Jaleel White

Jaleel Ahmad White was born in Culver City, California, on November 27, 1976. He is the only child of Gail White, who is currently working as his manager, and Michael White, a dentist by profession. White received his early education from John Marshall Fundamental High School and South Pasadena High School. He later attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

He is fond of writing short stories and likes painting in his free times. He has always maintained a strong stance against the usage of drugs and alcohol. He has a daughter named Samaya, who was born in 2009. The mother of his child is his ex-girlfriend Bridget Hardy.

After being tipped by one of his pre-school teachers, Jaleel White became interested in acting at a very young age. He appeared in several commercials of top brands as a child actor. He was featured in an ad campaign for Jell-O pudding pops alongside Bill Cosby at the age of three. He made his debut on television in 1984, appearing as ‘Van Van Morris’ in the American sitcom ‘The Jeffersons’. The following year he landed the role of ‘Robert Richmond’ in the CBS sitcom ‘Charlie & Company’. The series was a direct challenge to the hugely popular NBC sitcom ‘The Cosby Show’, starring Bill Cosby. However, the series failed to live up to the expectations and was canceled in 1986, ending White’s association with the show after 18 episodes.

In 1989, White was picked by the producers of the American sitcom series ‘Family Matters’ for just one special appearance. He was supposed to play the character of ‘Steven Quincy Urkel’ in just one episode but his character became so popular that the audience demand forced the makers of the show to make it a regular role. He even went on to play multiple characters in the series including those of ‘Myrtle Urkel’ and ‘Stefan Urquelle’ (alter ego of ‘Steve Urkel’). Besides acting in the series, White also wrote the scripts for different episodes, including one of the highest rated episodes of the series. He won the NAACP Image Awards for ‘Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress’ twice in 1994 and 1995. Later in 1997, he won the same award for ‘Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series’.

Alongside working in ‘Family Matters,’ he also worked as a voice actor in ‘Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog’, ‘Sonic (SatAM)’ and ‘Sonic Underground’, voicing the title character and protagonist of the series ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’. When ‘Family Matters’ was canceled, he found it very difficult to get regular roles despite being immensely popular as a cast member of the show. However, he soon bagged another regular role in the American sitcom ‘Grown Ups’. Besides playing the character of ‘J. Calvin Frazier’ or ‘J’ in the series, White also wrote and co-produced several episodes of the show.

White also appeared in small roles in films like ‘Big Fat Liar’ and ‘Dreamgirls’ before making an appearance in a lead role in the comedy movie ‘Who Made the Potatoe Salad?’ in 2006. Recently, he has appeared in popular shows like ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’, the comedy series ‘Drunk History’, the reality show ‘Hell's Kitchen’, and the comedy-drama television series ‘Atlanta’.