Tyler Perry (born September 14, 1969)
[Christian, Margena A., Becoming Tyler. Ebony. October 2008: 83] is an American
playwright,
screenwriter,
actor and
director and
producer of
indie 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.
Personal life
Tyler was born
Emmitt R. Perry, Jr. in
New Orleans, Louisiana (He now lives in
Atlanta, Georgia),
[Tyler Perry Biography - Inspired by Oprah, Perseverance Paid Off, Concentrated on Madea Character] one of four children. 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.
[Tyler Perry Discusses Tyler Perry's Daddy Little Girls Movie][Frankly, Madea, Tyler Perry's appeal is universal | AccessAtlanta][Tyler Perry's Aha! moment][AT HOME WITH: Tyler Perry; God Must Love Gilt - New York Times] His childhood in New Orleans was marked by poverty and
physical abuse from his father.
[Interview with Tyler Perry - Beliefnet.com] Perry dropped out of school when he was 16, but later went back to school to obtain his
GED. Perry is a
Christian.
[[www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/01/14/steroid.raid.ap/index.html?eref=rss_showbiz Paper: Entertainers named in steroid report - CNN.com]
Career
Theatre
One day while he was watching
The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992, 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. Perry's first foray into writing was in 1992, when he began writing 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.
