Played by Perry himself, Madea is a central character in several of his subsequent plays and films. In 2000 Perry introduced Madea, the trash-talking, marijuana-smoking, gun-toting grandmother in his play I Can Do Bad All by Myself. (The book was later adapted by screenwriters Stan Foster and Christine Swanson into a feature film, which was released in 2004.) Madea Capturing the powerful effects of domestic abuse, the play was an immediate success, grossing more than $5 million within five months.
Jakes on a theatrical adaptation of Jakes’s self-help novel Woman, Thou Art Loosed (1993). In 1999 Perry collaborated with televangelist and best-selling author Bishop T. Two weeks later, Perry moved the show to the famous Fox Theatre, where nearly 9,000 people attended. This time, however, the play sold out eight times. After several other unsuccessful attempts to stage the play, Perry arranged for what he thought was a final run in 1998 at the House of Blues in Atlanta. Despite its sincerity, the show was a commercial failure-a total of thirty people attended during the weekend performances. Highly autobiographical, the play focuses on the complex and lasting effects of child abuse. Having saved $12,000, he rented out the 14th Street Playhouse, where he directed, produced, promoted, and starred in I Know I’ve Been Changed. Later that year Perry moved from New Orleans to Atlanta. Taking her words to heart, Perry began to keep a diary, which inspired his first play, I Know I’ve Been Changed.
Winfrey told her audience that writing down one’s life experiences could be therapeutic. Then in 1992, while watching Oprah Winfrey’s daily talk show, Perry heard the advice that he credits with turning around his career and life. As a young adult he drifted from job to job for several years. Perry grew up in poverty and did not complete high school, although he did later earn his General Education Development (GED) degree. He changed his first name to Tyler at age sixteen to dissociate himself from his abusive father.
was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on September 14, 1969, to Maxine and Emmitt Perry. Perry is best known for his signature character, Madea, whom he has portrayed in both stage plays and films. Tyler Perry Studios, which opened in Atlanta in 2008, is the first major film studio in the nation to be owned by an African American. Tyler Perry, an Atlanta-based writer, producer, and performer, is one of the most commercially successful African American filmmakers in history.