Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr., September 13, 1969)[1] is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter.[2] In 2011, Forbes listed him as the highest-paid man in entertainment, earning US$130 million between May 2010 and May 2011.[3]

Perry created and performs the Madea character, a tough elderly woman.[4][5][6] Perry’s films vary in style from orthodox filmmaking techniques to filmed productions of live stage plays. Many of Perry’s stage-play films have been subsequently adapted as feature films.

Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. Perry has developed several television series, most notably Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which ran for eight seasons on TBS from June 21, 2006 to August 10, 2012. On October 2, 2012, Perry struck an exclusive multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah Winfrey Network. The partnership was largely for the sake of bringing scripted television to OWN, based on Perry’s previous success in this area.[7] 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.