Jaleel White Says He Was “Not Welcomed at All” on ‘Family Matters’

While Jaleel White has gone down in sitcom history for his Steve Urkel character, the actor claims he wasn’t greeted with open arms when he first arrived on Family Matters. In an interview featured on TV One’s Uncensored set to air this Sunday at 10/9c, White opened up about his experience playing his iconic role, Deadline reports.

In a teaser released ahead of White’s Uncensored episode, he shares his first impression of Family Matters. “I was not welcomed to the cast at all,” he says in the clip. “They know what it was … I didn’t think anything of it, being cast to be on Family Matters, because it was supposed to be a guest spot, one and done.”

White first appeared on the show in 1989, when he was set to join for one episode in Season 1. But his Steve Urkel character stuck around until the series ended in 1998, and all these years later he’s still associated with the classic catchphrase: “Did I do that?”

Later in his Uncensored preview, White became emotional discussing his onscreen girlfriend, Michelle Thomas, who was 30 when she died of stomach cancer in 1998. “Michelle Thomas became a very special person,” he said, getting visibly teary. “I literally cannot say her name or I’ll cry.”

Along with the brief preview posted to Twitter, TV One also shared a longer clip on YouTube ahead of White’s episode in which the actor looked back on playing Myrtle Urkel — Steve’s female cousin — for the first time. While everyone on set was impressed, White recalled Jo Marie Payton and Reginald VelJohnson were “very sensitive to putting Black men in dresses, and they heaped that on me.”

He added, “They let me know that I was not doing our race a service by putting on that yellow dress.” In response, White decided to “take it up a notch,” and “that evening, I felt like a girl playing Myrtle Urkel,” he said. “But I cried like a baby at the end of that taping.” White said his dad stood up for him after that day on set, declaring he would never play the character again.

While White is widely recognized for his Family Matters character, he’s gone on to star in countless TV shows since the sitcom wrapped. Over the years, he’s appeared in House, Hawaii Five-0, Atlanta, Bones, Drunk History, Me, Myself and I, Fresh Off the Boat, The Big Show Show, Raven’s Home and more.

Where to watch Family Matters