HUSL Today Salutes

Tyler Perry

 Tyler Perry was born Emmitt Perry, Jr. on September 13, 1969, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Although Perry had it rough his first few years, even being homeless at one point, he proclaims that writing about his pain proved to be the avenue to his success.

 Image source: http://chubbyafro.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/tyler-perry-madea.jpg

His first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which went on and grossed $50.6 million domestically, while scoring a 16 percent approval rating at the film review web site, Rotten Tomatoes. On its opening weekend, February 24, 2006, Perry's film version of Madea's Family Reunion opened at number one at the box office with $30.3 million. The film eventually grossed $65 million; as with Diary, almost all of the Madea's earnings originated in the United States. Perry and the co-stars promoted the film on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Perry's next LionsGate project, Daddy's Little Girls, starred Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba and was released in the U.S. on February 14, 2007. It grossed over $31 million. Perry wrote, directed, produced and starred in his next movie, Why Did I Get Married?, released on October 12, 2007. It opened number one, grossing $21.4 million at the box office that weekend.  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 #2 with a $20,082,809 weekend gross. The Family That Preys opened on September 12, 2008, and grossed over $37.1 million.

Madea Goes to Jail opened #1 on February 20, 2009, grossing $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, Perry had a cameo appearance in the movie Star Trek, which opened on May 8, 2009. This was his first movie appearance outside of his own projects.

Perry next wrote, directed, and starred in I Can Do Bad All By Myself, a film structured around his Madea character. Perry also teamed with Oprah Winfrey to present Precious, a movie based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

Perry movies are co-produced and distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment while he retains full copyright ownership under his corporate name, Very Perry Films, and places his name in front of all titles.

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 that "the 300 live shows he produces each year are attended by an average of 35,000 people a week."

Perry produces a television show entitled Tyler Perry's House of Payne, which follows an African-American household of three generations. After a successful pilot run, Perry signed a $200 million, 100-episode deal with TBS. Additionally, Perry wrote, directed and produced the sitcom Meet The Browns, which premiered on TBS on January 7, 2009.

Check the footage below for the trailer for Perry's latest flick Why did I get married too? Which raked in over $30 million at the weekend box office. 

His efforts to bring more minorities to the big screen and urban theatre are admirable to say the least. 

HUSL Today Salutes Tyler Perry!!!