Best known for playing vulgar grandmother Madea, Tyler Perry has been named Hollywood's highest-paid man by Forbes Magazine. More than just an actor, though, Perry is also a writer, producer and director who earned $130 million between May 2010 and May 2011, according to Forbes.com.

Perry, 42, whose films gross heavily in the United States but tend not to do well abroad, stepped out of his comedic comfort zone last year with the well-reviewed For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, an adaptation of a beloved stage play written by Ntozake Shange in 1975. The film featured an all-star cast of legendary black women including Whoopi Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Thandie Newton and Janet Jackson.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides producer Jerry Bruckheimer came in second with $113 million, followed by movie mogul Steven Spielberg, with $107 million. Elton John, whose most recent tour made more than $200 million, personally earned about $100m, bringing him to fourth place. X Factor creator and former American Idol judge Simon Cowell rounded out the top five with $90 million.

For the full list go here.

1 Comments

  • christinegwilson
    christinegwilson on

    Wow, I wonder how much of that is just from the Madea movies.

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