Tyler Perry (born September 13, 1969) is an American playwright, actor and film director. His best-known character is Mabel Simmons, more commonly known as "Madea," an overbearing if well-intentioned woman who serves both as comic relief and as the loud voice of conscience to the principal protagonists of Perry's morality plays. Perry was born in New Orleans, one of four children. His father, Emmitt, was a carpenter and construction worker, and his mother