Tyler Lepley

About

Tyler Lepley (born March 24, 1987) is an American actor who portrayed Benjamin “Benny” Young on the Tyler Perry produced prime time soap opera The Haves and the Have Nots; which was the first scripted television series to air on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Lepley was born and raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania by his mother and stepfather, who has been in his life since the age of 6. Lepley is Italian on his mother’s side and Jamaican on his biological father’s side. Lepley revealed that he was teased as a child because he was the only biracial kid in his school. He graduated from Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown. Lepley did several sports including track, football, basketball, karate—as a young child—and boxing but focused more on football as he got older.
Lepley played football in high school under the name Tyler Dinnis. In June 2003, he suffered an injury which nearly ended his football career and later underwent surgery. By the summer of 2004, Lepley was back on the field and was selected as the MVP at sports camp for Villanova University. He attended Kutztown University on a football scholarship. Lepley played football for the university…