Tyler Perry can’t lose

By Jevon Phillips , Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

AUTEUR: By continually feeding an under-served audience, Tyler Perry has become one of the most reliable box office brands in Hollywood.

Yet the 38-year-old multimillionaire and industry outsider lives in Atlanta and eschews standard Tinsletown conventions he refers to as “Hollywood crap.” Nevertheless, with his distinct form of broad comedy, social commentary and family values, Perry has clearly struck a cultural chord and box office gold.

Perry has honed his talents writing, directing and performing (often in drag) for a devoted base of black American Christian women who spark to his unique portrayal of modern-day relationships and upwardly mobile black professionals.

Perry has said that he lives by the advice given to him by friend and mentor Oprah Winfrey: Never lose control of your brand.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)