Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr.; September 13, 1969) is an American actor, filmmaker, and playwright.

He is the creator and performer of Mabel "Madea" Simmons, a tough elderly woman, and also portrays her brother Joe Simmons and her nephew Brian Simmons.

Perry's films vary in style from orthodox filmmaking techniques to filmed productions of live stage plays, many of which have been subsequently adapted into feature films.

Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Around 1990, Perry moved to Atlanta, where two years later I Know I've Been Changed was first performed at a community theater, financed by the 22-year-old Perry's life savings of US$12,000.

The play included Christian themes of forgiveness, dignity, and self-worth, while addressing issues such as child abuse and dysfunctional families.

The musical initially received a "less than stellar" reception and was a financial failure.

Perry persisted, and over the next six years he rewrote the musical repeatedly, though lackluster reviews continued.

In 1998, at age 28, he succeeded in retooling the play and restaging it in Atlanta, first at the House of Blues, then at the Fox Theatre.

Perry continued to create new stage productions, touring with them on the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit", now also known as the "urban theater circuit" and developing a large, devoted following among African-American audiences.

Madea's first appearance was in Perry's play I Can Do Bad All by Myself (1999) staged in Chicago.

His breakthrough performance came in 2005 with the film Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which he wrote and produced as an adaptation of his stage play of the same name.

In 2005, Forbes reported that he had sold "more than $100 million in tickets, $30 million in videos of his shows and an estimated $20 million in merchandise", and "the 300 live shows he produces each year are attended by an average of 35,000 people a week".

Perry raised a US$5.5 million budget in part from the ticket sales of his stage productions to fund his first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which went on to gross US$50.6 million domestically, while scoring a 16% approval rating at the film review web site Rotten Tomatoes.

Perry made his directorial debut on his next film, an adaptation of Madea's Family Reunion, and has directed all of his subsequent Madea films.

He also developed numerous television series, most notably Tyler Perry's House of Payne, which ran for eight seasons on TBS from 2006 to 2012.

On its opening weekend, February 24–26, 2006, Madea's Family Reunion opened at number one at the box office with $30.3 million.

The film eventually grossed $65 million.

Outside of his own productions, Perry has been cast in numerous Hollywood films including Star Trek (2009), Alex Cross (2012), Gone Girl (2014), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), Vice (2018), Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021), and Don't Look Up (2021).

In 2011, Forbes listed him as the highest-paid man in entertainment, earning $130 million between May 2010 and May 2011.

In 2012, Perry struck an exclusive multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

The deal featured scripted projects such as The Haves and the Have Nots.

Perry has also done voice acting for animated films such as The Star (2017) and PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021).

Perry's films and shows have cumulatively grossed over $660 million, and his net worth is an estimated $1 billion.

Despite commercial success, his productions have received criticism from critics and scholars who believe his films perpetuate negative or offensive portrayals of African Americans, along with the critical reception itself being largely negative.

In 2019, he produced the political drama series The Oval for BET.

In 2020, Perry was included in Time's list of the 100 most influential people and received the Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Additionally, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy Awards in 2021, and was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame the following year.

Tyler Perry was born Emmitt Perry Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Willie Maxine Perry (née Campbell) and Emmitt Perry Sr., a carpenter.

He has three siblings.

Perry's childhood was described in retrospect as a "living hell".

In contrast to his father, his mother took him to church each week, where he sensed a certain refuge and contentment.

At age 16, he had his first name legally changed from Emmitt to Tyler in an effort to distance himself from his father.

Many years later, after seeing the film Precious, Perry was moved to reveal for the first time that he had been molested by a friend's mother at age 10.

He was also molested by three men prior to this and later learned his own father had molested his friend.

A DNA test taken by Perry indicated that Emmitt Sr. was not Perry's biological father.

While Perry did not complete high school, he earned a General Educational Development (GED).

In his early 20s, watching an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, he heard someone describe the sometimes therapeutic effect the act of writing can have, enabling the author to work out his or her own problems.

This comment inspired him to apply himself to a career in writing.

He soon started writing a series of letters to himself, which became the basis for the musical I Know I've Been Changed.