltown, Peres met with a number of Hollywoods top players, including Spielberg, Katzenberg and actor and director Billy Crystal. Following his visit to DreamWorks, Peres, who closely follows the latest developments in the U.S. animation industry and has even experimented himself with new technology, held a special meeting with young producers, directors and screenwriters. Peres will conclude his U.S. visit on Sunday with a meeting with the leaders of the Hispanic community in Los Angeles. Peres has had a successful tour in the U.S., including receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the AIPAC conference last week, the launch of his Facebook page and meetings with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The president is expected to return to the U.S. in the spring for the ceremony in which President Barack Obama will official present him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
