Tyler Perry To Receive Oprah Winfrey Empowerment Award At Hollywood Reporter Empowerment Event

Tyler Perry will receive The Hollywood Reporter’s Oprah Winfrey Empowerment Award on May 6th at their annual “Empowerment in Entertainment” gala.

The award, which was renamed after previous recipient Winfrey, is given to honor those who have created opportunities for minority groups such as people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community within the entertainment industry. Winfrey was the first recipient of the award last year and is set to present it to Perry.

“I’m honored to be recognized with this award, named after the woman who was instrumental in helping me forge my own path in Hollywood,” said Perry. “Oprah has been a North Star for me as well as countless others.”

The gala will be held in Los Angeles and will be accompanied by a dedicated issue of The Hollywood Reporter that will spotlight entertainment industry leaders of change.

Perry is a media mogul and a philanthropist who’s been spearheading change in Hollywood. Last fall, he opened the 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, one of the largest studios in the country. According to the publication, Each of the 12 soundstages on the property is named after an African American creative that he admires, and the studios are home to numerous film and television productions, including Perry’s recent Netflix feature, A Fall From Grace.

“Tyler Perry epitomizes the characteristics of the Oprah Winfrey Empowerment Award, with not only what he gives back to the industry but in how he models what you can achieve,” said Matthew Belloni, THR editorial director. “And we extend our gratitude to Oprah for her generosity in lending her name and contribution to this honor.” 

“I am so deeply proud of the ways that Tyler Perry has created opportunities of inclusion for so many people in entertainment through all of his work,” Winfrey said. “He is a self-taught, self-sustaining, self-made industry force that embodies the Empowerment Award.”