Tyler Perry Transforms: From Madea To Family Man

Whenever Tyler Perry is in front of the camera, he’s usually behind it as well. A screenwriter, director, producer and star, Perry grew up poor in New Orleans, but he has become a movie phenomenon — he was described in the New Yorker as the most financially successful black man the American film industry has ever known.

Perry first developed his following on the African-American theater circuit. By the time he released his first movie in 2005, The Diary of a Mad Black Woman, his following was so large the film premiered nationally at No 1. Part drama, part comedy, the film introduced his most popular character, Madea, to movie audiences. Madea — Mabel Simmons — is the matriarch of a family, and Perry completely transforms himself to play the role. And as Madea’s brother and nephew, Perry frequently co-stars in scenes with himself.

Several of Perry’s films are told from female perspectives, which he says was a result of his childhood experience. “My father who was there in the house, he wasn’t at all a role model,” he tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “And my mother who was trying to protect me from him as best she could, she took me everywhere with her, which gave me a tremendous amount of sensitivity to the things women go through. … I would spend more time at the laundromat and Lane Bryant than any young boy should. [In my writing] I’m speaking from the little boy who’s at her apron, looking up at the world and seeing all that I’m seeing these women go through.”