Tyler Perry is an American actor, filmmaker, playwright, and entrepreneur. He currently holds the record of the richest black actor in the world.
He is the creator and performer of the Madea character, a tough elderly woman. Perry’s films vary in style from orthodox filmmaking techniques to filmed productions of live stage plays. Many of his stage-play films have been subsequently adapted as feature films.
Early life
Tyler Perry was born Emmitt Perry Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 13, 1969 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.’
Career
Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. He also developed several television series, most notably Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which ran for eight seasons on TBS from 2006 to 2012. In 2011, Forbes listed him as the highest-paid man in entertainment, earning US$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 partnership was largely for the sake of bringing scripted television to OWN, based on Perry’s previous success in this area. Perry has created multiple scripted series for the network, The Haves and the Have Nots crime drama being its most successful. The Haves and the Have Nots gave OWN some of its highest ratings during its 8-year series run,[8] the program hailed as “one of OWN’s biggest success stories with its weekly dose of soapy fun, filled with the typical betrayals, affairs and manipulations.”
Perry has also acted in films not directed, written or produced by himself, including 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), Arthur in Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021), and Jack Bremmer in Don’t Look Up (2021). Perry has also done voice acting for animated films such as The Star (2017) and PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021).
Perry was included in Time’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2020. In 2020, he was awarded the Governors Award from the Primetime Emmy Awards and the following year, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy Awards. In 2022, he was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.
Perry’s films are co-produced and distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment; he retains full copyright ownership under the corporate name Tyler Perry Films, and places his name in front of all titles. Perry’s movies have seen very limited release outside North America, but in May 2010, Lionsgate announced plans to begin releasing his films in the United Kingdom.
Perry produced the long-running sitcom Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which ran for 8 seasons from June 21, 2006, to August 10, 2012. After the successful pilot run, Perry signed a US$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. After receiving high ratings, House of Payne entered broadcast syndication. Reruns were played through December 2007 before the second season began. Perry also wrote, directed and produced the sitcom Meet the Browns, which premiered on TBS on January 7, 2009 and ended on November 18, 2011.
Tyler Perry Studios
In 2015, Perry acquired the 330-acre former military base Fort McPherson located in Atlanta, which he converted to studios. The studios were used to film the HBO Films/OWN film version of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and is currently in ongoing use for the television series The Walking Dead. 50,000 square feet of the site are dedicated to standing permanent sets, including a replica of a luxury hotel lobby, a White House replica, a 16,000-square-foot mansion, a mock cheap hotel, a trailer park set, and a real 1950s-style diner that was relocated from a town 100 miles away; it also hosts 12 sound stages named after highly accomplished African-Americans in the entertainment industry. The blockbuster Marvel film, Black Panther, was the first to be filmed on one of the new stages at Tyler Perry Studios as announced personally by Perry on his Instagram account on February 19, 2018.
Tyler Perry Studios is one of the largest film studios in the nation and established Perry as the second African-American to outright own a major film studio, after Tim and Daphne Reid.
On June 14, 2017, Perry signed a long-term deal with Viacom (now ViacomCBS) for 90 episodes/year of original drama and comedy series. Viacom will also have distribution rights to short video content and a first look at film concepts (the first film from this deal was Nobody’s Fool). The TV deal began fall 2019 with The Oval, Sistas and BET+ (a brand new streaming service) premiering with strong ratings for BET.
Personal Life
Perry is good friends with Janet Jackson, Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey.
Perry is a Christian. Many of the themes in his work reflect theology and social behavior indicative of the predominantly black church culture.
In 2007, Perry bought a 17-acre estate in the Paces neighborhood of Buckhead, Atlanta. In May 2016, he sold the house for $17.5 million, also closing the biggest deal ever for a private home in the Georgia capital. In 2013, his company, ETPC LLC, purchased around 1,100 acres (4.5 km2) in the New Manchester, Georgia area of Douglas County, Georgia.
On July 20, 2009, Perry sponsored 65 children from a Philadelphia day camp to visit Walt Disney World, after reading that a suburban swim club, the Valley Swim Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, had shunned them. He wrote on his website, “I want them to know that for every act of evil that a few people will throw at you, there are millions more who will do something kind for them.”
On December 8, 2009, Perry’s mother, Willie Maxine Perry, died at age 64, following an illness. He lives and works in Southwest Atlanta where he operates the Tyler Perry film and TV studios. In August 2010, it was reported that he had purchased Dean Gardens, a 58-acre estate in the Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek. He tore down the existing 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2) mansion and planned, but never built, a new, environmentally-friendly home on the property.
On November 30, 2014, Perry’s partner Gelila Bekele gave birth to their son. In December 2020, Perry announced that he was a single bachelor.
In September 2017, Perry purchased a house in Mulholland Estates, a gated community in Los Angeles. Nine months after buying the estate, Perry sold the property for $15.6 million.
Perry owns vacation properties in both Wyoming and the Bahamas.
On March 7, 2021, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex publicly revealed in the television interview Oprah with Meghan and Harry that Perry provided initial security and housing for three months that allowed the couple to safely relocate from Canada to California in March 2020, following the withdrawal of their British royal protection. Perry is also godfather to their daughter, Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
Following the death of Stephen “tWitch” Boss, Perry uploaded a video to his Instagram account where he spoke about his own struggles with depression, and revealed he had attempted suicide several times before his career took off.
Net Worth
The 6ft 5in. Tall Actor has an estimated net Worth of a whooping sum of $1 Billion Dollars. Every year, he personally earns between $200 and $250 million from his sprawling entertainment empire. His production company currently earns $150 million per year from one deal alone with ViacomCBS.
Tyler Perry’s 330-acres Tyler Perry studios is worth $400 million.
Tyler Perry earns $20 million from his Tyler Perry Collection clothing line by designing and selling clothing items under his own brand name. The clothing line’s wide range of products includes men’s and women’s apparel, shoes, and accessories. He sells them through his website and various retail outlets such as department stores, specialty shops, and online platforms.
Tyler Perry has more than 15 expensive luxury cars, including a Bugatti Veyron worth $2 million. His other car collections include:A brand-new Toyota Vellfire – $100,000, Lamborghini Urus – over $620,000, Porsche Cayenne – $350,000,Land Rover Discovery – $175,000, Mercedes AMG GT – $1 million.
Tyler Perry made $6 million or more from his Tyler Perry Wines. Tyler Perry Wines is a wine brand he created as a small leisure business out of his love for wine.
