No one else is making work like Tyler Perry. With a career spanning more than three decades, the director, writer, and actor has become known for an expansive creative library of shows, movies, and stage plays of all genres and varieties. A Perry marathon means packing your bags for a Why Did I Get Married? vacation, navigating the twists of the drama series Beauty in Black, and just trying to keep up with the outspoken Madea — and that’s just to start.
As the Tyler Perry cinematic universe continues to grow, his stories remain familiar — the creator often explores elements of faith, family dynamics, and social issues, most often with strong Black women in the lead. Whether you’re a longtime Perry fan or just discovering his work, these movies and shows will give you a good laugh, cry, or thrill — and maybe even a bit of wisdom to carry with you on your way.
Stream the ensemble dramedy that began the franchise. Four couples — Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White), Terry (Perry) and Dianne (Sharon Leal), Sheila (Jill Scott) and Mike (Richard T. Jones), and Patricia (Janet Jackson) and Gavin (Malik Yoba) — take their annual weeklong vacation together to work on their respective marriages. During the snowy mountain getaway, the pairs face an avalanche of hard relationship truths as secrets spill and betrayals are exposed.
In the sequel, the four couples — Sheila (Scott) now married to Troy (Lamman Rucker) — travel to the Bahamas for their routine getaway. Their seaside accommodations may be sunny, scenic, and serene, but the friend group’s secrets and reveals are more explosive than ever. Come for the wisdom from Louis Gossett Jr. and Cicely Tyson, who play an elderly couple they meet during the marriage retreat, stay for the film-closing cameo from Dwayne Johnson.
The threequel sees Angela (Smith) and Marcus (White) summoning their nearest and dearest to Europe for the wedding of their daughter, Jasmine (Armani Greer). As Terry (Perry) and Dianne (Leal), Sheila (Scott) and Troy (Rucker), and Mike (Jones) reunite after quite some time, they realize their children have grown up to be so much like them — they must reflect on the examples they’ve set. Plus, it turns out the mother of Jasmine’s athlete fiancé, Wesley (Everett Osborne), is a friend of the group: Roselyn, played by Taraji P. Henson.
This three-season drama follows two women from different worlds. Kimmie (Taylor Polidore Williams) is an exotic dancer at a Chicago club who struggles to make ends meet, and Mallory (Crystle Stewart) is the matriarch of the Bellaries — an ultra-wealthy family with a successful hair-care empire. When Kimmie applies to the Beauty in Black hair school, the two women’s lives become entangled. Kimmie enters Mallory’s high-stakes world of strip club scandals, kidnapping schemes, blackmail, and murder.
Delivering a three-year backlog of mail — totaling approximately 17 million pieces — to American soldiers fighting overseas during World War II sounds like an impossible task. Not only was the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion the sole Black Women's Army Corps unit stationed in Europe at the time, but these 855 women were also given just six months to complete this daunting task. The depiction of the unique military contribution stars Kerry Washington as the 6888th’s leader, Major Charity Adams.
Terri J. Vaughn stars in Perry’s first Netflix comedy series as the ambitious Antoinette Dunkerson, Mississippi's first Black lieutenant governor. Antoinette is determined to find her stride amid political chaos, her family’s (now very public) antics, and her sexist boss’s comments. Perry fans will spot familiar faces from past projects, including Jo Marie Payton (Meet the Browns), Karon Riley (Love Thy Neighbor), and Robert Craighead (Too Close to Home). Jade Novah, Drew Olivia Tillman, Tré Boyd, and Dyon Brooks round out the ensemble cast.
Taraji P. Henson plays Janiyah, a single mother whose life revolves around caring for her sick daughter. As her hardships pile up, with little support or empathy from anyone around her, it’s no wonder she’s on her last straw. When the events of one terrible day culminate in a tense standoff with the police over a crime she never intended to commit, Janiyah’s life is now in the hands of the people around her — and she has no choice but to trust them.
Though Perry initially said goodbye to the character he played — known for her tough love and no-nonsense personality — with 2019’s A Madea Family Funeral, he brought the matriarch out of retirement for his first Madea film in creative partnership with Netflix. In A Madea Homecoming, there’s plenty of joy at the celebration of the graduation of Madea’s great-grandson, Tim (Brandon Black). But it wouldn’t be a Simmons family reunion without a healthy dose of chaos and some hilarious one-liners.
Twenty years after Madea first appeared onscreen — and three years after A Madea Homecoming — the matriarch is ready for a vacation. When Madea’s nephew Brian (who looks an awful lot like Madea) and his ex-wife, Debrah (Taja V. Simpson), learn of their daughter Tiffany’s (Diamond White) sudden engagement to a rapper she met on a yacht, the Simmons family has just two weeks to prepare for a wedding in the Bahamas. And they have to figure out how to be supportive of Tiffany’s decision.
After stealing scenes in 12 Madea movies, the matriarch’s cantankerous brother Joe (also played by Perry) finally gets his own adventure in this raucous comedy. Joe’s mission: take his sweet, innocent grandson B.J. (Jermaine Harris) on a cross-country road trip to prospective colleges. But the foul-mouthed grandfather might just lead his grandson straight to jail before they ever make it to a campus tour. There’s one thing for sure: Both B.J. and Joe are going to come back changed men.
In this steamy legal thriller, everyone has something to hide. Kelly Rowland plays criminal defense attorney Mea, who takes on the high-profile case of Zyair (Trevante Rhodes), an artist who’s accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend. Representing Zyair is not without its challenges — for one, Mea’s brother-in-law (Nick Sagar) is the district attorney prosecuting the case in an attempt to bolster his tough-on-crime mayoral campaign. Plus, it’s impossible to deny the chemistry between Mea and her mysterious client.
This ensemble dramedy is led by two characters who are best friends and the matriarchs of their families: Kathy Bates plays wealthy socialite Charlotte, and Alfre Woodard plays working-class diner owner Alice. When greed and scandal surround both of their families, Charlotte and Alice embark on a cross-country road trip to save their loved ones’ tarnished reputations. Sanaa Lathan, Taraji P. Henson, and Robin Givens are also in the cast.
Joshua Boone and Solea Pfeiffer star in this decades-spanning romance as two young people in the Deep South whose love for each other is compromised by unbearable family pressures and the violent racial oppression of the day. The epic drama features an original song by Ruth B., choreography by Debbie Allen, and a soundtrack of juke-joint blues arranged and produced by jazz legend Terence Blanchard.
Meet Grace (Crystal Fox), a gentle, law-abiding woman who, disheartened by a divorce, meets someone new and feels restored by romance. So why does she confess to killing her new husband? Bresha Webb plays Jasmine, the skeptical public defender who takes on Grace’s case and sets out to uncover the truth about the relationship Grace really had with her man. Phylicia Rashad, Cicely Tyson, and Matthew Law are also in the thriller.
Additional reporting by Ashley Lee.
