Tyler Perry was born September 13, 1969 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tyler Perry became America's most successful young playwright and the writer at the age of 18. In 1992 Perry wrote letters to himself in an effort to deal with his childhood pain. These would provide the basis for the musical I Know I've Been Changed about adult survivors of child abuse. Tyler Perry saved $12,000 and moved to Atlanta in 1992, where he tried to stage the play. However, I Know I've Been Changed was a flop. Hardly anyone came to the shows and over the next 6 years, Tyler Perry found himself homeless on several occasions, and doing dozens of different jobs to support his determination that the play would succeed. In 1998, I Know I've Been Changed opened at the House of Blues and sold out eight times over before moving to the Fox Theater where it sold out 9,000 seats for two shows. His first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, became an unexpected hit, prompting widespread discussion among industry watchers about whether middle-class African Americans were simply not being addressed by mainstream Hollywood movies. The nickname "Madea" of his running character Mabel "Madea" Simmons (a female character played by Perry himself) comes from a Southern African American contraction of the words "mother dear." Madea was modeled after an aunt of Perry's who lives in Houston.
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