Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr.; September 13, 1969)[1] is an American actor, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the creator and performer of Mabel "Madea" Simmons, a tough elderly woman, and also portrays her brother Joe Simmons and her nephew Brian Simmons.[2][3][4] Perry's films vary in style from orthodox filmmaking techniques to filmed productions of live stage plays, many of which have been subsequently adapted into feature films. Madea's first appearance was in Perry's play I Can Do Bad All by Myself (1999) staged in Chicago.
For the basketball player, see Tylor Perry.
Tyler Perry
- Actor
- film producer
- director
- writer
- playwright
- entrepreneur
1992–present
Gelila Bekele (2009–2020)
1
Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. His breakthrough performance came in 2005 with the film Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which he wrote and produced as an adaptation of his stage play of the same name. He also developed numerous 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 $130 million between May 2010 and May 2011.[5] In 2012, Perry struck an exclusive multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). The deal featured scripted projects such as The Haves and the Have Nots.[6] In 2019, he produced the political drama series The Oval for BET.
Outside of his own productions, Perry has been cast in numerous Hollywood films including Star Trek (2009), Alex Cross (2012), Gone Girl (2014), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), Vice (2018), Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021), and 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's films and shows have cumulatively grossed over $660 million, and his net worth is an estimated $1 billion.[7] Despite commercial success, his productions have received criticism from critics and scholars who believe his films perpetuate negative or offensive portrayals of African Americans, along with the critical reception itself being largely negative.[8][9][10] In 2020, Perry was included in Time's list of the 100 most influential people[11] and received the Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Additionally, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy Awards in 2021, and was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame the following year.[12]
Early life
Tyler Perry was born Emmitt Perry Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Willie Maxine Perry (née Campbell) and Emmitt Perry Sr., a carpenter.[13] He has three siblings.[14] Perry's childhood was described in retrospect as a "living hell".[15] In contrast to his father, his mother took him to church each week, where he sensed a certain refuge and contentment.[15] At age 16, he had his first name legally changed from Emmitt to Tyler in an effort to distance himself from his father.[1]
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.[16] He was also molested by three men prior to this and later learned his own father had molested his friend.[17] A DNA test taken by Perry indicated that Emmitt Sr. was not Perry's biological father.[18]
While Perry did not complete high school, he earned a General Educational Development (GED).[19] 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.[20]
Career
Stage
Around 1990, Perry moved to Atlanta, where two years later I Know I've Been Changed was first performed at a community theater, financed by the 22-year-old Perry's life savings of US$12,000 (equivalent to $27,986 in 2023).[21] The play included Christian themes of forgiveness, dignity, and self-worth, while addressing issues such as child abuse and dysfunctional families. The musical initially received a "less than stellar" reception and was a financial failure.[22]
Perry persisted, and over the next six years he rewrote the musical repeatedly, though lackluster reviews continued. In 1998, at age 28, he succeeded in retooling the play and restaging it in Atlanta, first at the House of Blues, then at the Fox Theatre. Perry continued to create new stage productions, touring with them on the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit", now also known as the "urban theater circuit"[1] and developing a large, devoted following among African-American audiences. In 2005, Forbes reported that he had sold "more than $100 million in tickets, $30 million in videos of his shows and an estimated $20 million in merchandise", and "the 300 live shows he produces each year are attended by an average of 35,000 people a week".[21]
Film
Perry raised a US$5.5 million budget in part from the ticket sales of his stage productions to fund his first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman,[23] which went on to gross US$50.6 million domestically, while scoring a 16% approval rating at the film review web site Rotten Tomatoes.[24] Perry made his directorial debut on his next film, an adaptation of Madea's Family Reunion, and has directed all of his subsequent Madea films. On its opening weekend, February 24–26, 2006, Madea's Family Reunion opened at number one at the box office with $30.3 million. The film eventually grossed $65 million. Perry and his co-stars promoted the film on The Oprah Winfrey Show. As with Diary, almost all of the Madea's earnings have been generated in the United States.[25]
Perry's next Lionsgate project, Daddy's Little Girls, starred Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba and was released in the United States on February 14, 2007. It grossed over US$31 million.[26] Perry wrote, directed, produced and starred in his next film, Why Did I Get Married?, released on October 12, 2007. It opened at number one, grossing US$21.4 million that weekend. It is loosely based on his play of the same name. Filming began March 5, 2007, in Whistler, British Columbia, a resort town north of Vancouver, then moved to Atlanta, where Perry had opened his own studio. Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, Jill Scott, and Tasha Smith appeared in the film. Perry's 2008 film, Meet the Browns, released on March 21, opened at number 2 with a US$20.1 million weekend gross.[27] The Family That Preys opened on September 12, 2008, and grossed over US$37.1 million.[28]
Madea Goes to Jail opened at number one on February 20, 2009, grossing US$41 million and becoming his largest opening to date. This was Perry's seventh film with Lionsgate Entertainment. At the request of director J. J. Abrams,[29] also in 2009, Perry had a small role as the Starfleet Academy commandant Admiral Barnett in Star Trek, which opened on May 8. This was his first film appearance outside of his own projects.
Perry next wrote, directed, and starred in I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009), a film structured around his Madea character. This was Perry's eighth film and it also made number one at the box office.[30] In 2009, Perry teamed with Oprah Winfrey to present Precious, a film based on the novel Push by Sapphire.[31]
Why Did I Get Married Too?, the sequel to Why Did I Get Married?, opened in theaters on April 2, 2010. It featured Janet Jackson, Tasha Smith,
Jill Scott, and Malik Yoba. The film grossed US$60 million domestically, with US$29 million made the opening weekend.[32]
Legal actions
The Writers Guild of America, West
The Writers Guild of America, West filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that Perry's production company, Tyler Perry Studios, unlawfully fired four writers in October 2008 in retaliation for them trying to get a union contract.[68] The dispute was settled a month later, when TPS agreed to be a WGA signatory.[69]
Mo' Money Taxes
In early 2009, Perry threatened legal action against Mo' Money Taxes, a tax preparation company based in Memphis, Tennessee, for running a TV spot that he felt offensively parodied his work, in particular Madea Goes to Jail. The ad features a large white male (John Cowan) in drag, named "Ma'Madea". The offending ad was dropped from circulation.[70]
Reception
Criticism
Tyler Perry's films have come under intense scrutiny with many scrutinizers claiming his films traffic in offensive and negative African-American stereotypes. Author Donald Bogle stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, "Madea does have connections to the old mammy type. She’s mammy-like. If a white director put out this product, the black audience would be appalled."[71]
In an open letter to Perry on National Public Radio, journalist Jamilah Lemieux, while thanking Perry for "giving black folks jobs in front of and behind the camera," also criticized his shows Meet the Browns and House of Payne. In her letter, she stated that "both your shows are marked by old stereotypes of buffoonish, emasculated black men and crass, sassy black women." While she noted his work for its humor and "positive messages of self-worth, love and respect," she later expressed frustration that African-Americans "have been fed the same images of ourselves over and over and over because they sell."[72]
Lemieux dismissed his famous Madea character, claiming that "Through her, the country has laughed at one of the most important members of the black community: Mother Dear, the beloved matriarch. ... Our mothers and grandmothers deserve much more than that." While she expressed appreciation toward Perry for dismissing critics' negative comments, Lemieux claimed that "many black folks have expressed some of the very same attitudes about your work that white critics have," and urged him to "stop dismissing the critics as haters and realize that black people need new stories and new storytellers."[72]
Spike Lee comments
Despite praising Perry in 2006, director Spike Lee criticized his work in 2009, stating "Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavors but I still think there is a lot of stuff out today that is 'coonery buffoonery'" and highlighted the work and content of John Singleton as well as his own work including Miracle at St. Anna (2008), which depicts the heroism of African American soldiers known as the Buffalo Soldiers during World War II.[73] When asked if Perry's success among black audiences was a result of just giving black America what they wanted, Lee responded, "the imaging is troubling."
In October 2009, during a 60 Minutes interview, Perry was read a quote of Spike Lee's comments about his work and responded, "I would love to read that [criticism] to my fan base. ... That pisses me off. It is so insulting. It's attitudes like that that make Hollywood think that these people do not exist, and that is why there is no material speaking to them, speaking to us." Perry also stated that "all these characters are bait – disarming, charming, make-you-laugh bait. I can slap Madea on something and talk about God, love, faith, forgiveness, family, any of those."[74] In an interview with Hip Hollywood, Perry responded to Spike Lee's comments by telling him to "go to hell."[75]
The Boondocks and Atlanta
Perry was spoofed in The Boondocks episode: "Pause". The character Winston Jerome is a parody Perry. In the episode Jerome's character is Ma Dukes, whom he portrays by crossdressing, similar to Perry's Madea.[76] Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times cited "Pause" as one of the sharpest public criticisms of Perry. The episode reportedly angered Perry who threatened to re-evaluate his relationship with Turner Broadcasting who had two series on the network TBS at the time, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Meet the Browns. The episode was pulled from circulation.[77]
Donald Glover reportedly took aim at Perry in the FX series Atlanta. The episode title "Work Ethic!" comes from a tweet in which Perry posted a video of all the scripts he wrote for that season with the caption "WORK ETHIC! Come on. Let's go get 2020!". In the episode a woman and her daughter arrive at a TV studio run by a private and mysterious person known as "Mr. Chocolate". The mother is soon in fear of her daughter being exploited by Mr. Chocolate. Viewers and critics quickly deduced that the episode was satirizing Perry and the way in which he runs his studios in Atlanta.[78][79] Ile-Ife Okantah of Vulture wrote their review, "Like Perry’s own 330-acre studio in Atlanta, Mr. Chocolate Studios is a sprawling lot with multiple soundstages and office spaces" and added "Atlanta and many critics of Perry ask two questions of us: Do we as Black people have to support anything and everything that’s Black? And does Perry’s shallow depiction of us do more harm than good?".[80]
Lack of writers rooms
On January 6, 2020, Perry posted a video on Instagram in which he revealed that he doesn't use a writers room for his films and TV shows and prefers to write his work himself.[81] Perry received criticism from several outlets and figures in entertainment for denying opportunities to up-and-coming black writers. Later that month, Perry responded in an interview by stating that he had experienced issues when working with both WGA writers and nonunion writers. He claims that the WGA writers would submit "scripts that would need rewrites in order to get paid multiple times." He also said that nonunion writers struggled to meet his standards of quality and that he "was unhappy with every single script they wrote" because "they were not speaking to the voice."[82]
Support for Tyler Perry
Goldie Taylor, of The Grio and MSNBC, stated in an April 21, 2011 NPR All Things Considered interview regarding Perry's target audience: "I don't think Tyler Perry is talking to Touré. I don't think he's talking to me, but I know that he's speaking directly to my mother, my sister, my cousins and meeting them at their point of need, and that's what art and filmmaking is about."[83]
In his Huffington Post editorial, sociologist Shayne Lee lists Perry among the pantheon of today's most innovative filmmakers.[84]