His father, George Tillman, worked at the American Motors plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and his mother was a secretary.

[3] Throughout his early childhood, Tillman would borrow his father's 8mm camera and would start to shoot things with Milwaukee's Public-access television cable TV channel.

[3] By age eight, Tillman got his hands on his very first television script, All My Children, and wrote his first soap opera as well as his first five-minute show.

Tillman recalled, years later, to an interviewer in regard to receiving the All My Children's script," I told them about a certain plot change that I wanted and I thought I could help the characters out…That was the beginning for me, the writing.

In 1973, when Tillman watched Five on the Black Hand Side and Claudine in 1974, he felt empowered and knew he wanted to become a filmmaker.

As a teenager, Tillman made amateur videos and created Splice of Life, which was a program for a local Public-access television.

[3] While in film school, he created a 30-minute short, Paula, which was a story of a 17-year-old, single African American mother who works in a diner and motivates the people around her.

The writer of Mo' Money, Damon Wayans told the union that he wanted more African Americans to be a part of the crew, which is the major reason why Tillman got hired.

In Scenes for the Soul, Tillman intertwines three stories based on the day in the life of a diverse group of African American characters.

[citation needed] Tillman, disappointed that his film did not make it to screen, went to Chicago and wrote the screenplay to Soul Food.

Tillman told the Chicago Tribune, "I wanted to make a movie about a black family in Middle America.

When it was time for Tillman's agents to sell the script, they marketed it as an independently produced and low-budget project and asked the musician, Kenneth Edmonds, if he would want to contribute and record a soundtrack album.

[5] Both Kenneth and Tracey Edmonds loved Tillman's screenplay so much that they decide to make Soul Food their company's first production.

[5] In the beginning, 20th Century Fox wanted to have a more experienced director, but the studio changed their decision once they viewed some of Tillman's past work.

"[10] Soul Food is originated from Tillman's passion to make a motivating and straight from the heart story about a modern African American family.

Fox), a full-time house wife and mother; Teri (Vanessa L. Williams), a strong willed attorney who pays little to no attention to her own personal life; and Bird (Nia Long), a hairdresser that is married to an ex-convict.

Tillman was able to incorporate a lasting impression on the audience while touching on the big ideas of family tradition and bonds.

According to Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly in referencing Soul Food, "George Tillman Jr. writes and directs with homespun style and a minimum of flash, reminding us that behind a lot of clichés lie simple truths.

[5] $14 million was earned by the end of its first week, which validated Tillman's success because the film received twice the amount it originally cost to make.

[8] Tillman received offers to start a new project starring Steve Martin, and to create biographical films based on African American figures such as Dorothy Dandridge, Marvin Gaye, and Richard Pryor.

[5] Tillman told Murray in an interview, "I love Marvin Gaye..there's something about him and his struggle that I think will make a great film.

[5] Tillman told Painter, "I love characters people can identify with and relate to—characters that go through struggles we can learn from in our everyday lives.

"[12] Tillman's next big hit was his film, Men of Honor, starring Robert De Niro, and Cuba Gooding Jr. Tillman was inspired to do this film after seeing F. Gary Gray in The Negotiator (1998) because he realized there were little to no opportunities for African American directors to work with big time stars and he wanted to change that.

[3] While Tillman was editing Men of Honor, his producing partner Robert Teitel presented him with the Barbershop script, written by Mark Brown.

In comparison to Soul Food, which was made in 1997, Tillman still strived to show African Americans in a more positive outlook.

According to Tillman, "if a studio get behind an African American film, which has universal themes, and markets it like any other movie, you can make a lot of money.

"[3] Both Tillman and Robert made sure to be involved with the marketing scheme because they wanted to make sure that the film was delivered as a heartfelt yet comical piece.