Tyler Perry (born September 14, 1969) is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, director, and producer of indie films and stage plays. His best-known character is "Madea", who is a physically imposing and overbearing but well-intentioned woman who serves both as comic relief and as the loud voice of conscience for the protagonists of Perry's works. As of July 2009, Tyler Perry's films have grossed just under $400 million worldwide, not including his plays.

Tyler Perry was born Emmitt R. Perry, Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana (he now lives in Atlanta, Georgia). His father, Emmitt, Sr., was a carpenter and construction worker, and his mother, Maxine, was a pre-school teacher who worked at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center for most of her life. The younger Perry changed his first name to Tyler because of his troubled relationship with his father. Tyler Perry has said that his father was physically and verbally abusive to him during his childhood, and that this contributed to his attempting suicide as a teenager. A 2004 New York Times article referred to Perry's relationship with his father as "now mended". However, in a 2009 interview, Perry expressed disdain for his father and spoke in the present tense of his father being abusive to his mother.

Perry dropped out of school when he was 16, but later went back to obtain his GED. He is good friends with Oprah Winfrey, rapper/actor Will Smith and Bishop T.D. Jakes. In 2008 Perry earned around $75 million, placing him just outside the top five highest paid men in Hollywood, which includes the likes of Dr. Phil and George Lucas.