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The Family Matters cast
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Reginald VelJohnson
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Reginald VelJohnson got his big break in 1988, when he played LAPD sergeant Al Powell in the action classicDie Hard. One year later, he landed the role of Carl Winslow, another police officer, in the beloved ABC seriesFamily Matters.
Most recently, the former TGIF star played Reggie in the 2020 Australian comedyThe Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, which was Olivia Newton-John’s last film before her death in 2022. He also joined fellowFamily Mattersalumni Kellie Williams, Jo Marie Payton and Darius McCrary at the2022 ’90s Conevent.
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Jo Marie Payton
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Payton also has a busy career in voice acting: She voicedThe Proud Family’s Suga Mama Proud, the unpredictable grandmother of protagonist Penny Proud, on Disney Channel from 2001 through 2005. Payton also lent her voice toThe Proud Family Movie, and she can be heard as Suga Mama in the show’s 2023 Disney+ revival.
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Darius McCrary
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Darius McCrary played Eddie, the eldest Winslow child, on all five seasons ofFamily Matters. In the years after, he provided the voices for Jazz in the originalTransformersmovie and Tarix in the animated filmBionicle: The Legend Reborn. Aside from his voice work, McCrary appeared in films like15 Minutes, which starred Robert De Niro, in 2001, andSaw IV.
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Kellie Shanygne Williams
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Jaleel White
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Jaleel White played the Winslows' obnoxious, ever-present neighbor Steve Urkel for all nine seasons ofFamily Matters. The role was initially only meant to be a guest spot, but the audience received the suspenders-clad nuisance so well in the first season that he continued on the show as a main cast member.
After the show wrapped, White stated that henever wantedto step back into Urkel’s shoes again, though he laterrevised the claimover a decade later. Speaking to PEOPLE, White explained that he wanted to be known as “a versatile actor.”
07of 09Telma HopkinsABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; David Livingston/GettyBeforeFamily Matters, Telma Hopkins was best known as a member of the ’70s pop music group Tony Orlando and Dawn. She broke into the world of sitcoms with the early ’80s seriesBosom Buddies, continued on withGimme A Break!in 1983 and finally signed on toFamily Mattersfor its first through fourth seasons.After playing Rachel Baines-Crawford, the younger sister of Harriette Winslow, Hopkins starred inGetting By,another TGIF show that aired from 1993 to 1994 (its second season aired on NBC). She then went on to appear as a regular cast member onHalf & HalfandAre We There Yet?Hopkins made her name in film before she signed ontoFamily Matters. She’d previously starred in movies like the sci-fi featureTrancersand its sequels,Trancers IIandTrancers III. After her TGIF run, she played Lillian Roanoke in Mike Myers' 2008 filmThe Love Guru, and most recently she acted as Freya in 2021’sThe Matrix Resurrections.
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Telma Hopkins
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BeforeFamily Matters, Telma Hopkins was best known as a member of the ’70s pop music group Tony Orlando and Dawn. She broke into the world of sitcoms with the early ’80s seriesBosom Buddies, continued on withGimme A Break!in 1983 and finally signed on toFamily Mattersfor its first through fourth seasons.
After playing Rachel Baines-Crawford, the younger sister of Harriette Winslow, Hopkins starred inGetting By,another TGIF show that aired from 1993 to 1994 (its second season aired on NBC). She then went on to appear as a regular cast member onHalf & HalfandAre We There Yet?
Hopkins made her name in film before she signed ontoFamily Matters. She’d previously starred in movies like the sci-fi featureTrancersand its sequels,Trancers IIandTrancers III. After her TGIF run, she played Lillian Roanoke in Mike Myers' 2008 filmThe Love Guru, and most recently she acted as Freya in 2021’sThe Matrix Resurrections.
08of 09Bryton McClureABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Sonja Flemming/CBS via GettyBryton McClure was only 4 years old when he started playing Richie Crawford onFamily Matters' second season. He replaced twin actors Joseph and Julius Wright, who alternated in the infant role during the show’s first year.In 2004, McClure scored his next big gig onThe Young and the Restlessplaying Devon Hamilton, a struggling teen who was living on the streets before the Winters family took him in. The former TGIF star has garnered widespread acclaim for his performance on the show: he’s a two-time Emmy winner and a two-time recipient of the NAACP Image Award.In addition to his longtime work on the CBS soap opera, McClure has lent his voice for several animated series including Nickelodeon’sZevo-3, Cartoon Network’sYoung Justice: Invasionand in Disney+’s 2022 miniseriesTales of the Jedi.
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Bryton McClure
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Bryton McClure was only 4 years old when he started playing Richie Crawford onFamily Matters' second season. He replaced twin actors Joseph and Julius Wright, who alternated in the infant role during the show’s first year.
In 2004, McClure scored his next big gig onThe Young and the Restlessplaying Devon Hamilton, a struggling teen who was living on the streets before the Winters family took him in. The former TGIF star has garnered widespread acclaim for his performance on the show: he’s a two-time Emmy winner and a two-time recipient of the NAACP Image Award.
In addition to his longtime work on the CBS soap opera, McClure has lent his voice for several animated series including Nickelodeon’sZevo-3, Cartoon Network’sYoung Justice: Invasionand in Disney+’s 2022 miniseriesTales of the Jedi.
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Shawn Harrison
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source: people.com
