It’s a rare condition, this day and age, to see a show quite like Family Matters, which was, initially, not too different from any other family sitcom when it first aired on ABC in 1989. Everything changed with the addition of one character who was not even a member of the Winslows – the family the series was centered on – but, nonetheless, Jaleel White’s performance as the super smart, but super annoying, Steve Urkel made him the star of the show.
As days go by, you may have wondered what Mr. White and the rest of the Family Matters cast have been up to since, perhaps even picking random titles in your head and asking, “Did they do thaaaaaat?” Well, luckily we can provide an answer to what they did since the now iconic sitcom had its final curtain call in 1998 after moving to CBS for its ninth and final season. We shall start with the show’s original male lead.
Reginald VelJohnson (Carl Winslow)
Leading the Family Matters cast is Reginald VelJohnson as Carl Winslow, who is only one of several police officers the actors has notably played throughout his career. He started as a jail guard in 1984’s Ghostbusters before joining the Die Hard cast as Sgt. Al Powell and, more recently, starred on Disney+’s Turner & Hooch series as David Sutton, whom he also played in the 1989 original movie with Tom Hanks.
The actor has also played a limo driver in Crocodile Dundee, a preacher on Mike & Molly, himself on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and, presumably, poked fun at a different sitcom dad (Uncle Phil on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) with his small role in Like Mike. In 2021, VelJohnson reprised his role as God on Adult Swim’s Lazor Wulf, joined the Invincible cast for an episode as principal of Reginald VelJohnson High School, and starred in an ‘80s-tastic, musical holiday ad for Planters nuts.
Jo Marie Payton (Harriette Winslow)
Actress Jo Marie Payton played Carl’s wife, Harriette – an elevator operator who originated as a supporting character on the ABC hit, Perfect Strangers, before getting her own spin-off in the form of Family Matters. After the series ended, she found smaller, recurring roles on other hit sitcoms like UPN’s Moesha, NBC’s Will & Grace, fellow UPN hit Girlfriends, and the Bounce original Mann and Wife in 2016.
In 2018, Payton starred in a live-action movie based on the story of The Little Mermaid (not to be confused with Disney’s upcoming remake of their own 1992 animated classic) and shared the big screen with the likes of Matthew McConaughey and Snoop Dogg in Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum the following year. In February 2022, she began reprising her role from Disney Channel’s hit animated series The Proud Family as Suga Mama on Disney+’s revival, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.
Jaleel White (Steve Urkel)
Joining the cast as a guest star midway through Season 1 before becoming a series regular and, essentially, the main focus of the whole show when he was just a teen is Jaleel White as Steve Urkel, whom the actor has actually reprised a few times since Family Matters ended, but not quite the same way. He leant his voice to the character as the celebrity guest of the week on Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? in 2019 and is currently working on an animated holiday special for HBO Max called Did I Do That to the Holidays?: A Steve Urkel Story.
Outside of his most successful character, White has found success voicing Sonic the Hedgehog in various iterations, playing a talent booker in 2006’s Dreamgirls, participating in several Drunk History reenactments, and playing both Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali for Netflix’s Historical Roasts, to name a few. He recently starred in the BET original dramedy film, North of 10, and has two other films – The Great Inheritance and Netflix’s Hustle – also coming out in 2022.
