Jaleel White

Jaleel Ahmad White (born November 27, 1976) is an American actor.

He is best known for his role as Steve Urkel on the sitcom Family Matters.

The character was originally intended to be a one-time guest appearance on the show; however, he was an instant hit with audiences and White became a regular cast member.

Also during the 1980s, he appeared in a few segments of NBC's One to Grow On.

White had a role in the NBC television film Camp Cucamonga.

The film features an ensemble cast including Sherman Hemsley, Jennifer Aniston, and Brian Robbins.

Several other child actors of the era including Chad Allen, Candace Cameron, Danica McKellar, Josh Saviano, and Breckin Meyer also appear.

At the age of 12, White originated his most famous role, Steve Urkel, on Family Matters.

The role was initially conceived as a one-time guest appearance, but the character proved to be popular and White was given a full-time starring role.

He also played several other members of the Urkel family, including his alter ego Stefan Urquelle and Myrtle Urkel.

During the height of Family Matters' popularity, the character of Urkel was marketed with breakfast cereal (Urkel-Os) and an Urkel doll.

In addition to starring in the series, White also wrote several episodes, including one, at age 19, that was the series' highest rated for that year.

After starting his career at the age of three, White's first television role was a guest stint on The Jeffersons, in 1984.

He later auditioned for the role of Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show.

According to White, he was cast in the role (the character was originally intended to be male) but was replaced by Keshia Knight Pulliam when Bill Cosby decided to mirror his television family after his real life family.

The following year, he was cast as the son of Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight on the CBS sitcom Charlie and Company.

The series was intended to be CBS' answer to the highly rated Cosby Show which debuted on NBC in 1984.

Unlike The Cosby Show, Charlie and Company did not catch on with audiences and was canceled in May 1986.

In 1987, he appeared in the pilot episode for Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and had a guest role on Mr. Belvedere.

In 1988, White had a supporting role in Cadets, a sitcom starring Soleil Moon Frye.

The pilot episode aired during a preview special on September 25, 1988, on ABC.

The series, however, was not picked up by the network.

The series aired for a total of nine seasons, from 1989 to 1998.

After Family Matters ended, White went on to star in the short-lived UPN comedy series Grown Ups (1999–2000).

White then took a brief hiatus from acting to attend UCLA in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated in 2001, earning a degree in film and television.

White attended John Marshall Fundamental High School in Pasadena, California, and South Pasadena High School before graduating from UCLA in 2001.

On the advice of his preschool teacher, White began acting as a child.

He got his start on TV commercials at age three.

One of White's notable commercial appearances was for Jell-O pudding pops alongside Bill Cosby.

He returned to acting with supporting roles in Dreamgirls (2006), and cameo appearances on another ABC series, Boston Legal, Fox's House, ABC's Castle, and USA's Psych.

In 2010, he portrayed Dr. McCormick in the sci-fi film Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus.

In March 2012, White was a contestant in season 14 of Dancing with the Stars before he was voted off in May of that year, leaving him with a 7th-place finish overall.

In April 2012, White hosted the Syfy game show Total Blackout.

He then reprised his role as Sonic in the 2013 Sonic fan film.

In January 2017, White appeared in Bones as Officer Adams.

White then reprised his role as Urkel for the first time in 21 years in the 2019 series Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.

White is also the first actor to voice the popular Sega video game character Sonic the Hedgehog in animated media, doing so in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (also known as Sonic SatAM) and Sonic Underground, all of which were produced by the now-defunct DIC Entertainment studio.

In 2020, White had a recurring role in the one season-long Netflix series The Big Show Show.

White was born in Culver City, California, the only child of Michael White, a dentist, and Gail White, who was a homemaker.

His mother later became his manager.