Tyler Perry receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Tyler Perry received the 2,675th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday.

Actors Kerry Washington and Idris Elba introduced Perry, who has directed each of them in movies. Washington said she was coming off a Broadway run when Perry cast her in For Colored Girls.

"He is our astronomer," Washington said. "He is tracking the stars and seeing the stars. He's studying the stars. He is naming the stars. He is knighting the stars and reminding the world that we have always shone bright."

Elba starred in Perry's Daddy's Little Girls. He credits Perry with helping him cast off the typecast of drug dealer Stringer Bell, whom Elba played on The Wire.

"Because of that role, it changed not only my career but it also changed the way I believe that people cast black men," Elba said. "We are fathers. We are men. We are human beings. We're not just drug dealers. We're not just criminals."

Perry said all the stars on the Walk of Fame inspire Hollywood hopefuls to dream. He wants his to inspire specific dreamers.

"This one in particular is for the underdogs," Perry said. "This one in particular is for the ones who want to do it there way. This one in particular is for the ones who want to bring as many people through the door as they can."

Perry made his Hollywood debut in 2005's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which introduced his stage character Madea to movies. The movie opened at No. 1 at the box office and Perry began directing his own Madea movies, and other dramas not featuring his matriarch character.

"I've been there," Perry said. "I've been struggling, I've been out, broke, homeless. There was a perseverance, a tremendous faith in God, a tremendous hope that allowed me to keep going."

Perry's star is located at 7024 Hollywood Blvd.