Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry, born Emmitt Perry Jr. on September 13, 1969, in New Orleans, Louisiana, is an American filmmaker, comedian, playwright, actor, and entrepreneur. He came to wide public attention through a body of work that moved between stage, film, and television, often carrying the feel of live theater into screen productions. He is best known as the creator and performer of Mabel “Madea” Simmons, a tough elderly woman who first appeared in the 1999 Chicago stage production I Can Do Bad All by Myself. Perry also portrays Madea’s brother Joe Simmons and her nephew Brian Simmons.

Perry’s early life was marked by hardship. His mother, Willie Maxine Perry, was married to Emmitt Perry Sr., who abused both Perry and his mother. Perry later described his childhood as a “living hell,” though he found refuge and contentment when his mother took him to church each week. At 16, he legally changed his first name from Emmitt to Tyler to distance himself from Emmitt Sr. As an adult, a DNA test indicated that Emmitt Sr. was not his biological father. Perry has also said he was molested as a child. He did not complete high school, but earned a GED.

Writing became a way forward for Perry in his early 20s. After watching an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in which someone described writing as a therapeutic act, he began writing letters to himself. Those letters became the basis for the musical I Know I’ve Been Changed. Around 1990, he moved to Atlanta, and two years later used his life savings of $12,000 to stage the work at a community theater. The play addressed child abuse and dysfunctional families, while carrying Christian themes of forgiveness, dignity, and self-worth. It failed financially at first, but Perry kept rewriting and restaging it for six years.

By 1998, Perry had retooled I Know I’ve Been Changed and staged it in Atlanta at the House of Blues and then the Fox Theatre. He continued creating stage productions and touring on the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” also called the “urban theater circuit,” building a large African-American audience. His breakthrough in film came in 2005 with Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which he wrote and produced from his stage play. He later directed Madea’s Family Reunion and all subsequent Madea films. His films and shows have grossed more than $660 million, and his net worth has been estimated at $1 billion.

Perry also developed television series, most notably Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which ran on TBS from 2006 to 2012 and was renewed in 2020. In 2012, he entered an exclusive multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey and OWN, including scripted projects such as The Haves and the Have Nots. In 2019, he produced The Oval for BET. Beyond his own productions, he appeared in films including Star Trek, Alex Cross, Gone Girl, Vice, Those Who Wish Me Dead, and Don’t Look Up, and voiced roles in The Star and Paw Patrol: The Movie.

Perry’s work has drawn both large audiences and criticism, including from critics and scholars who argue that some productions reinforce negative or offensive portrayals of African Americans. Still, the scale of his career is clear: Forbes listed him as the highest-paid man in entertainment in 2011, Time included him among its 100 most influential people in 2020, and he received the Governor’s Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences that year. In 2021, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. His words still connect because they come from the same subjects that shaped his work: pain, faith, forgiveness, dignity, and the hard work of finding self-worth.