The world attracts and runs through television sets or we can say simply by the screen presence of celebrities and the persons who perform there and make a name for themselves. They perhaps control how society will perform because of the lasting impact a celebrity makes in common people’s lives through many means like advertisements, movies, shows, and live concerts. Jaleel White has made his name in that circuit by performing mostly comic characters in American sitcoms and movies. He is a likable personality whose fan base has grown up with every character he has played on the screen.
In this article, we’ll try to find out about his life, movies and TV shows, net worth, Wife, and Daughter.
Jaleel White Life
Jaleel White was born on November 27th, 1976 as the only child of his parents Michael White and Gail White who was a dentist and homemaker respectively in the city of Culver, California. He made his mother a manager to him later when he got settled in his career. He graduated from UCLA in 2001 with a degree in Film and Television and received good remarks from the professors and before that, he attended John Marshall Fundamental High School of Pasadena in California.
He started acting in advertisements and guest appearances in shows in childhood because his preschool teacher recommended his parents encourage him to act at the tender age of three.
Jaleel White Career
When he started getting commercials, his popularity was getting soaring in casting directors who used to cast children. He made his first guest appearance in the show, The Jeffersons in 1984 and he later auditioned for the role of Rudy Huxtable for the show The Cosby Show but was replaced because they wanted to cast a girl later. He made many small roles and guest appearances between 1984-88 in many shows and small-budget movies.
Family Matters
He, at the age of 12 got the most awaited and the biggest opportunity of his career then by getting a role in Family Matters as Steve Urkel. This role was initially intended to be made as a one-time guest appearance by the makers but the role became popular by White’s acting and he got a full-time contract to star in the show. He also played other characters of the Urkel family in the show. This show made him a bonafide star on the celluloid and at the age of 19, he also co-written some episodes of the show as well and those episodes became the highest rated of that year.
This show was the longest-running show of television history which had black cast members. By the time Family Matters ended in 1998, Jaleel White was almost 21, and shockingly he had become that character in real life and disillusioned to the point where he was shaken by the death of his cast member the show, Michelle Thomas who died of stomach cancer. After this character Urkel, he found it very difficult in the cast of other roles because Casting Directors used to associate him with this character only and he could only play this type of comic character.
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Other Acting Ventures
He got the opportunity to give his English voice to the video game character Sonic the Hedgehog and he voiced this character in all of the series in 1993. White got the role name ”J” in the sitcom Grown Ups in 1999, he became this cool teenager who is dealing now with adulthood who has recently graduated from college and wants to make a stable life for himself.
He wrote and co-produced many episodes of Grown Ups and it received negative reviews from the critics but was second in the ratings when it premiered on television. However, the ratings soon started getting poor and UPN had to cancel the series after only one season. He kept doing small roles in the movies and sitcoms and gave voice to the animated characters.
Jaleel White Personal Life
Jaleel White has launched an online product featuring his most iconic character Purple Urkel Strain for cannabis products on a dispensary in California. He has made a memorial in his home of his co-star of Family Matters, Michelle Thomas shortly after when the series ended. He considers Thomas as his big sister who used to be his close friend on the sets of the show at the start when he joined and he stated in an interview that his childhood ended only that day when Michelle died.
Jaleel White Wife
Jaleel White dated fellow actress Christine Lakin from the TGIF show Step by Step in the early 90s but broke out because of unknown reasons to the public. Then after some time, he got into a relationship with Bridget Hardy. White hasn’t married till now.
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Jaleel White Daughter
Jaleel has a single daughter with her girlfriend Bridget Hardy who was born in 2009 and her name is Samaya. He loves his daughter so much that in every three or four posts from his social media especially Instagram, we can see him and her daughter posing together and they live together in his home in California, USA.
Jaleel White Net Worth
Jaleel has made his net worth of around 8 million dollars by himself working in shows and movies and his earnings mostly come from the acting credits, screenwriting, and the royalty he gets from the character of Steve Urkel from the show Family Matters.
Conclusion
Jaleel White has made a name for himself in the television industry from nowhere by working hard. He has a beautiful family with a daughter who loves him and he’s living the life that many people only can dream of. This shows us no matter what obstacles come in our lives, we should not lose hope and keep making our efforts because efforts pay off one day.
In April 2012, he became the host of Syfy Show Total Blackout which was a game show and he used to make sure everyone played equally and correctly. He has the quality to impress most of the contestants or in general his fans and that makes him a lovable celebrity.
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