Top 39 Quotes & Sayings by Jaleel White

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.

I learned physical comedy to a degree that most child actors never will. I really just became a student of it - became obsessed with it, to be quite honest.

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.

I'm not one of those kind of people that likes to beat up the past to validate the present. Certain people think that it's cool to make fun of MC Hammer. I'm like, 'Yeah, but you owned all of his records.'

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

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.

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.

I love Italian food.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

I like women who talk smack.

If you have to go back and spell-check the text you're about to send, you're saying too much.

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

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

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 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.

Writing is still on my slate.

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

I took opportunities, big or small, to show that I was a constant professional. I feel like the Sam Jackson of network TV drama.

I really chose a path after 'Grown Ups' of doing different things that I hadn't tried before, and just trying to take on those challenges.

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

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

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

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.

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

It's very important that your parents have careers of their own. When the kid becomes the breadwinner of the household, that's when you have problems.

You should never be afraid to be yourself, under any circumstances. The genre of cool is fleeting. What's cool today will not be cool a year from now. If you're yourself, you'll be at peace with yourself.

What I've kind of learned about comedy is that when comedy gets too expensive it might not be funny. Sometimes it's good to keep the conditions where you're pressed for time and it's just about getting the work done, as opposed to how much things are we eating on the set.

In L.A., the waiters think they're stars. Everybody's always trying to pretend that they see stars every day, so there tends to be a false blas' about celebrity sightings in L.A. In some ways, that's a good thing, because it allows you to walk around.

So, the advice that I would always give is make sure you've got your own career, before you put your child in the business.

I don't need to play villains or anything like that to show people that I'm different. I just want to be a part of stories that hold up over time. Too much of this stuff is forgettable. When it comes to being an actor, I don't know how good I am but I always say this, I've never been the problem in the cast. I just want to keep that streak up and do more projects in the future, that's it.

A lot of people don't know me. I was a man in a suit for many years, but it's really gonna work to my advantage and I've always known that. I'm turning 30 in a month... that's something for me to look at. Generally when people see me and greet me, they're kind of astonished at what I really am. It's all about playing character and really becoming somebody else. I've always said, "Acting is nothing more than paid schizophrenia if you're doing it right.".

Sometimes, when you're not getting a whole lot of attention, you're actually walking the right path.

Fame will take care of itself. One thing I've learned about fame is that, hey, you can't control it. You don't know how you're going to be received or perceived when you step out of a car, when you arrive some place. And you never really know how big something is going to get, so you have to set some standards for yourself, and just abide by those.