[Music] foreign
white was born in Culver City California on November 27 1976. he was raised in the Golden
State by his father a dentist and his mother a homemaker and post office worker who would
later go on to become her son's manager as a precocious child and on the advice of his
preschool teacher he began acting at a very young age he would make it happen by getting
his start on TV doing commercials at three years old one of his most notable gigs was
for Jello pudding pops alongside Bill Cosby who Jaleel would cross paths with again years
later after enrolling in an acting school he would be discovered by someone who would go
on to become the most successful child talent agent of all time also representing stars like
the Olsen twins and Fred Savage things really took off for him then and Jaleel
admits that's exactly how things work in Hollywood it all comes down to who you know
years later he would disclose that his parents put him in acting for no other reason other than
to earn money for college even though he was very funny and had Star Quality those factors didn't
save him from being cast as the token black kid in the American entertainment business
in the 80s at least when Jalil was coming up the All-American look typically blonde hair
and blue eyes was what was routinely cast that meant that someone that looked like Jalil was
never going to get the number of auditions let alone roles as say a Ricky Schroeder or a Kirk
Cameron jaleel's first television show role would end up being a guest stint on The Jeffersons in
1984. around the same time he also auditioned for the role of Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show since
it was originally intended to be for a male actor the following year he was cast as the
son of Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight on the CBS sitcom Charlie and Company which debuted in the
fall of 1985. unfortunately the show didn't catch on with audiences and was canceled after airing
just 18 episodes two years later he appeared in the pilot for good morning Miss Bliss which went
on to become the hit NBC show Saved by the Bell and had another guest role on the hit ABC show Mr
Belvedere even though his one-off appearances on some very popular TV shows didn't pan out Janelle
still stayed booked and busy for years between the ages of three to twelve then at the age of 12
Jalil would land the biggest role of his career it was on a TV show but that show was no hit at least
not yet initially the first dozen episodes of the ABC sitcom Family Matters didn't wow audiences but
when the role of Steve Urkel played by Jalil was introduced Midway through the first season the
ratings exploded first thought of as a one-time guest appearance the immensely popular reception
he received convinced the creators that Steve needed to be a permanent addition and immediately
gave Jalil a full-time starring role interestingly enough before landing the role Jalil was actually
on his way out of the entertainment business he'd even let his age should know not to send him out
on any more auditions his agent's assistant though ended up being the one to send him out on this
last one largely due to the fact that they knew the character was a nerd and Jalil just happened
to have braces on his teeth which was a perfect addition to the lung Jaleel also played several
other members of the Urkel family including his alter ego Stefan or Cal and Steve's cousin Myrtle
Urkel that latter character though did not sit well with Jalil at all making her first appearance
in season 2 Jalil was very concerned about how the role would make him look to his friends at school
so much so that at the end of that first episode he actually went back to his dressing room and
cried jaleel's father had to have a talk with the producers to let them know that his son was never
going to play that character again however after some time had passed and much reflection Die Hard
Family Matters fans will know that Myrtle Urkel did appear once again even if you didn't watch
Family Matters everyone knew who Steve Urkel was since during the height of the show's popularity
the character was heavily marketed with various products like breakfast cereal and an Urkel doll
I just want a little bite and I know she'll be mine want to be introduce you to the miracle doll
he's got my looks my life my voice as great as the chemistry was that came across the screen episode
after episode behind the cameras the energy was off way off many years later Jaleel as well as Joe
Marie Payton who played matriarch Harriet Winslow and Reginald Vel Johnson who played patriarch Carl
Winslow would speak candidly about tensions on the set from the moment the role of Steve Urkel
was introduced according to Jalil he believed that Jill Marie Reginald as well as Telma Hopkins were
probably all led to believe that their previous work in the industry afforded them the title of
lead star on the show not to mention the focus was always intended to be centered on the Winslow
Family so when Jalil came along and stole the spotlight so to speak they didn't like it at one
bed things stay that way for the first two seasons before slowly starting to get better as the cast
became very much like a real family another fan favorite character on the show that had a long run
was Myra monkhouse Steve's love interest played by Michelle Thomas sadly just a few months after the
series wrapped Michelle passed away following a battle with stomach cancer not only did her
and jaleel's character have a lot of screen time together they developed a very close friendship
Jaleel even described Michelle as a big sister and to this day tears up at the mention of her name
when the series ended in the summer of 1998 Jaleel wasn't the least bit upset about it since by that
time he'd become disillusioned with his role after all he was 21 at the time and ready to move on to
bigger and better things due to the character's popularity though and being so tightly defined
by it he endured a long uphill battle trying to be seen as anything else Jaleel was so over
the role that the next year he did an interview where he was quoted as saying it if you ever see
me do that character again take me out and put a bullet in my head and put me out of my misery
another aspect of the role that affected him negatively was people using it to categorize
him as not being black enough in 2021 he told an eye-opening story to Mayim Bialik
on her podcast breakdown about the day he met director Spike Lee someone whose work
he greatly admired upon meeting him Jaleel knew right off the bat that Spike wasn't
nearly as enthralled with him as he was with Spike then the opportunity came for Jalil to
be a part of Spike's 1996 film get on the bus not as a featured actor though only as
an investor when the idea for him to actually be in the film was presented it was immediately
rejected jaleel's own grandmother he says even questioned why his mother let him talk wide
in 1999 Jaleel returned to television in the UPN sitcom grown-ups the series was based around his
character as a Young Man striking out in adulthood the show received poor reviews from critics but
debuted in second place in the ratings upon his Premiere however ratings soon dropped and
the network canceled the series after just one season in the early 2000s he graduated from UCLA
with a degree in film and television over the years he's continued acting and has had small
parts in a variety of films as well as several TV show appearances he's also done extensive voice
over work including being the original English voice of the popular video game character Sonic
the Hedgehog within the first decade of the New Millennium Jaleel also became a father to
a baby girl 13 years after he stopped playing the Steve Urkel character Jaleel did an interview with
Vanity Fair where he finally addressed his 1999 bullet comment about the role he says it was taken
out of context and it really came from a place of it no longer being a cool thing anymore like it
was when he was younger and wanting to separate himself from that image as a young man in his
early 20s Jaleel put his dancing skills to the test in 2012 when he competed on the 14th season
of Dancing With the Stars with partner Kim Johnson The Experience wasn't all sunshine and Roses
though things got heated between the two during one particularly bad rehearsal session when he
reportedly stepped on Kim's foot and then yelled at her when he thought she overreacted to the pain
it caused while Jaleel admitted to People magazine that because the camera captures every minute of
the journey he's felt frustrated at times he insisted that the whole situation was overblown
as a response to the incident going public though he ended up earning the nickname jerkel
while all this was going on Jaleel also had to contend with claims from his ex-girlfriend and
mother of his daughter Bridget Hardy that he verbally and physically abused her throughout
their relationship if you think the timing is suspicious so does Jalil as he relayed in
a statement to E news the allegations made against me back in 2010 have suspiciously
resurfaced in time to coincide with my new show on sci-fi and Dancing with the
Stars Bridget Hardy has consistently shown a knack for timing throughout our child custody
disputes when you're doing well in life it's par for the course certain individuals will
try and knock you down when the individual is also the mother of your only child it is
particularly hurtful I have co-parented in peace and compliance with the law for over
two years now Bridget told Star Magazine in an exclusive interview that Jaleel blew up
at her hit her and pushed her after she confronted him over evidence of cheating
she says she found on his phone in 2010. she also alleges that he even tried to pay her off
offering her two hundred thousand dollars to disappear fear and leave their child with him
in 2020 Jaleel debuted his podcast called Ever After where he chats with fellow child stars to
see how their paths diverged from their early days of Fame Jaleel used his 2021 TV one uncensored
episode to reveal quite a bit of unknown information about his Hollywood experiences
one thing he's never spoken about until then was his Fallout with Bill Cosby as time went
on Jaleel had forged a close relationship with him that even included dinners at the longtime
comedian's home in the episode though he still doesn't go into any detail about what actually
happened and chalks it up to being raised in an environment where he was taught to always
respect his Elders a revered man did a terrible thing and he's paying the price it's just like
I think that's where we where we leave it a revered man did a terrible thing and he is
paying the appropriate price in addition to jaleel's continued path of regular TV
movie and Voice work roles he's also gotten into the Cannabis business by launching his
own line of pro cuts through a partnership with 710 Labs beginning in 2021. his its
purple line features variants of the popular cannabis strain fittingly called Purple Urkel
thank you