Tyler Perry was born Emmitt R. Perry, Jr., in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 14, 1969. One of four children, he is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, director and producer of films and stage plays. His best-known character is "Madea", who is a physically imposing and overbearing, but well-intentioned, woman who serves both as comic relief and as the loud voice of conscience for the protagonists of Perry's works.
Perry changed his first name to Tyler because of his troubled relationship with his father. His father, Emmitt, Sr., was a carpenter and construction worker, and his mother, Maxine, was a pre-school teacher who worked at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center for most of her life. His childhood in New Orleans was marked by poverty and sexual abuse from his father. Perry dropped out of school when he was 16, but later went back to school to obtain his GED.
One day in 1992, while he was watching The Oprah Winfrey Show, Perry took the advice that it can be cathartic to put feelings down on paper, which inspired him to write letters of his painful childhood. These letters eventually became his plays.
This was Perry's first foray into writing, when he began keeping a journal, in part to cope with the repercussions of abuse. He developed different characters to voice different ideas in the journal. This work eventually became the musical I Know I've Been Changed about adult survivors of child abuse.
As of March 2005, Perry's plays had grossed over $75 million in ticket and DVD sales. Perry stated in a January 2004 interview in Ebony magazine that his theater productions were designed to be a bridge between the traditional urban theater circuit—historically and pejoratively referred to as the "chitlin' circuit"—and a more traditional theater format.
After a successful pilot run of his TV show, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, Perry signed a $200 million, 100-episode deal with TBS. On June 6, 2007, the first two episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne ran on TBS. Due to high ratings, House of Payne is now in syndication.
One day in 1992, while he was watching The Oprah Winfrey Show, Perry took the advice that it can be cathartic to put feelings down on paper, which inspired him to write letters of his painful childhood. These letters eventually became his plays.
This was Perry's first foray into writing, when he began keeping a journal, in part to cope with the repercussions of abuse. He developed different characters to voice different ideas in the journal. This work eventually became the musical I Know I've Been Changed about adult survivors of child abuse.
As of March 2005, Perry's plays had grossed over $75 million in ticket and DVD sales. Perry stated in a January 2004 interview in Ebony magazine that his theater productions were designed to be a bridge between the traditional urban theater circuit—historically and pejoratively referred to as the "chitlin' circuit"—and a more traditional theater format.
After a successful pilot run of his TV show, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, Perry signed a $200 million, 100-episode deal with TBS. On June 6, 2007, the first two episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne ran on TBS. Due to high ratings, House of Payne is now in syndication.
