Five must-watch Tyler Perry movies and shows on Netflix
Say what you want about Tyler Perry, but the man has been proving people wrong for years now. In the 1990s, Hollywood wasn’t welcoming the man with the rolling red carpet, but he kept plugging away with stage productions until people had no choice but to notice. Now that’s resilience!
Eventually, Madea took off, and Perry built a studio empire in Atlanta, and that’s when Netflix spotted him. The man has been giving back-to-back hits to the OTT since then.
The filmmaker signed a multi-year first-look film deal in 2023, then expanded the partnership into television in 2024. And once Perry gets moving, good luck slowing the man down.
Today, he has several Netflix projects on the go, including another season of Beauty in Black. And immediately afterwards, one of his older hits, Why Did I Get Married Again?, is returning to the franchise he launched in 2007.
So where do you start? Yeah, picking only one is easier said than done. So here are five titles that keep Tyler Perry fans returning to Netflix.
Five must-watch Tyler Perry movies and shows on Netflix
Miss Governor (2025)
Before Miss Governor got its new name, Tyler Perry launched it as She the People, but then, when part two came, surprise! New title. But you have to admit that it fits, because Terri J. Vaughn’s Antoinette Dunkerson is done being treated like some decorative lieutenant governor after winning office in Mississippi. Ceremonial role? Sod that.
The real nuisance is Governor Irwin Harper, who is sexist and patronising, while Antoinette’s family keeps turning their private matters into public humiliation. So she is juggling political condescension and viral embarrassment while handling the exhausting business of proving she deserves her seat at the table. Just a woman in a men’s world! But by part two, Antoinette has had enough… and starts biting back. Finally! About bloody time, eh?
Beauty in Black (2024–)
Being Perry’s first Netflix series, Beauty in Black chose not to knock but kick the bloody door in. Just look at it; the show has everything from betrayal, danger, and family warfare to the usual, but with a massive overdose of drama. At the centre is Kimmie, a dancer escaping a Chicago strip club, applying for a scholarship at the Beauty in Black hair school. Sounds like a fresh start, right? Ha! You wish. She crosses paths with the Bellaries, a cosmetics dynasty, and that is where things change.
Turns out what looked shiny on the surface had multiple trafficking rings running in circles beneath it. Yes, seriously! Kimmie tries to get out instead; she finds herself neck-deep in Bellarie business. Taylor Polidore Williams stars opposite Crystle Stewart’s Mallory, while Tyler Perry wrote and directed it. The show hit number one on Netflix’s Global English TV chart when it first came out and is looking forward to its fourth season. Perry must be hella proud.
Mea Culpa (2024)
Before you call Mea Culpa just another courtroom thriller, hold on a minute because that would be an insult to the saucy idea Tyler Perry created it with. He has said the idea came from his love of ’80s and ’90s thrillers, which explains Kelly Rowland opposite Trevante Rhodes, with a murder charge threatening to blow the whole thing to bits. And Rowland also produced the film, which makes it even juicier.
Rowland plays Mea Harper, a criminal defence attorney hired by artist Zyair Malloy, who swears he did not kill his girlfriend. Trouble is, the evidence makes him look dodgy as hell. And then comes the twist: the prosecutor is Mea’s brother-in-law Ray, whose plans to run for mayor make the case even more complicated. On the other hand, Mea is also dealing with problems in her marriage. And just when you think that’s not enough, Perry brings in attraction, which leads to seduction and suspicion. Shows you just how much the maker gives you in a two-hour movie.
A Madea Homecoming (2022)
Madea had been retired since A Madea Family Funeral in 2019, but every fan knew that there’s no chance she’ll be sitting that quiet for that long. Nu-uh! A Madea Homecoming brings Perry’s pistol-packing matriarch back for her great-grandson Tim’s college graduation, where the whole family shelters under one roof. Knowing the franchise, that doesn’t sound like a lovely idea. Of course, when the clan are together, secrets are bound to ruin the celebration, turning it into a Madea class.
Tyler Perry pulls double duty as Madea and Uncle Joe, with Cassi Davis Patton and David Mann back in the mix. But the wild card: a crossover with Mrs Brown’s Boys! Brendan O’Carroll shows up as Agnes Brown, Davi’s loudmouthed Irish great-aunt, while Jennifer Gibney returns as Cathy. Two formidable matriarchs in one house… One can only imagine. Good luck to everyone else.
A Fall from Grace (2020)
Would you believe it if we told you that A Fall from Grace was shot in just five days? Five freaking days. The film itself is no less feverish, opening with Grace Waters confessing to killing her new husband. Case closed, then? Turns out her public defender, Jasmine Bryant, is not convinced, and that doubt becomes the engine of the thriller.
Jasmine starts picking apart Grace’s confession, and soon enough the whole case begins to stink. One suspicious detail is nothing but a clue to another, and the revelations? Christ! Just when you reckon it cannot get more ludicrous. Phylicia Rashad and Cicely Tyson step into the tangle, and Perry writes, directs, and then strolls in as Jasmine’s boss too, because why the hell not?