Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, author and songwriter. He was born as Emmitt Perry in New Orleans, Louisiana. An interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show inspired him to pursue writing as a profession. He financed his own stage debut I Known I`ve Been Changed in the year 1990, which failed to impress the critics and masses. Perry reworked on the show and by 1998, re-staged it in Atlanta. The show went on to be a hit and over the years, he developed a large following among African-American audiences. He made his on screen debut with Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005), which was a major box-office success. Since then he has been seen on television and in films and has been doing successful theatrical work all over USA. He starred in Madea`s Family Reunion (2006), which is the sequel to Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Following this, Tyler appeared in the films Meet the Browns (2008), Madea Goes to Jail (2009) and the hit sci-fi film Star Trek (2009). His TV show Tyler Perry`s House of Payne was telecast for 12 seasons and in June 2007, received basic cable`s biggest sitcom audience ever. Tyler was then seen in I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009), Madea`s Big Happy Family (2011), Madea`s Witness Protection (2012) and A Madea Christmas (2013). He recently played Tanner Bolt in the thriller Gone Girl (2014) and now has the film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, lined up for June, 2016. His other releases include Nobody`s Fool (2018), A Madea Family Funeral (2019), A Fall from Grace (2020), Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021), PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021), Don`t Look Up (2021) and A Jazzman`s Blues (2022).