Tyler Perry (born
Emmitt Perry, Jr.; September 14, 1969) is an American actor, director, screen and playwright, producer, author,
and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film,
Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
[BV News wire report on Forbes rankings.]
Perry is estimated to have earned around $75 million by 2008. "Tyler Perry, Simon Cowell Share Hollywood, Forbes in Common." Singersroom, June 8, 2011. In 2011,
Forbes named him the highest paid man in entertainment, earning $130 million between May 2010 and 2011.
Early life
Perry was born in
New Orleans, Louisiana, as Emmitt Perry, Jr. His family consisted of three siblings, his mother, Willie Maxine Perry (née Campbell), and his father, Emmitt Perry, Sr., a carpenter.
Perry once said his father's "only answer to everything was to beat it out of you".
As a child, Perry once went so far as to attempt suicide in an effort to escape his father's beatings. In contrast to his father, his mother took him to church each week, where he sensed a certain refuge and contentment.
J Rank's biography website article
