“Family Matters” star Jaleel White says he found his 'purpose' while writing memoir “Growing Up Urkel”

The actor, who spent nine seasons as Steve Urkel, explains why he finally decided to tell his story.

Writing a memoir not only helped Jaleel White reflect on his childhood stardom — it’s how he discovered his purpose in Hollywood.

During his Tuesday visit to The Talk, the Family Matters star opened up about putting pen to paper for his new book, Growing Up Urkel and how it ultimately pushed him to recognize the impact he’s had on others.

“When I wrote this book, I discovered my purpose in this business,” White shared. “Some people will look at me and be like ‘Oh, he just played Urkel, is he bitter?’ or something like that.” But to those people, White said, “Hold on, calm down, let me back you up.”

He explained, “All of us, every last one of us, even this audience, you have a purpose. And you gotta figure it out. It's a puzzle for you to figure out in your life.”

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White learned this crucial lesson for himself when he came face-to-face with fans of his work as the breakout sitcom character, Steve Urkel.

“I started doing these Comic Cons during a period in my life where I was signing all these autographs,” he said. “Any black man that came up to me, any person that wore glasses around that time, were like 'People used to call me you but you gave me so much confidence to feel better about myself.'”

This came as a surprise to the actor. “I had no idea, just trying to do physical comedy and having fun on the set, that I was inspiring all of these people out there who felt some kind of way about themselves,” he said. “I was helping to instill confidence in themselves, ‘be awkward, be you, don't worry about what other people say.’”

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Though White didn’t expect to have such an impact, he has since embraced it, which is part of the reason he finally decided to write a memoir.

"I just think we live in a different age now, of sharing,” he added. “I kind of came up in the age of like, ‘Oh you better not tell anybody or you could get blacklisted.So a lot of times you just took it on the chin, a lot, in a lot of ways. So it just felt like the proper time. There are so many things that I've lived that I want to share with people.”

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The upcoming memoir sees White delve into his years as Steve Urkel, the socially inept genius who became the sitcom’s most popular character, and eventually assumed the role of its protagonist. He also takes readers through the years that followed, as he worked to evolve his career beyond a single role.

White’s memoir, Growing Up Urkel, hits shelves on Nov. 19. You can hear him discuss the book in the clip above.

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