Tyler Perry's Net Worth—and Whether He's Really a Billionaire
More like 'Diary of a Mega-Wealthy Black man.' You love to see it.
Tyler Perry is the definition of a self-made billionaire, as his net worth easily proves.
The actor, writer, director and producer worked tirelessly to build his empire, something that isn't lost on his close friend and fellow icon, Whoopi Goldberg. She once told Variety of Tyler Perry's net worth, “[Perry's wealth] wasn’t inherited; he earned every dime. Every piece of that studio he bought with his dough. I think the idea of letting people know that this wasn’t a gift, this was hard-earned, [is important]. And in any other place, he’d be at the tip of everybody’s tongue, the talk of the town—it would be a huge thing. And yet somehow, people haven’t really stepped up to recognize it as far as I’m concerned.”
As hard as he works, Perry told Parade, he makes sure to take "really good breaks."
"If I work three months nonstop, seven days a week, 18-hour days, then I’ll take a month or two off and just do absolutely nothing," he explained, noting that fatherhood (his son, Aman, was born in November 2014) impacted him greatly in that regard.
"It forced me to slow down, take a minute, smell the flowers, because all through my 20s and 30s I was working nonstop and wouldn’t take a break," he said. "But now, as I’m getting older, I’ve realized the importance of just spending time with family, but also checking in with myself, which is really, really important."
That nonstop work for nearly two decades paid off big-time. To find out just how big, keep reading to see what we know about Tyler Perry's net worth and how exactly Perry made it all happen, from the humblest of beginnings to the highest tax bracket.
How much is Tyler Perry worth?
According to the latest figures, as of 2022, Perry's net worth has been estimated to be in the $800 million to $1 billion range.
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How did Tyler Perry start his career?
Perry has always been well aware that the odds were against him from the very beginning: He was born poor in New Orleans and abused by his father as a child, as well as sexually abused by a friend's mother. He turned to writing as a form of therapy, as well as becoming active in his local church as a form of refuge.
Perry dropped out of high school, got his GED and worked odd jobs to make a living. One of those was at the Windsor Court Hotel, which hosted the National Association of Television Program Executives conference each year. Perry told Forbeshe would pick up discarded badges from the conference to get access to events, leading him to meet Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak.
Perry went on to sell cars and work as a bill collector to save up $12,000 that he used to produce his first show, a play called I Know I've Been Changed, inspired by his traumatic childhood. It wasn't necessarily a blockbuster, and Perry ended up living in his car for three months until the play's fortunes turned around. Like most other Perry projects, he was hands on in the entire process, from writing to producing to even selling concessions.
Perry began touring and building an audience, and during this time, his iconic, sassy grandmother character Madea was born. Then Oprah Winfrey, as she once recounted to Forbes, saw Perry's touring performance of Diary of a Mad Black Woman in Los Angeles and it led to a decadeslong friendship and partnership between the two.
“I was aware of the traveling plays, but I never really took them seriously because...I considered myself a person who appreciates theater and Broadway. But I went to see one in Los Angeles, and I was not just moved by it, I was changed by it,” she recalled. She invited Perry on her eponymous show in 2001. Perry harnessed Winfrey's business-savvy and made a whopping $100 million from theater ticket sales, $30 million from videotaped performances and $20 million from merchandising before he ever had a TV show or movie.
One of the attendees of Perry's soldout three-night run was an assistant to Chuck Lorre. Lorre was impressed with Perry and pitched him for a series, but when networks didn't bite, Lorre changed course and created Two And a Half Men, starring Charlie Sheen.
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Does Tyler Perry own Lionsgate?
He doesn't, but he does own another entertainment company! Following advice from Winfrey, who owned The Oprah Winfrey Show and Harpo Productions at the time, Perry went to work creating the show that would make him a household name: House of Payne. Perry built a soundstage in Atlanta and invested in everything from his own stages to lights, owning every piece from top to bottom, and created Tyler Perry Studios. He wrote, directed and produced the series and sold the show to the CW, and its ratings skyrocketed. TBS bought the series for a whopping $200 million, $138 million of which went to Perry himself. Additionally, since Perry writes, directs and produces all of his own work, he saves huge amounts of money on staff.
Owning his studio and his content makes everything he films there automatically bring in extra cash. Perry explained to Forbes, “I own the lights. I own the sets. So that’s where the difference is. Because I own everything, my returns are higher.” Perry even has a replica White House as part of his studio setup.
Perry went on to produce more than a dozen TV series (and counting!), almost all filming entirely in and around Georgia, which is also rife with tax credits for the industry. He's had deals with TBS, Winfrey's OWN and most recently Viacom, complete with a 25 percent stake in the BET+ platform for an estimated $150 million.
“As I entered into Hollywood, it was always about finding a way,” Perry told Variety. “I’ve never had an open door, or an invitation or opportunity, while I watched my white brothers and sisters get opportunity after opportunity, no matter if their shows or movies fail or not. I understand that this is the hand that I was dealt. This Black skin that encompasses me is beautiful. I’m not going to apologize for it. I’m not going to be ashamed of it. But I’m going to make it work for me and for us.”
How much has Tyler Perry made from Madea?
Perry's Madea series has been a box office juggernaut. His first movie to feature the character, 2005's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, was made for $5.5 million. He funded half of the project himself, and per his contract, he collected half of the film's profits and would later gain ownership of the rights to the movie. The studio, Lionsgate, deducted marketing costs and 12.5 percent in distribution costs from Perry's half; the studio had a goal for the film to make $20 million at the box office.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman grossed more than $21 million just in its opening weekend and a total of more than $51 million at the box office, plus another $150 million in video sales, streaming, TV licensing and on-demand services.
Perry went on to make 10 more Madea-centered films until retiring the franchise in 2019—although he's bringing it back in 2022 with the Netflix movie A Madea Homecoming (out Friday, Feb. 25), which will be the first Madea movie to debut exclusively on streaming.
“I was done with Madea, completely done with it,” Perry previously told Variety. “But as I’ve been looking at the state of the world [and] the amount of joy and laughter that it brought to so many people, that’s what I think is missing. We need that laughter and that joy.”
Pre-Madea Homecoming, the franchise already earned more than $670 million at the box office and a cool $290 million for Perry himself, thanks to a loyal fanbase and, once more, to his low budgets and content ownership. Because he doesn't have a non-compete agreement, he is also still able to take television deals from other networks and platforms, including Netflix.
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What movies has Tyler Perry acted in?
While Perry is best known for his own produced work, he has big-screen credits in other major projects as well, including:
Star Trek (2009) as Admiral Richard Barnett
Gone Girl as Tanner Bolt (the scene-stealing attorney for Ben Affleck's Nick Dunne)
Alex Cross (title character)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows as Baxter Stockman
The Star as Cyrus
Vice as Colin Powell
Paw Patrol: The Movie
Don't Look Up
What is Tyler Perry's real estate like?
Perry likes his homes.
He owns a 22-acre property in the exclusive Beverly Ridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle temporarily called home before moving into their own Montecito, California home. The custom-built 24,000-square-foot mansion has eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a library, a fountain and a pool.
In 2016, Perry sold his Atlanta mansion, complete with an underground ballroom, a tennis court, a library, a home gym, a home theater, an indoor resistance pool, an outdoor infinity pool and a helipad, for $17.5 million, making it one of the most expensive homes in the city's history. In September 2020, it was reported that construction was underway in a new estate just outside of the ATL, complete with a runway for Perry's two private jets.
Perry also owns property in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, though the details of the estate are scant.
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How much does Tyler Perry give to charity?
Perry gives back in big ways with his wallet. Just some of his good deeds, in addition to his charitable Tyler Perry Foundation efforts include:
Donating $1 million to various Hurricane Harvey causes (including $250,000 to the then-scandal-plagued Joel Osteen's church)
Leaving a $21,000 tip for restaurant workers struggling during the pandemic
Offering a $200,000 reward in a missing persons case
Hiring former Cosby Show star Geoffrey Owens for television work
Covering $14,000 in medical bills for a stranger
Using his private seaplane to transport relief supplies to the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian
Buying a $350,000 house for a woman he worked with before he was famous
Dropping more than $400,000 to pay for layaway purchases at Atlanta-area Walmarts for Christmas
Buying more than $50,000 in grocery gift cards for families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic
You can see Perry discuss his sweet Christmas surprise (which he wanted to do anonymously) here.
Perry told Forbes he has plans to help fund projects from other Black creators, as well as to open restaurants, shops and other entertainment venues around his Atlanta studio, essentially making himself a modern-day Walt Disney—and it isn't lost on him that his riches will be built on soil that once was toiled by slaves in the Confederacy. He expressed the profundity of his success story thus: “I can go outside and take this dirt and put it on my hands and know that there were Confederate soldiers here walking this land, plotting and planning everything they could to keep us Negroes in place. The very fact that I am here on this land, the very fact that hundreds of people—Black and brown people—come here to make a living, that is effecting change.”
Next, find out how much Tyler Perry's pal Meghan Markle is worth now that she's no longer a senior royal!
