*“Family Matters” star Jaleel White is opening up about the challenges he faced as a child actor — specifically a Black kid in Hollywood.
In a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, White noted that several popular white child actors of that time received better treatment, such as “Wonder Years” star Fred Savage.
“It’s fair of me now to definitely say– You were made to feel African-American. Fred Savage [Wonder Years] was always invited to the Emmys; he was always treated like a darling during this time. I was never invited to the Emmys, even to present. I was pretty much told that I would be wasting my time to even submit myself for nomination,” White said.
White has been discussing his experience as a former child star on his recently launched podcast “Ever After.” His guests are other former child actors who dish about showbusiness. Most recently while and actress Mayim Bialik discussed their history as kid stars.
READ MORE: Jaleel White Welcomes Danica McKeller on His New ‘Ever After’ Podcast / LISTEN
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— Jaleel White (@jaleelwhite) January 1, 2021
“Go listen to that episode with Mayim, because she brought the pain when it came to the honesty about the differences of being a white child actor and a Black child actor, particularly back then,” White tells ET of the institutionalized racism he experienced.
“It was so normalized — you just shrugged and said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s for the white kids.’ When a Black person would win anything — never at the Emmys but at least on the Oscars side — if Denzel [Washington] would win or Whoopi [Goldberg] would win, those were ‘Pick up the phone and call the whole family’ moments.”
White was never nominated for an Emmy for his role as Steve Urkel on “Family Matters,” which ran from 1989 to 1998. The sitcom itself was only nominated once for outstanding special visual effects in 1996.
What are your thoughts on Jaleel’s struggles as a Black child actor? Let us know in the comments below!
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