The Curse of Jaleel White

I have been thinking a great deal about the idea of being typecast into a certain role, be it as an actor, in a relationship, or even in a job. From about 7:00 this morning onward I have not been able to get my mind off of this. It stemmed from the fact that I hate when people think of me as 'Matt the Kids Klub guy'. The last thing I want is to be known for my job (which I am not overly fond of) rather than for who I am, especially when I am going to go on and do so much more when I go to grad school than I am doing now. For example, at the second U2 concert in March, I ran into the mother of a child I used to take care of and she yelled out "Hey, you're the Kids Klub guy!" Now obviously she was more than a little under the influence of alcohol, but it still made me want to crawl under a rock because I hate the fact that I am typecast by others because of my job. As I sat there warming up my bus and feeling sorry for myself this morning I began to think about Jaleel White. Do you know who he is? No? Would it jog your memory if I said the words 'Steve Urkel'? I thought so. Poor Jaleel still gets called 'Urkel' by everyone and has not achieved anything of note career-wise that I can recall since Family Matters ended. I saw him on some show or movie where he made fun of himself and kept saying "My name IS NOT URKEL" over and over much to my delight. But seriously, the poor guy probably really wanted to be a serious actor, but now everyone just thinks of him as 'Urkel' and he will never shake it. I googled his name and EVERY website mentioned his claim to fame as playing nerdy Steve Urkel. So whenever I start to feel sorry for myself because of my affiliation with my workplace, I will just remember that it could be worse. I could be Jaleel White and my career could be over before it really began!