JALEEL WHITE

You need fans in high places, I always tell people. I don't care how talented you are.

The conventions of an almighty agency tapping you for greatness and signing you up and telling you this is going to be the next big thing; that has not been my career.

Writing is still on my slate.

You have to be respectful of pop culture, because people interpret it in the way they want.

I've been in this business 31 years. I've never had a movie deal.

I always connected renting a car with being an adult. If you think about it, it's the last frontier of your youth. You can join the military at 18, drink when you're 21, but you can't rent a car.

Sometimes our awards process can be very political in terms of just driving personal agendas, and I think we forget.

The nature of television is that it's a beast with a lot of opinions. I don't consider myself typecast any more than Neil Patrick Harris was as Doogie Howser or James Gandolifini is as Tony Soprano.

If you go to talk to Disney about anything related to Mickey Mouse, if you can even get the meeting, you're going to get 50 people in that room. That is the crown jewel of their brand, and so they protect it. And so for better or worse, the crown jewel of my legacy still remains Steve Urkel and Stefan Urquelle.

I was fortunate to work with some very powerful producers like Tom Miller and Bob Boyett.

I wasn't a kid trying to become famous. I wasn't a part of any Disney Channel wheelhouse. I was basically a black kid whose parents put him into the business so he could go to college.

For directors and producers, you're not going to get competent performers on your set if they didn't start at a young age and understand professionalism.

As you get older, you start to understand you have to do what you need to do.

I'm very proud of what I was able to do during the '90s, when baggy pants were in and East/West rap was relevant and all these different things.

There's a bit of hazing when it comes to the youth performers and a disbelief that you're capable of handling dramatic or comedic material on an adult level.

I like women who talk smack.

We live in an age of sound bites and buzz words.

I love Italian food.

Nobody is going to be more disinterested in your work than your own kid.

People are really into on-demand consumption. I watch everything myself on demand.

People don't necessarily identify me with doing adult things.

I will get in my car and get a chocolate souffle at midnight, and a glass of wine, and remind myself that most of my troubles are just in my mind.

Oh, the first dish I learned to make, I think I was about 10 years old, I made my dad spaghetti and broccoli for dinner when he got home from work, and it was, like, a surprise.

I learned to be on time because, otherwise, you could miss a major opportunity. Also, it's important to live a balanced life, stay healthy, and not waste your money on things like $8 lattes.

You get hate in this business growing up. When you're a young performer, you just don't get the credit for the work that you did. And it is what it is. You can't walk around with a chip on your shoulder.