Family Matters, Jaleel White
Image credit: Family Matters: The Kobal Collection

Breakout Star
Jaleel 'Urkel' White
Imagining Family Matters without Steve Urkel would be like watching American Idol without Simon Cowell: inconceivable. And yet the king of TV dorks joined ABC's frivolous Friday-night sitcom a full 12 episodes into its first season, and then only in a one-time guest capacity. Fortunately, executive producer Thomas L. Miller decided to make 13-year-old Jaleel White a recurring cast member after just one rehearsal. That fateful decision not only changed the direction of the show — which suddenly had a buzz-worthy character — but it also changed its young star's life. ''Before this happened, I was getting tired of acting. I'd signed this card and given it to my mother that said at the end of my eighth-grade year I was going to quit, that I just wanted to go out for JV basketball,'' White told EW. ''I don't think I'll be quitting now.'' (Read the feature)

Originally posted May 03, 2005
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