What is the meaning of Self-Made? According to the Oxford Dictionary, it means made by one-self. But what does Self-Made billionaire mean? It means having become successful or rich by one's own efforts according to the Oxford Dictionary. From small plays to the big screens, Tyler Perry shows what it really means to be a self-made billionaire. On September 1st Forbes announced that Tyler Perry is now worth more than 1.5 billion dollars. He’s actually the seventh Black billionaire in the United States joining stars like Oprah Winfrey, Jay Z, and Kanye West.
Who is Tyler Perry?
Tyler Perry was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and moved to Atlanta, GA in 1990 to pursue his career in the movie industry. He first got into the screenwriting when he saw an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. He learned in that episode the act of writing can give a therapeutic effect and that’s what inspired him to get into writing.
Let’s look at his timeline to his rise of success.
1992: Tyler Perry’s first play, I know I’ve Been Changed
Perry starred, directed & produced this play at the age of 22. He also spent his life savings of $12,000. It only got up to 30 people in the show, but failed.
1999: Tyler Perry’s second play I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Even though his first play was not much of a success, this play definitely made up for it! It later turned into a movie in 2009 starring Empire Star Taraji P. Henson. This movie also introduced his famous character, Madea.
2001: Tyler Perry’s third play, Diary of a Mad Black Woman which later was made into his first movie that debuted as #1 movie in the United States in 2005.
Perry also received 2 awards from The NAACP, one for outstanding lead actor & one for outstanding writer. He also produced the movie, Daddy’s Little Girls Starring Idris Elba.
Later throughout the years, he continued to create his hit Madea movies and in 2005, Forbes reported that he sold more than $100 million in show tickets and an additional $30 million in video sales of his stage plays. (credit Fowler, Insider)
2006: Tyler Perry Released the sequel of Diary of a Mad Black Woman called, Madea’s Family Reunion. In that same year, he debuted his first show, House of Payne.
2009: Tyler Perry continued starring and producing his own movies and plays throughout the years but this was the year he took a different role in Hollywood. He joined Oprah Winfrey and became the executive producer of Oscar nominated movie Precious.
2011: After years of producing & writing movies and plays, he earned $130 million making him the highest-paid man in entertainment according to Forbes.
2012: He made a successful return to television and partnered up with Oprah Winfrey, singing a deal with The OWN Network to develop several shows.
A couple of years later in 2017, he received The People’s Choice Award for Best Humanitarian. Outside of writing or being on set, he always wants to give back. Tyler Perry and his foundation have donated millions of dollars to organizations such as Feeding America, the NAACP, and Charity Water to help eradicate homelessness, support civil rights causes, and aid survivors of devastating natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Katrina. (Credit Tylerperry.com)
2019: This year was monumental for Tyler. After nearly 3 decades in the industry, he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During his speech he quotes “For anyone whose dreams may be on life support, I want you to walk past this star in particular and know that I’ve been there,” Perry said to the crowd. “I’ve been struggling, I’ve been out, broke, homeless. I’ve been through all of those things, but there was a perseverance, a tremendous faith in God, and this hope that allowed me to keep going.”(Credit Tylerperry.com)
NOW 2020: History has been made and Forbes announced Tyler Perry being a billionaire. Perry quotes, “I love when people say you come from ‘humble beginnings,’ ” he says. “It means you were poor as hell.” It also makes success sweeter. “Ownership,” he adds, “changes everything.”
After some challenges throughout his life, he was able to succeed and preserve in the industry and become a billionaire at 50 years old all on his own. Perry is going to continue in the film industry and is now working on his new upcoming show Bruh that will air on BET.
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