Tyler Perry is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and director and in 2011, was listed among the highest-paid man in entertainment, earning US$130 million between May 2010 and May 2011 by Forbes. Tyler created and performed the Madea character, a tough and harsh elderly woman. His films keep on varying in style from orthodox filmmaking techniques to filmed productions of live stage plays. Many of his films played on the stage have been subsequently adapted as films.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, he wrote and produced many stage plays. Tyler has developed several television series, most notably Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, and this ran for eight seasons on TBS between June 21st, 2006, and August 10th, 2012. He struck an exclusive multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah Winfrey Network on October 2nd, 2012. The reason for partnership was to bring the scripted television to OWN, which based on Tyler’s previous success in this area. He has created multiple scripted series for the network like ‘The Haves and the Have Nots’ being its most successful. This series has given OWN its highest ratings to date with the series also known as ‘one of OWN’s biggest success stories with its weekly dose of soapy fun, which filled with the typical betrayals, affairs and also manipulations.
Additionally, Tyler has acted in films not directed or produced by himself, such as Admiral Barnett in Star Trek (2009), the titular character in Alex Cross (2012), Tanner Bolt in Gone Girl (2014), Baxter Stockman in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Out of the Shadows (2016), Colin Powell in Vice (2018) among others.
Age
Tyler Perry, initially called Emmitt Perry Junior, was born on September 13th, 1969 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Family
Tyler Perry is the son of Willie Maxine Perry and Emmitt Perry Sr. a carpenter and has three siblings. Tyler once said that his father’s answer to everything was to ‘beat it out of you’. He once went so far as to attempt committing suicide in an effort to escape his father’s beatings, as a child. Tyler’s mother took him to church each week, where he sensed a certain refuge and contentment, in contrast to his father. His first name legally changed from Emmitt to Tyler in an effort to distance himself from his father when he was 16 years.
Madea
Tyler created and portrayed a character of Mabel ‘Madea’ Earlene Simmons (a tough, elderly African-American woman). Madea is based on Tyler’s mother and his aunt. In Tyler’s own words Madea is ‘exactly the PG version of my mother and my aunt, and I loved having an opportunity to pay homage to them. She would beat the hell out of you but make sure the ambulance got there in time to make sure they could set your arm back’.
Acrimony
This is a 2018 American psychological thriller film produced, written and directed by Tyler. The film stars, Henson Taraji P., Bent Lyriq and Stewart Crystle, followed a loyal wife who decided to take revenge on her ex-husband. In October 2016, Principal photography began in Pittsburgh and the Acrimony was released in the US by Lionsgate on March 30, 2018. Acrimony received generally negative reviews from critics and has grossed $46 million worldwide.
Career
In 1990, he moved to Atlanta, where two years later, he performed ‘I know I’ve Been Changed’ at a community theater, which was financed by a 22-year-old Tyler’s $12,000 life savings. The play focused on Christian themes of forgiveness, dignity and self-worth, also addressing issues like child abuse and dysfunctional families. The musical initially received a ‘less than stellar’ reception and was failed due to financial constraint. Tyler persisted and over the next 6 years he rewrote the musical repeatedly, but lackluster reviews continued. When he was 28 years, he succeeded in retooling the play and restaging it in Atlanta, first at the House of Blues, then at the Fox Theatre in 1998. Tyler continued to create new stage productions, touring with them on the ‘Chitlin’ Circuit’ (currently called ‘urban theater circuit’) and as a result, he started developing a large, devoted following among African-American audiences.
Tyler raised a US$5.5 million budget in part from the ticket sales of his stage productions to fund his first movie referred to as Diary of a Mad Black Woman. This movie went on to gross US$50.6 million domestically, as well as scoring a 16% approval rating at the film review web site Rotten Tomatoes. Tyler made his directorial debut on his next film, adaptation of Madea’s Family Reunion. Tyler has directed all of his subsequent Madea films. From 24 to 26 February, 2006, on its opening weekend Madea’s Family Reunion opened at number one at the box office with $30.3 million and the film eventually grossed $65 million. Tyler and his co-stars promoted the film on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Almost all of the Madea’s earnings have been generated in the US, as with Diary.
Tyler directed a film adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s 1975 choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, and was released on November 5, 2010 in theaters. Tyler appeared in the stage show Madea’s Big Happy Family, which toured the United States as a stage play and was released in 2011 as a movie which was written, directed by, and starring Tyler. The film version of Madea’s Big Happy Family raked in US$25.8 million at the box office and took second place. His next film with Lionsgate was Good Deeds, in which Tyler plays lead character, Wesley Deeds. Good Deeds is a romantic drama film written, directed by, and starring him which was released on February 24th, 2012. It is the tenth of eleven films which he directed and appears in. This film received a 29% rating by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and opened with a box office 15.5 million US dollars gross. The movie also stars Thandie Newton, Rebecca Romijn, Gabrielle Union, Eddie Cibrian, Jamie Kennedy and Phylicia Rashad.
On March 29, 2013, Tyler released his 13th film called Temptation – Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. The film stars Lance Gross, Smollett Jurnee, Norwood Brandy, Jones Robbie, Vanessa L. Williams and Kim Kardashian. Tyler produced Tyler Perry Presents Peeples and released on May 10, 2013. Tyler returned to the big screen with A Madea Christmas which was released on December 13, 2013. He directed the film The Single Moms Club that was opened on March 14, 2014. Tyler’s first animated movie Madea’s Tough Love was released on DVD January 20th, 2015. He played scientist Baxter Stockman in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Out of the Shadows in 2016. He started filming his 17th film, and ninth within the Madea franchise, Boo! A Madea Halloween in mid January 2016 and the film was released on October 21st, 2016. In October 2017, A sequel, Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, was released. Tyler together with Oprah Winfrey, lent his voice in his first computer-animated film, known as The Star, which is based on the Nativity of Jesus Christ. Developed by Sony Pictures Animation, the film was released on November 17th, 2017.
