‘Family Matters’ Star Jaleel White Admits to ‘Damage’ He Suffered Playing Steve Urkel

Fan-favorite Family Matters actor Jaleel White was a fan favorite on the enduring ’90s sitcom, which ultimately resulted in damage to his voice.

White, who played Steve and Steffon Urkel, was a special guest at this yr’s 90s Con in Daytona Beach, Florida. On Sunday, September 15, he spoke on a panel moderated by “Halloweentown” star Kimberly J. Brown.

According to Peoplethe 2 discussed the 47-year-old’s run because the country’s favorite nerdy neighbor. White revealed that the “high-pitched, nasal” voice that has develop into synonymous along with his character actually “damaged” his voice.

He said he saw a physician and was told, “What happened was that I spoke in the same tone for a long time during puberty. If the tone had been everywhere, it wouldn’t have damaged it as much.”

He added: “It’s in remission and I feel good now.”White, who joined the solid of the hit series when he was 12, told Brown that his voice problems got worse when he was about “15 or 16.”

“I felt like I was really losing control. I kept getting messages from the network saying, ‘We can’t hear him. Please be more clear,’” White said. “It was terrifying for me.”

He told the audience that he didn’t work with a vocal coach during his time on the show, so he didn’t know the way to properly protect his voice. People magazine also reported that White, who’s now the host of the sport show “The Flip Side,” is now working with a vocal coach and a physician to protect his vocal cords and “get them under control.”

White expressed no regrets when asked if he would change Urkel’s famous voice. “I wouldn’t do anything differently. It was a great experience and a small sacrifice to make to leave a hell of a legacy,” he said.

Family Matters aired from September 22, 1989 to July 17, 1998. During this time, White’s voice was also very talked-about within the animation world, as he lent his voice to Sonic within the Sonic the Hedgehog series from 1993 to 1996.

Although he has played many roles in his nearly 40-year profession, White is best often known as the sensible pest Urkel. But it wasn’t meant to be.

On a 2021 episode of TVOne’s Uncensored , White revealed that his suspenders-wearing character was supposed to appear on the sitcom only once. But his infectious personality and “did I do that?” catchphrase caught America by surprise, and the writers kept him, unknowingly making him the star of the show. He confessed that the remaining of the solid didn’t prefer it.

“I wasn’t cast at all,” he says within the clip. “They knew what it was about… I didn’t think about being cast in ‘Family Matters,’ because it was just going to be a guest appearance, one and that was it.”

In this episode, White examines the initial resistance from the “three adult” solid members, who already had established careers but now felt they were being overshadowed by a toddler actor.

The “Three Grownups” featured Jo Marie Payton, who played Harriette Winslow, whose character was based on the TV series “Perfect Friends,” Vel Johnson, who played Carl Winslow and gained notoriety for “Die Hard,” and Aunt Rachel, played by Thelma Hopkins, who starred in the favored Eighties sitcom “Gimme a Break!”

“I didn’t see myself stepping on anybody’s toes, stealing anybody’s shine,” White said within the “Uncensored” special, later adding, “And I don’t have to keep telling adults that. They know what I mean.”

In 2022, Payton revealed that White “wanted to physically fight” her after she objected to a scene through which he portrayed Urkel’s “gangsta” cousin, OGD, which stood for Original Gangsta Dawg.

But she admitted that she’s had nothing but love in her life these days, something she revealed in an interview with Atlanta Black Star last October.

“I don’t like to repeat things. Things happen and we move on,” Payton explained, sharing that she expressed the identical sentiment during a performance at 90s Con this yr.

“As I said on that panel, if I saw Jaleel today and he said, ‘Hey, Jo Marie,’ I would hug him. No hard feelings,” she added.

At the price of his voice, White made Steve Urkel one of the recognizable figures in American television history and a popular culture icon.

In his upcoming memoir, “Growing Up Urkel,” White recounts his life as a toddler actor and the way he became an adult star. The book is about to hit shelves in November.