Tyler Perry is one of the world's highest-paid entertainers. Here's how the Hollywood mogul makes and spends his $1 billion fortune. (2025)

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Tyler Perry has an estimated net worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes.

Perry was the third highest-paid entertainer in the world in 2022 at $175 million, Forbes reported.

He joined the seven-figure ranks of Oprah Winfrey, George Lucas, John de Mol, and Steven Spielberg in September 2020, and his net worth remains at $1 billion as of February 2023, according to his Forbes profile.

Forbes broke down his empire into five key areas.

His income streams include his cash and investments, his stake in the video-on-demand service BET+, and his Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Perry, 53, was born Emmitt Perry, Jr. in 1969 and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana.

He shared a close relationship with his mother, Willie Maxine Perry, who died in 2009, according to the Seattle Times. He is estranged from his father and, to distance himself from him, Perry changed his name to Tyler at 16.

Perry did not finish high school but later completed his GED.

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He is now based in Atlanta and has a son with his former partner, model and activist Gelila Bekele.

In December 2020, Perry revealed in an Instagram post that he and Bekele had split.

"I'm 51, single and wondering what the next chapter in my life will look like," he wrote.

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Perry got his start in theater.

When his first play, "I Know I've Been Changed," debuted in Atlanta in 1992, it opened to a mostly empty theater, according to his official website.

Thirteen years and many other plays later, he released his first film, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," in 2005, jumpstarting his Madea franchise. Fox News reported that the movie made $22.7 million its opening weekend.

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One of Perry's best-known projects is the movie franchise Madea, in which Perry himself dresses as an elderly Black woman and plays the titular role.

In a 2017 appearance on the "Today" show, Perry said that playing the role happened by accident. When the actress playing a grandmother in his 2000 stage show "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" didn't show up, he had to take over her lines, and Madea was born.

"That two minutes of Madea ended up being most of the show," he said.

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Perry made 12 Madea movies over the course of 17 years.

The final theatrical release in the franchise, "A Madea Family Funeral," made $27 million in its March 2019 opening weekend, Variety reported. In 2022, the latest movie, "A Madea Homecoming," was released on Netflix.

The highest-grossing Madea movie, "Madea Goes to Jail," brought in $90 million in total box-office earnings in 2009, Forbes reported.

The films collectively brought in over $1 billion in ticket sales while the production cost of each was approximately $20 million.

All of Perry's Madea movies were distributed by studio giant Lionsgate. It is unclear how much Perry has personally made from the franchise.

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Perry and Lionsgate had a "first look" deal for eight years from 2008 to 2014.

In a first-look deal, the creator owns the copyright to his material. Perry maintains ownership of everything he has produced, including 1,200 TV episodes, 22 films, and at least two dozen stage plays, according to Forbes.

Since parting ways with Lionsgate, Perry has had a number of much-talked-about partnerships with Viacom, BET's parent company, and the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Perry created shows such as "The Have and Have Nots" and "If Loving You Is Wrong" for OWN during his seven-year partnership with the network, which ended in 2019, The New York Times reported.

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In a September 2020 profile, Forbes estimated that approximately $60 million of Perry's billion-dollar net worth comes from his stake in BET+.

In 2017, Perry signed a contract with Viacom, BET's parent company, to produce exclusive original content for BET. The deal is slated to run through 2024 and didn't start until after Perry's contract with OWN ended in 2019.

Not only does the company pay hima reported $150 million annually to make new films and TV shows, it also gave the "Madea" creator and star a 25% equity stake in its streaming service BET+, Business Insider previously reported.

Perry's shows "Sistas" and "The Oval" were the top two cable series for Black audiences in 2021.

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Forbes estimates that his 300-acre production studio in Atlanta, Tyler Perry Studios, is worth $280 million.

In 2015, Perry paid $30 million to buy the plot of land where he built his production studio.

IndieWire noted that the land used to be a base for the Confederate Army, a point Perry has acknowledged. In a 2019 BET Awards speech, he said, "While you're fighting for a seat at the table, I'll be down in Atlanta building my own."

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Marvel megahit "Black Panther" was one of the first movies shot at the studio's new stages.

Perry took Architectural Digest on a tour of the property in 2019, which comes with neighborhoods, mansions, and even a replica of the White House.

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Perry has built an impressive real-estate portfolio over the years that consists of several multimillion-dollar properties in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Wyoming.

Perry bought a 34,000-square-foot house in Atlanta in 2007 for $9 million. It has seven bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, a helipad, an infinity pool, and a tennis court, according to Architectural Digest.

He sold the home to David Turner, an entrepreneur and evangelist, nine years later in 2016 for $17.5 million. Steve Harvey bought the house for $15 million in June 2020.

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Perry owns a mansion worth $18 million in the swanky Beverly Hills neighborhood, which he offered to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after they were cut off by the royal family in 2020.

Perry revealed in the Netflix docuseries "Harry and Meghan" that he had written Meghan a letter ahead of her wedding saying he was praying for her amidst the drama that was unfolding with her father.

He also said that while he didn't know much about the royal family, he had seen a video of Princess Diana being closely followed by paparazzi, whom she tried to evade by covering her face with a tennis racket, and that he found the footage disturbing.

When Meghan later called him, crying over what was happening in the UK, Perry validated her feelings about how she was being treated by the media.

"To tell Meghan that I felt her feelings were valid, [that] hurt," he said in the docuseries. "I didn't want to have to say that to her — I didn't want her to feel that. But I didn't want to lie to her. She was afraid of them destroying her, or going crazy, or them making her think she was crazy."

In the docuseries, Harry and Meghan revealed that they had named Perry godfather to their daughter, Lilibet.

Architectural Digest reported in November 2019 that Perry also owns a log cabin in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and a "previously uninhabited island in the Bahamas."

It's unclear how much each property is worth.

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Real estate isn't his only major investment. Perry also owns a $150 million private jet, which he has lent to humanitarian aid.

Perry used the jet to fly water and other necessities to the Bahamas in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, CNN reported.

Perry is known to be generous with his wealth.

In July 2020, he gifted approximately $50,000 in grocery-store gift cards to those who needed help, the "Today" show reported. He also runs The Perry Foundation, which helps with areas like education, human rights, and health.