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Jaleel White
Born	November 27, 1976 (age 30) Pasadena, California
Notable roles	Steve Urkel/Stefan Urquelle - Family Matters Sonia the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog and Manic the Hedgehog of Sonic Underground

Jaleel Ahmad White (born November 27, 1976 in Pasadena, California) is an American actor, most famous as Steve Urkel on the TV series Family Matters from 1990 to 1998.

Contents 1 Early career 2 1997-present 3 Breakfast Cereal 4 Suicide Hoax 5 Filmography 6 Television Work 7 External links

White got his start on TV commercials and guest starring roles on different shows. 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. Originating his most famous role, Steve Urkel, on Family Matters as an initial guest appearance, White received a standing ovation for his performance and drew approving chants from a group of college fraternity brothers who were in the studio audience. He created the role by borrowing his dad's dental glasses (his father was a dentist), hiking up his pants, bending his knees, and speaking in a high-pitched geeky tone. He was given a full-time starring role, and soon became an all time favorite TV character during the run of the series.

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, 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."

In 1999, a pilot for UPN called Grown Ups was based around White as a young man striking out into adulthood. 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 cancelled after one season.

White attended Huntington Middle School in San Marino, California, part of high school at John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School in Pasadena, California, and graduated from South Pasadena High School in 1994. 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, which was shown to every physics student at SPHS until Kemp's retirement in 2004. When not filming, White played basketball at South Pasadena High School.

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.

Most recently, White worked as a writer for NBA.com. In 2006, he starred in Who Made the Potatoe Salad?, a direct-to-DVD urban romantic comedy distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

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.

An Internet rumor, falsely attributed to the Associated Press, claimed in 2005 that White had killed himself, leaving a suicide note that included Urkel's catchphrase, "Did I do that?". Snopes.com and TVSquad.com report on the hoax.

The rumor actually originated sometime around the year 2000 in a Long Island, NY high school, Half Hollow Hills High School West.

However this was found to be just a rumor, and the young actor is compleatly unharmed. His family found the rumors to be shocking. Wondering who would think this up? and why?

• Quest for Camelot (1998) (voice)
• Our Friend, Martin (1999) (voice)
• Big Fat Liar (2002)
• Miracle Dogs Too (2006)
• Puff, Puff, Pass (2006)
• Who Made the Potatoe Salad? (2006)
• Dreamgirls (2006)

• Silence of the Heart (1984)
• Kids Don't Tell (1985)
• Charlie & Co. (1985-1986)
• The Leftovers (1986)
• Cadets (1988) (canceled after 1 episode)
• Family Matters (1989-1998)
• Camp Cucamonga (1990)
• The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993-1996) (voice)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (1993-1995) (voice)
• Sonic Christmas Blast (1996) (voice)
• Sonic Underground (1998-1999) (voice)
• Grown Ups (1999-2000)
• 111 Gramercy Park (2003)

• Jaleel White at the Internet Movie Database
• Jaleel White's home page
• Jaleel White's NBA blog
• Jaleel White lecture representation
• Website for Who Made the Potatoe Salad?
• Jaleel White false death rumor