Jaleel White's Professor Got This Wrong AboutFamily Matters: 'Like ComparingSeinfeldtoFull House' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

James Anthony with crowdMGMT; Simon & Schuster

You knowJaleel White’s face. You know his voice. And now, he’s sharing his story in a new memoir.

He auditioned for the role of Steve Urkel when he was just 12 years old, and the character was originally only supposed to appear in one episode. But White snapped his suspenders right into the hearts of viewers and “catapulted Urkel into the pantheon of American pop culture,” the book’s synopsis reads. He’d spend the next nine years playing the “nasally nerd in high water pants, suspenders and coke bottle glasses.”

In his new book, White lays out how “success can cost as much as it pays” and how he navigated the “peaks, valleys and plateaus of fame and fortune.”

Below, in an exclusive excerpt and audiobook clip shared with PEOPLE, White shares what happened when Urkel came up in one of his UCLA film school classes and how his iconic character didn’t represent the trope the professor suggested it did.

Simon & Schuster

Jaleel White reads from his new memoir, ‘Growing Up Urkel’

She started describing Steve Urkel as a “sambo” that was designed to cater to white audiences in a non-offensive and entertaining way. She said that the character was created to make white viewers more comfortable watching a show about a Black family. Steve Urkel is no more a sambo than Dr. Huxtable. In my opinion, that lady had the thinnest of grasps on what she was talking about.

Jaleel White as Steve Urkel in ‘Family Matters’.courtesy of Simon & Schuster

courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Finally, the lecture ended, and I gathered my things, eager to get out of there. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several students go up to the front and speak with the TA. As I was walking out, the TA came up to me.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Jaleel White and his parents at his UCLA graduation in 2001.courtesy of Simon & Schuster

I’ve always had a slick mouth. God knows I used to roast other kids back in the day. But this was a person in a position of power, and I had learned to be respectful, deferential even, to those with authority. And really, what could I say? What would I have gotten out of telling her off? Through gritted teeth, I simply said, “Hey. Don’t worry about it. It’s just an opinion.”

I was studying film and television at UCLA, listening to the opinions of those outside of the business.

We all stand on the shoulders of those who’ve come before us. Would there be any of the Black shows on the fledging WB network when it launched in the mid-aughts if ‘Family Matters’ hadn’t been on the air for nine years? I would argue not.

I’m not saying there’s not a hard and honest conversation to be had about Black characterization in the history of television. But I am saying that Steve Urkel shouldn’t have been the punching bag for that.

Jaleel White today.James Anthony with crowdMGMT

James Anthony with crowdMGMT

Shows like ‘Family Matters’ were losing step with cultural discussions as they were evolving in the mid to late nineties, and maybe that’s an indictment of the show, or maybe that’s the reality of a 30-minute family sitcom. We were on the air for nine seasons. A lot of cultural changes can and often do happen in nine years, and the format of our show was inherently limited. To put it plainly, we couldn’t keep up with societal shifts, but also, we weren’t meant to.

Remember, it’s not the place of the show, or any show, to offer representation of all Black experiences. Black people and people of color are not monolithic, yet, as a culture, we often have discussions as if they are. ‘Seinfeld’ doesn’t speak for all Jewish people. ‘Friends’ doesn’t speak for all white people. But no one ever thinks they should or did. They are not examined with that same lens.

source: people.com