He writes, directs, produces, acts, and scores -- Tyler Perry controls an entertainment empire and moneymaking machine that includes the hit show Tyler Perry's House of Payne and movies featuring his alter-ego Madea, a jumbo, no-nonsense granny with a knack for physical comedy. Perry's creative impulse was forged in the crucible of personal pain. Channeling years of abuse by his father into writing plays with beautifully rendered characters, Perry bested homelessness and despair to transform black urban theater (pejoratively called the "chitlin' circuit"), and expanded his audience as quickly as he released hit movies. His seven films, which rarely cost more than $20 million, have grossed upward of $300 million combined -- four of them opened at No. 1 -- and sold 25 million DVDs. And last October, he made history, opening the first black-owned film studio in the United States. -- by Ellen McGirt