Trivia: Jaleel White ascended to cult stardom during his early teenage years with a now-iconic portrayal of über-nerd Steve Urkel on the Friday-night ABC sitcom Family Matters (1989-1998). A veteran of television commercials and guest spots on various prime-time series from early childhood, White appeared as a regular on the short-lived CBS sitcom Charlie & Co. (1985-1986), starring Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight. The Urkel role, however, brought about his greatest popularity, and he landed it not long after the series first bowed in late September 1989 (appearing as early as the 12th episode). Though originally intended as a one-episode guest star, White generated massive popularity among audience members -- encouraging producers Tom Miller and Robert Boyett to rethink their strategy for the show. Urkel quickly became not only a fixture, but the program's lucky charm -- the wild card that turned it into a number one hit, much as the same producers had done with The Fonz, years prior, on Happy Days. Over the course of the program's run, White ascended to prominent billing (also mirroring the Fonzie situation). Unfortunately, as time passed, the Urkel characterization became increasingly difficult to sustain, thanks in no small part to White's accelerating age and height -- which dealt the series writers an incredibly difficult hand and forced them to figure out bizarre ways to work around this handicap (strategies included giving Urkel a "cool" alter-ego, Stefan, and affording that persona a great deal of screen time).The program wrapped in 1998, but in the meantime, White graduated from UCLA Film School, then moved into his heart's true calling -- that of screenwriting. He authored occasional teleplays for such venues as The Disney Channel and PBS, moved into big-screen work (with projects including a feature rewrite for director Joel Zwick), and continued to act on the side. Roles included lead billing in Damon Daniels' independent feature Who Made the Potatoe Salad? (2005) and a supporting contribution to the inspirational volleyball drama Green Flash (2008). He was in the low-budget Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, and in 2011 he played a teacher in Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer. In 2012 the artist formerly known as Urkel competed on the 14th season of the popular ABC reality series Dancing With the Stars.

Trivia: Many know actress Kellie Shanygne Williams for her role as Laura Winslow on the sitcom Family Matters. Williams played the role for the series' entire run, from 1989 to 1998. She then made a number of guest appearances on various TV shows like What About Joan and The Parkers, and in 2009, she became the host of the reality series Clean House.

Trivia: A dedicated actress who has transcended her meager beginnings to become a valuable onscreen commodity, Terri J. Vaughn did her best to keep off of the streets while growing up in San Francisco's Ridgeview Terrace Housing Project -- and one look at her impressive film credits shows that all of the hard work most definitely paid off. The daughter of a hardworking secretary and department-store employee, Vaughn divided her time between studying, singing in the church choir, modeling, and working at McDonald's early on. And while all of this served well to instill the ambitious young woman with a solid sense of self and purpose, her peers weren't always so impressed. It was during this period in her life that Vaughn became a frequent target for neighborhood bullies, which helped her to realize just how hopeless some of her peers truly felt. Later, Vaughn was determined to purchase her own car and go to college -- a goal she ultimately achieved by working as an operator and a post-office employee in order to pay both her car payments and her tuition at California State University. At a friend's request, Vaughn participated in the Miss Black California Pageant while a senior at CSU. Her reading of a passage from Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf marked a turning point when she earned a spot in the Los Angeles finals and one of the judges asked her to appear in a play he was producing. Soon spirited away on a 20-city tour of Tellin' It Like It Tiz, Vaughn had finally found her calling in life. Numerous stage roles were quick to follow, with a brief appearance on the hit television series Living Single marking her arrival as a film and television actress. Throughout the 1990s, Vaughn's career gained momentum thanks to parts in such films as Friday, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, and 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, with subsequent television roles in The Steve Harvey Show, Soul Food, and All of Us showing that the rising starlet was equally comfortable on screens both large and small. In 2006 and 2007, respectively, Vaughn could be seen in the independent comedy drama Dirty Laundry and the Tyler Perry drama Daddy's Little Girls. In addition to her acting work, Vaughn has shown her commitment to bettering the lives of young girls growing up in public housing and foster care by founding the Take Wings Foundation -- which aims to motivate, uplift, and inspire adolescents aged 13 to 18 by encouraging them to be positive, productive, and successful.

Trivia: African-American actor Reginald VelJohnson is the ideal choice for "urban everyman" roles: his sour-apple facial expression, bald pate, and chubby frame are perfectly suited for the many policemen and blue-collar workers he has played over the years. Beginning in small parts in films like Ghostbusters (1984), VelJohnson gained a following with supporting roles in Crocodile Dundee (1986) and Die Hard (1988). A guest spot as an undercover cop on a 1989 episode of TV's Perfect Strangers led to VelJohnson's longest professional engagement to date. In the company of former Perfect Strangers regular Jo-Marie Payton-France, Reginald VelJohnson, since the fall of 1989, starred as Chicago cop Carl Winslow on the weekly comedy series Family Matters.