TYLER PERRY is the envy of Hollywood. His movies, such as 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' and 'Madea's Family Reunion,' regularly open at the top of the box office; his films have earned a quarter-billion dollars in the U.S. alone; he has his own production studio in Atlanta; and he's just been listed in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People issue, out now.

But it wasn't always easy for Tyler, who tells ET's KEVIN FRAZIER that the odds were stacked against him growing up in New Orleans, and he even considered suicide during his rags-to-riches journey.

"People would tell me, 'You'll never make it because you're black,' or, 'You'll never make it because you're poor,'" recalls Perry. "It's pretty phenomenal coming out of the situation I did, to get to a place where you're celebrated."

Perry admits to having a troubled relationship with his father, revealing, "As a kid I considered suicide and even attempted a couple of times because I thought it would be easier to be dead."

But he credits the strained relationship with his dad as what inspired him to begin writing plays at 18. "It was a catharsis, it was a release for me," he says. "The little boy that I was had so much to say to him, there was so much anger, so much hurt and frustration."

Perry says he knew that he was truly going somewhere in the entertainment industry when OPRAH gave him a call. "I get this phone call out of the blue while I'm walking down the street in Las Vegas," he recounts. "She says to me, 'Hold on to yourself. Hold on to who you are.'"

Tyler's next movie coming out is 'The Family That Preys Together,' in theaters September 12.