In 'Growing Up Urkel,' actor Jaleel White reflects on a career-defining role

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4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2024

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Steve Urkel, the nerdy, bespectacled neighbor in Family Matters, is one of '90s television's most iconic characters. Urkel's nasally voice, oversized glasses and signature catchphrases made the character nearly inescapable in pop culture – and also made a star out of Jaleel White, the actor who played him. In a new memoir, Growing Up Urkel, White reflects on how the role catapulted his career while permanently shaping the way others see him. In today's episode, he joins NPR's Ailsa Chang for a conversation that touches on the character's mass appeal, TV stereotypes about Black boys, and how playing Urkel has affected White's view of his own masculinity.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empir's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. I imagine if you're an actor that gets
0:07.8	famous for one character, you're bound to have complicated feelings about it. The actor Jaliel
0:13.8	White writes about having these mixed feelings in his new memoir. He played Steve Urkel,
0:18.9	the breakout star of the sitcom Family Matters, a show
0:22.4	I spent a good 70% of my childhood watching. White's memoir is called Growing Up Urkel. And in this
0:29.4	interview with NPR's Elsa Chang, he's really honest about how, on the one hand, he wanted
0:34.7	to live outside of Erkel's shadow, but on the other felt kind of defensive about the character.
0:41.6	That's coming up.
0:43.3	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:48.1	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.
0:54.7	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
0:58.5	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:02.3	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:07.7	If you're someone who grew up in the 1990s, it would have been pretty hard to escape this voice.
1:14.1	Can I do that?
1:15.8	Steve Urkel, who doesn't know this name? Who doesn't know that look? You know, those big glasses, those jeans that were hiked up too high and too tight.
1:30.1	And of course, don't forget those puppy dog eyes,
1:32.4	always locked on his neighbor, Laura Winslow.
1:34.5	I'm going to tell you what I really think of you.
1:35.1	How?
1:37.0	I'm a nerdy.
1:39.0	I know I ain't weeb, right?
	...

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