Congratulations are in order for media mogul Tyler Perry as he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday! Actors Kerry Washington and Idris Elba introduced him as he has directed each of them in movies.
Kerry Washington Called Tyler an astronomer. She said “He is tracking the stars and seeing the stars. He’s studying the stars. He is naming the stars. He is knighting the stars and reminding the world that we have always shone bright.” Check out her speech below:
Idris Elba credits his starring role in Tyler Perry’s “Daddy’s Little Girls,” for flipping the script on being typecast as drug dealer.
“Because of that role, it changed not only my career but it also changed the way I believe that people cast black men,” Elba said. “We are fathers. We are men. We are human beings. We’re not just drug dealers. We’re not just criminals.”
During the reveal ceremony, Tyler Perry dedicated his star to the “underdog” dreamers.
“This one in particular is for the underdogs,” Perry said. “This one in particular is for the ones who want to do it there way. This one in particular is for the ones who want to bring as many people through the door as they can.”
He added, “I’ve been there. I’ve been struggling, I’ve been out, broke, homeless. There was a perseverance, a tremendous faith in God, a tremendous hope that allowed me to keep going.”
At 50 years old, Perry is one of Hollywood’s most successful and inspiring filmmakers, writers, directors and actors, with an empire worth more than $1 billion.
I appreciate how he lives his faith out loud.
Check out his video below with PeopleTV where Tyler shares about surviving an abusive childhood.