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evolved with Intel Evo Platform. Hi everyone and thank you for tuning in to episode 98 of Awards Chatter, the Hollywood Reporters Awards

podcast. I'm the host Scott Feinberg and my guest today is Tyler Perry, the

47 year old actor, producer, director, screenwriter, playwright, author, songwriter, and movie Mughal, who is the most commercially

successful black filmmaker in history and whose Atlanta-based Tyler Perry Studios now

rivals any operation in Hollywood. Perry of course is most

famous for creating, directing, and portraying on stage and screen the character

Medea, an outspoken elderly black woman who tends to wind up in messy situations.

Since 2005, eight Madea films have been released, loved by audiences, and hated on by critics. This week the 9th, Boo a Madea Halloween, hits theaters, so it seemed like a great time to reach out to Perry to see if he'd be open to discussing his fascinating life and unique career.

Over the course of our conversation Perry and I discuss how he was shaped by his childhood,

during which he suffered terrible physical and sexual abuse,

how years later stumbling upon an Oprah

episode motivated him to begin writing, what inspired the Madea character and

what goes into bringing her to life, who the Tyler Perry audience is and why they're so loyal to him,

what he thinks about the journalists and fellow members of the black community who argue that

Medea is essentially a modern day minstrel character,

and how this man, who just a few years ago was living out of his car,

became expert enough at branding and business

...