Born Emmitt Perry Jr. on 13 September 1969, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Tyler is an American screenwriter, actor, film and television director, film producer and playwright, named one of the highest paid men in entertainment by Forbes in 2011. Perry began his career in the entertainment industry by writing the play entitled “I Know I’ve Been Changed” that was performed at a community theatre.
So just how rich is Tyler Perry? According to celebrity dot money, Perry’s net worth is estimated by to be $470 million, the majority of his wealth coming from his successfully produced movies and television series.
Tyler Perry Net Worth $470 Million
Perry never matriculated, but earned his GED before moving to Atlanta in his late teens. Even though “I Know I’ve Been Changed” initially received lower than average reviews and was a financial failure, eventually Tyler Perry managed to rewrite and restage it in Atlanta’s “House of Blues” to general appreciation from the public. Perry’s theatre productions earned him a loyal following from African-American audiences especially, and substantially contributed to his net worth. During his career, Tyler Perry has now written nineteen plays, the most recent being “Madea’s Neighbors from Hell”, released in 2014. It is estimated that Perry has sold over a billion dollars-worth of tickets for his plays. Additionally, Tyler Perry made his television debut in 2005 with the movie “Diary of a Mad Black Woman”, that grossed 50 million dollars.
His second attempt with “Madea’s Family Reunion” in 2006 eventually grossed over 65 million dollars; some of the other better known movies produced and written by Tyler Perry are “Good Deeds” with Thandie Newton and Gabrielle Union, “Meet the Browns” with Angela Bassett, “Daddy’s Little Girls” with Idris Elba, and “For Colored Girls” with Janet Jackson, Thandie Newton, and Whoopi Goldberg. Perry’s most recently written, directed and produced film is “The Single Moms Club” which was released in 2014, starring Terry Crews and Amy Smart.
Perry is a well-known actor as well. Tyler’s first role outside of his produced films was in the science fiction film “Star Trek”, in which he appeared as commandant Admiral Barnett. Needless to say, Perry has gathered large sums of money from his appearances on screen.
Perry’s commercial success transfered to his ventures in creating television series as well. In 2006, Perry created the comedy-drama series “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”, which portrays a story of a multi-generational family that lives under one roof. The show’s success was so immense that it ran for eight seasons and a total of 254 episodes, resulting in a $200 million deal with TBS. In 2012, Tyler Perry struck a deal with Oprah Winfrey’s Network for a multi-year partnership that allows Perry to create television shows for OWN.
Perry’s contribution has been acknowledged by BET Comedy Awards, several nominations for Black Reel Awards and Image Awards, as well as MTV Movie Awards.
In his personal life, Tyler Perry has been in partnership with Giselle Bekele since 2009, and they have a son together.
