Jaleel White

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Jaleel White
Born Jaleel Ahmad White
November 27, 1976 (1976-11-27) (age 31)
Pasadena, California
Years active 1984 ─ present

Jaleel Ahmad White (born November 27, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Steve Urkel/Stefan Urquelle on the TV series Family Matters from 1989 to 1998.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

White was born in Pasadena, California, the son of Gail, a manager, and Michael White, a dentist.[1] White attended Huntington Middle School in San Marino, California and part of high school at John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School in Pasadena, California. As a high school senior, White attended South Pasadena High School, but then transferred to Middlesex School in Massachusetts in 1994, where he would graduate. He received his bachelors degree in film from UCLA Film School in 2001.

During White's years at South Pasadena High School while filming Family Matters, White did a physics experiment on tape for his physics teacher, Mike Kemp. This video became well known with students at South Pasadena High School because Kemp showed it to every physics student at SPHS until he retired in 2004. When not filming, White played basketball at South Pasadena High School.

[edit] Early career

White got his start on TV commercials and guest starring roles on different shows. White's acting career began at age three with Kelloggs and other commercials after his preschool teacher persuaded his reluctant parents to take him to auditions. He landed his first television role as Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight's son on the CBS series Charlie and Company. He next appeared on another CBS comedy series, The Jeffersons.

He was considered for the part of a main character on the NBC Saturday morning sitcom Saved by the Bell, but lost out to another actor. He appeared on Full House as the cousin of one of D.J.'s friends, as well as on Step By Step',' dropping in with a jet pack.

White was a main character in a 1990 movie called Camp Cucamonga; it also featured Candace Cameron from Full House as well as Danica McKellar and Josh Saviano from The Wonder Years, Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Aniston.

[edit] Family Matters

Originating his most famous role, Steven 'Steve' Quincy Urkel, on Family Matters as an initial guest appearance, White received a standing ovation for his performance and drew approving ratings. He was given a full-time starring role, and soon became an all time favorite TV character during the run of the series.

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

By the show's final season, he was commanding $100,000 per episode. Unfortunately, White was so tightly defined by his Urkel character that it became hard for him to get other roles after the show's run completed. Having played the part since he was a teenager, he was also considerably taller towards the latter part of the show's run; thus disallowed from weightlifting, and required to shave immediately before filming each show in order to retain a "nerdlike" appearance. He also had to maintain the character's high-pitched voice as the series progressed, which he declared was "not easy."

Breakfast cereal During the height of Family Matter's popularity, a breakfast cereal called "Urkel-Os" was produced. It was a sweetened "O" shaped cereal with a picture of the quintessential nerd, Urkel, on the front of the box. Its production run was rather short-lived.

[edit] After Family Matters

In 1999, a pilot for UPN called Grown Ups was based around White as a young man striking out into adulthood. Additionally, he co-produced and wrote episodes for the show, in which he also starred as "J", a college graduate struggling to establish his role in life as an adult. The pilot featured another child actor, Soleil Moon Frye famous for her role as Punky Brewster, as the girl whom he chose as a roommate. The writing and comedy was bland and dissimilar from other sitcoms, and Frye was even removed from the series after the pilot. It was cancelled after one season.

White's acting roles were not restricted to sitcoms however; he costarred in the 1998 animated film Quest for Camelot. He was also the voice of the famed video game character Sonic the Hedgehog in most of the American TV shows - Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Underground, as well as a Christmas special. White also had small parts in the films Big Fat Liar and Dreamgirls, and was the voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Our Friend, Martin. In 2007, he guest starred on the ABC legal drama Boston Legal, playing a law school graduate interviewing for a job at Crane, Pool and Schmidt. Denny Crane creates a media circus when he tells White's character "You don't sound black". He also appeared on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as Ashley's boyfriend in one episode, and also UPN's Half & Half as a date of young Mona who left her at the end of the episode for a waitress. That waitress was a guest star named Keenyah who placed third on cycle 4 of America's Next Top Model.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Television works

Jaleel White in his appearance as Derek on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Ashley's love interest
Jaleel White in his appearance as Derek on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Ashley's love interest

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jaleel White Biography (1976-)

[edit] External links