Tyler Perry’s “Meet The Browns” Cast Biographies

David Mann

LeRoy Brown

 

David Mann realized his talent for singing at a young age in Texas and began honing his skills in his grandfather’s church.  The music world soon took notice when Mann tunefully teamed up with three-time Grammy-winning gospel sensation Kirk Franklin and the Family. 

 

Ready to add to his already impressive resume, Mann set his sights on acting.  He joined forces with Tyler Perry, one of America’s funniest actors and a critically acclaimed screenwriter, playwright, producer and director.  Mann’s film performances include Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns.  The accomplished stage actor has also been seen in numerous plays, including I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Madea’s Class Reunion and Madea’s Family Reunion.

 

When he is not on tour, Mann enjoys the restful company of his devoted wife of 20 years, Tamela Mann, their four fun-loving children and three adorable grandchildren. 

 

 

Tamela Mann

Cora Brown

 

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Tamela Mann began her entertainment career singing in the church choir.  Such musical preparation was the beginning of what would become an incredible music career.  She was privileged to join up with multi-Grammy-winning and double platinum gospel phenomenon Kirk Franklin and the Family.

 

Mann’s vocal contribution can be heard on various albums, including the soundtracks for Tyler Perry’s Meet The Browns and Diary Of A Mad Black Woman and Kirk Franklin’s Rebirth and Christmas.  As if that weren’t enough, her signature voice can also be heard in Coca-Cola and Ashley Stewart commercials.

 

In 1999, Mann began her acting career and made her stage debut in 2000 as Cora Brown in Tyler Perry’s stage play I Can Do Bad All By Myself.  Additional film credits include Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Kingdom Come, in which she appeared alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Jada Pinkett Smith.  She has also starred in some of Tyler Perry’s most successful stage plays, including Madea’s Class Reunion, Madea’s Family Reunion, Meet The Browns and What’s Done In The Dark.

 

Mann’s latest CD, Tamela Mann The Live Experience, recently debuted on the Billboard Top 20 gospel sales chart off the strength of her powerful  radio single, “You Deserve My Praise.”  

 

Lamman Rucker

Will

 

The oldest of three children, Lamman Rucker was born in Pittsburgh, then moved around the world before settling in Washington, D.C.  He graduated from the illustrious Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts in Washington before going on to Carnegie-Mellon University and Duquesne University.

 

Throughout his college years, Rucker developed many different skills but never lost interest or the opportunity to keep his artistic gifts sharp.  He participated in many fashion shows, talent shows, commercials, print ads and independent films, a highlight being his role as Jimmy Ruffin in the television miniseries The Temptations.

 

After earning a master’s degree from Duquesne, Rucker moved to New York to focus on stage and screen aspirations.  After a couple years teaching and performing in the theater, he started working on such television series as As The World Turns, All of Us, All My Children and Half & Half.  Most recently, he was seen in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? 

Denise Boutté

Sasha

 

As a native of the small town of Maurice, La., Denise Boutté fostered the practical dream of becoming a doctor.  After earning a degree in mass communications from Louisiana State University, Boutté’s creative interests led her to the world of advertising, where she quickly became an account executive on the rise.  In that capacity, she worked at a number of leading Dallas-based advertising agencies.  Her clients included Pampers, Fossil and Mary Kay Cosmetics.  While overseeing the production of commercials, Boutté became fascinated by the world of acting.

 

After meeting a local talent agent, Boutté found herself in front of the lens for a variety of print and commercial campaigns.  Boutté auditioned for what she considered a nearly impossible role to obtain but was cast as a supporting character in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married.  

 

In less than three years, Boutté has emerged as one of Hollywood’s freshest and most sought-after new faces, with guest and recurring roles on such popular TV shows as Everybody Hates Chris, the Emmy®-winning drama Boston Legal, Girlfriends and Days of Our Lives.

 

 

Tony Vaughn

Colonel

 

Tony Vaughn is a native of Atlanta who has been acting for more than 25 years.  His film credits include The Gospel and Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, while his television credits include Army Wives, One Tree Hill and Somebodies.

 

Among the stage shows in which Vaughn has appeared are Driving Miss Daisy, To Kill a Mockingbird, Waiting To Be Invited, Romeo and Juliet, Pill Hill, Hambone and The Dance On Widow’s Row, to name a few.
 

Juanita Jennings

Miss Edna

 

Juanita Jennings has appeared in numerous films, including Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls, the romantic comedy Love…& Other 4 Letter Words, director Gary Fleder’s Runaway Jury and John Singleton’s Baby Boy.  She made her feature film debut in Paul Verhoeven’s blockbuster Basic Instinct.  She will be seen in the upcoming Vacancy 2, Midnight Son and My Girlfriend’s Back.

 

Jennings was honored with a CableACE for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the HBO miniseries Lauren Avenue.  Her television appearances include recurring roles on Lincoln Heights and The Division.  She has also appeared on Scrubs, Soul Food, Without a Trace, Judging Amy, Frasier, Felicity, The Practice, Touched by an Angel, ER and 7th Heaven. Her television movie credits include On Promised Land, Out of Darkness, Murder of Innocence and Jack Reed: Badge of Honor.

 

Jennings has worked extensively in theater.  She is the recipient of two NAACP Theatre Awards for Best Actress, the first for Sheryl West’s Jar the Floor and the second for August Wilson’s King Hedley at the Mark Taper Forum.  Jennings has also appeared in New York’s legendary Negro Ensemble Company’s Colored People’s Time, as well as the company’s production of Home.  She went on to become a member of the national touring company of Home.  Jennings has appeared at the prestigious New York Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe and at the Mark Taper Forum in Slide Glide @ Slippery Slope and Whole Hearted.

 

K Callan

Miss Daisy Dupre

 

Recognized internationally for her work as an actress and author, K Callan’s most recent films include Midnight Clear and the romantic comedy Coyote County Loser, which will be released in 2009.  Her most recent television credits include ER and recurring parts on both How I Met Your Mother and Desperate Housewives, though she is probably still most recognizable as Superman’s mother on ABC’s hit series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

 

Callan has written several books for actors, writers and directors, teaching business skills and strategies for finding work in the business.

 

Born in Dallas, Callan made her first professional appearance in her home town at the famed Margo Jones Theatre.  Her first movie role as Peter Boyle’s wife in the iconic film Joe garnered international attention.

 

A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Callan is a past board member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Tyler Perry opens new studio in Atlanta

Tyler Perry just unveiled his new 30 acre multimillion dollar TV and film studio Saturday in Atlanta. His love and commitment to the city reclaimed after he once admitted that he would leave among complaints of noise and traffic around his old studion.

The new Studios contains more than 200,000 square feet of studio and office space in an old vacant Delta Air Lines‘ finance, reservation and computer center.

It was an All-Star even that included some of the industries powerful players. The guest list included Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Hank Aaron and Whitney Houston and a performance by Mary J. Blige.

Tyler Perry said that he  knew spiritually I was in the wrong place,” said Perry, whose projects include “Tyler Perry’s the Family That Preys.”

The studio features five sound stages that will be named after Quincy Jones, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Cicely Tyson — with one still unnamed. He will shoot his TBS sitcoms “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns” along with other film projects at the studio.

All about Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry (born September 14, 1969) is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor and director and producer of indie films and stage plays. His best-known character is Mabel “Madea” Simmons, who is a physically-imposing and overbearing, but well-intentioned, woman who serves both as comic relief and as the loud voice of conscience to the protagonists of Perry’s works.

Tyler was born Emmitt R. Perry, Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana (He now lives in Atlanta, Georgia), one of four children. Perry changed his first name to Tyler because of his troubled relationship with his father. His father, Emmitt, Sr., was a carpenter and construction worker, and his mother, Maxine, was a pre-school teacher who worked at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center for most of her life. His childhood in New Orleans was marked by poverty and physical abuse from his father. Perry dropped out of school when he was 16, but later went back to school to obtain his GED. Perry is a Christian.

One day while he was watching The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992, Perry took the advice that it can be cathartic to put feelings down on paper, which inspired him to write letters of his painful childhood. These letters eventually became his plays. Perry’s first foray into writing was in 1992, when he began writing a journal, in part to cope with the repercussions of abuse. He developed different characters to voice different ideas in the journal. This work eventually became the musical I Know I’ve Been Changed, about adult survivors of child abuse.

Perry moved to Atlanta in 1992 and worked in a restaurant and as a used car salesman. He managed to save up $12,000 to stage his first play. It was not a success and over the next six years, he struggled living in Atlanta but persevered until the play finally had a successful run in 1998, first at the House of Blues also known as the Tabernacle located by the CNN center and the Georgia Aquarium, and later at the Fox Theatre. His following play, a staging of Bishop T. D. Jakes’ book Woman Thou Art Loosed, was an immediate hit, grossing over $5 million in five months.[9] A film version was later created starring Kimberly Elise and Loretta Devine, and was released in theaters on February, 2005.

Perry, whose work is aimed at a primarily African-American audience, ultimately created a successful touring theater company. Recordings of some plays were subsequently sold on video and DVD. As of March 2005, Perry’s plays had grossed over $75 million in ticket and DVD sales.

 
Cover of Madea’s Class Reunion.Perry stated in a January 2004 interview in Ebony magazine that his theater productions were designed to be a bridge between the traditional urban theater circuit–historically and pejoratively referred to as the “chitlin’ circuit”–and a more traditional theater format

Perry’s other highly successful plays include Diary of a Mad Black Woman, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Madea’s Family Reunion,Madea’s Class Reunion,and Madea Goes To Jail. He also wrote and created the hit plays/DVDs Why Did I Get Married? and Meet the Browns. Why Did I Get Married featured R&B singer Cheryl “Pepsii” Riley and Tony Grant. Meet the Browns features Terrell Phillips, Terrell Carter, and David and Tamela Mann (Perry did not appear in either production). In 2005, Perry returned to the stage with another successful hit, Madea Goes to Jail. Another play, What’s Done in the Dark, which Perry wrote and directed but does not appear in, went on tour from September 2006 through May 2007, but returned for another run in September 2007. The video was filmed in Charlotte, NC and was released February 12, 2008. Perry’s most recent stage production is The Marriage Counselor which premiered in January 2008. This production features Tony Grant, Palmer Williams and Tamar Davis.

Tyler Perry owns 100 percent of his movies, with Lions Gate Films as his distributor.

 

His first movie, Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, produced on a budget of $5.5 million, became an unexpected hit, prompting widespread discussion among industry watchers about whether middle-class African Americans were simply not being addressed by mainstream Hollywood movies. Its final gross box office receipts were $50.6 million, although it was a critical flop, scoring only 16% overall on Rotten Tomatoes. On opening weekend, February 24, 2006, Perry’s film version of Madea’s Family Reunion opened at number one with $30.3 million and a $14,770 per screen average. The film eventually grossed $65 million, and like Diary, almost all of it in the United States. The film was jump-started by an hour-long appearance by Perry and his co-stars on the influential Oprah Winfrey show.

His next project for Lions Gate Entertainment, Daddy’s Little Girls, starring Gabrielle Union, was released in the U.S. on February 14, 2007. It grossed over $31 million. Perry wrote, directed, produced, and starred in his next movie, Why Did I Get Married, which was released on October 12, 2007. It opened as the #1 grossing $21.4 million dollars at the box office that weekend. It is loosely based on the play. Filming began March 5, 2007, in Whistler, British Columbia; Vancouver, then Atlanta, where Perry opened his own studio. Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, Jill Scott and Tasha Smith appear in the film. Perry’s 2008 film, Meet the Browns, which was released on March 21st, opened at number 2 with $20,082,809 weekend gross. The Family That Preys opened on September 12, 2008.

Madea Goes to Jail opens on February 20, 2009. This will be Perry’s seventh film with Lions Gate Entertainment. At the request of director J.J. Abrams, Perry will also have a cameo appearance in the movie Star Trek, which will open on May 8, 2009. This will be his first movie outside that is not his own project.
Tyler Perry Studios is the first African-American owned studio in the country and had its grand opening on October 4, 2008. Located in southwest Atlanta, the studio occupies two former airline affiliated buildings and includes 200,000 square feet of sets and office space. The opening was attended by Sidney Portier, Will Smith, Cicely Tyson and Hank Aaron among others.

Perry produces a television show titled Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which follows an African-American household with three generations of family within it. The show seeks to illustrate struggles with faith and love, as well as showing how to coexist with the generation gap. The show ran briefly in Spring of 2006 as a 10 show pilot. After a successful pilot run, Perry signed a $200 million dollar 100 episode deal with TBS. On June 6, 2007, the first two episodes of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne ran on TBS. Due to high ratings, House of Payne is now in syndication. Re-runs will play through December 2007 before the 2nd season begins. The 3rd season began March 5, 2008. The 4th season began June 4, 2008. House of Payne now airs on The CW. House of Payne has aired 100 episodes. Meet The Browns is Perry’s next sitcom starring David Mann and Tamela Mann.

Perry’s first novel, Don’t Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea’s Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life, hit bookstores April 11, 2006. The book sold more than 25,000 copies. The hardcover hit Number One on the New York Times Best Seller list and stayed on the list for twelve weeks. It was voted the Book of the Year and Best Humor Book at the 2006 Quill Awards.