List of Family Matters Characters - Recurring Characters

Recurring Characters

Recurring characters include:

• Barry Jenner as Lt. Murtaugh (1990–1992): He is Carl's obnoxious second boss and has a crush on an unwilling Rachel and tries to date her a couple of times. Murtaugh seemingly has a good relationship with Urkel when they bond over root beer floats about their love lives.
• Sherman Hemsley as Capt. Marion Savage (1994–1995) He is Carl's third boss and much more obnoxious than Murtaugh. He has a fiancee named Lois who works at a stripper club and is not too happy when Carl tells him about it. Savage is good friends with Urkel and is revealed to be a member of the same cheese club that Steve is in.
• Dick O'Neill as Commissioner Geiss (1996–1998) Carl's final boss. Although somewhat gruff, he was far more tolerable and showed more patience, respect and faith in Carl than previous bosses. He eventually promotes Carl to captain when his son expresses that Carl deserves it more.
• Bridgid Coulter as Jolene Santiago (Eddie's first serious girlfriend - 1990-1991)
• Tammy Townsend as Greta McClure (1995–1998) Eddie's second serious and final girlfriend and another one of Laura's friends. She has difficulty coping with her ill-tempered, controlling and unreasonable father, who does not approve of her relationship with Eddie. She and Myrtle Urkel became enemies to each other immediately upon first meeting, and several following episodes centered on their battle for Eddie's affections.
• Shavar Ross as Alex "Weasel" Park (1992-1994) Another of Eddie's friends who is also friends with Ted Curran, one of Laura's ex boyfriends.
• Ebonie Smith as Penny Peyser (1989–1990) Laura's best friend from season 1 and like Rodney, has no patience for Urkel's antics.
• Cherie Johnson as Maxine Johnson (1990-1998) Laura's best friend and Waldo's girlfriend until Waldo's departure from the series. Although Maxine is the series' longest recurring secondary character, she was never officially part of the main cast. Maxine has been attracted to many handsome boys and dated several boyfriends throughout the series, both seen and unseen. However, Maxine's judge of character regarding boys is arguably as inept as Laura's, as she has similarly dated many selfish and unfaithful boyfriends, and even shared some of the same antagonistic suitors as Laura. Eventually, she would give the eccentric Waldo a chance and was surprised to establish a loving and enduring relationship with him. But after Waldo's departure from the series, Maxine set her sights on other boys.
• Patrick J. Dancy as Ted Curran (Laura's boyfriend and cousin of Myra Monkhouse - 1992-1993) Although once antagonistic towards Urkel, and even to Laura, he was one of Laura's few consistent and level-headed boyfriends, even seeking forgiveness for betraying Laura's trust and reconciling with her. While his role in the series was brief, he played a critical role by being the one who introduced his cousin, Myra Monkhouse, to Urkel. While Myra became a permanent character soon afterwards, Ted no longer appeared after he and Laura argued and broke up offscreen.
• J. Lamont Pope as Curtis Williams (1995-1997) Another one of Laura's boyfriends and a race car enthusiast. Steve doesn't like his profession and didn't want her in his race car for a good reason. Despite his antagonistic first appearance, he and Laura restarted a better relationship during the cloned Stefan's stay in Paris. After Stefan returned, Curtis and Laura broke up in season 8 and he started dating Maxine.
• Kim Valentine as Cassie Lynn Nubbles (1991–1992) A stereotypical arrogant blonde and Laura's rich and spoiled rival who tried to get everything she wanted including being president of the school. When Cassie attempted to use unflattering photos to blackmail Laura, Urkel enlisted Eddie to shoot photos of the nerd kissing her to blackmail her back, forcing her to compete for the student president election fairly, which ended in Laura's victory.
• Clyde Kusatsu as Principal Shimata (1990–1994) Friendly towards Steve, but has been annoyed by him before. He and Steve often converse with each other in Japanese. He may have a crush on Miss Steuben.
• Susan Krebs as Miss Steuben (1990-1992) Steve and Laura's teacher at their school. Although a competent teacher to other students, she is very easily annoyed by Urkel and expresses many headaches around the nerd.
• Tom Poston as Alfred Looney (1994-1995) Vanderbilt High School janitor. He insists that his last name is pronounced "Lou-né" ("It's French"). He gets along well with Steve Urkel, who is the only character who actually called him "Lou-né", or simply Alfred. He enjoys singing, dancing, and theater, and has sung and danced a few times with Urkel for fun. He almost got married, but when left at the altar, he nearly committed suicide before reuniting with another old female friend.
• Ron Orbach as Nick Neitermeyer (1995-1997) Harriette's former boss, later obnoxious neighbor and antagonist to both Carl and Harriette.
• Arnold Johnson (1990-1993), Whitman Mayo (1995), and Edmund Cambridge (1995) as Fletcher Thomas: Estelle "Mother" Winslow's lover, whom she marries. Carl was initially cold to him and disliked his mother dating anyone due to his attachment to his own father, but eventually warmed up to him after learning to fix his behavior. Estelle and Fletcher married, with their wedding in the Winslow house's backyard.
• Randy Josselyn as Rodney Beckett (1989-1990) Eddie's best friend in high school and a practical joker. Like Penny, he had no patience for Urkel's antics and didn't care for him at all.
• Danielle Nicolet as Vonda Mahoney (1991-1992) Eddie's girlfriend for a little while. After Steve tutored her in a class she was failing in, she gratefully offered herself to him. Worried that she may sell herself just to have guys date her, Steve teaches Vonda the dangers of making herself easy, and she learns to accept and respect herself more. Though she felt better about it, Eddie wanted to beat up Steve for interfering.
• Naya Rivera as Gwendolyn (1992-1993) The Winslows' next door neighbor's daughter who has a crush on Richie.
• Gary LeRoi Gray as Little G (Richie's best friend - 1993-1995)
• Fred Willard as Vice Principal Mallet (1994-1996) The vice principal of Vanderbilt High School. He doesn't like Steve because of his clumsiness and tried to keep him out of the school public affairs.
• Iqbal Theba as Zoohair Bhutto (Carl's poker friend) - 1995-1997)
• Larenz Tate as Willie Fuffner (1990-1991) Vanderbilt Middle School's resident bully, to whom Waldo was formerly a friend and henchman. Though he likes bullying Steve, he was mainly antagonistic towards Laura for rejecting him for another boy and forced the guys to the dating sidelines. Steve stood up for her and it lead to a supervised boxing fight between Steve and Willie. Willie and Waldo were later arrested in a later episode for spiking Steve's punch with alcohol.
• Mike Genovese as Coach Westfield (The second coach at Steve, Laura, and Eddie's school - 1991-1992)
• Johnny Gill as Himself (Johnny Gill has appeared as himself in 2 episodes - 1992-1996)
• Patrick Cronin as the science teacher (The science teacher at Steve, Laura and Eddie's school - 1992-1994)
• Jaleel White as Stefan Urquelle (1993-1998) and Myrtle Urkel (1990–1998) Stefan Urquelle was Steve's alter-ego. He became Steve's clone late in season 7 after Steve's transformation chamber made an exact duplicate of Steve. Myrtle Urkel was introduced as a rich Southern belle whose love for Eddie was equal to that of Steve's for Laura. However, unlike Steve, she never respected Eddie's personal space and kept pursuing him much to his extreme terror.