Jaleel White
English voice of Sonic from 1993-2000
Appearances
First appearance	Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
Appearances in other media	Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), Sonic Underground
Biographical overview
Birthplace	Pasadena, California, U.S.
Physical description
Gender	Male
Skills, abilities and powers
Skills	Acting, Voice Acting, Screenwriting,

Jaleel White is an American actor who provided the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in three animated series from the 1990s: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) in 1993, and Sonic Underground in 1999. In Sonic Underground, he also voiced Sonic's brother and sister named Manic and Sonia respectively.

Outside of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, White is best known for the role of Steve Urkel and other roles on the television show Family Matters.

Becoming SonicEdit

Jaleel White has mentioned that not many people know of his involvement with the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons. He is quoted saying "You gotta Google me deep to know I did Sonic."^{[citation needed]}

When Jaleel White stepped into the character of Sonic, he mentions making efforts to have Sonic sound raceless. Despite being black, Jaleel White did not want Sonic to sound like a black man. He developed a unique voice for Sonic that does not represent any particular race.^{[citation needed]} Sonic's voice and personality stayed consistent through all three animated DiC series.

Sonic UndergroundEdit

In the third Sonic series to be produced by Dic, Jaleel White's talents were expanded in that he went from just playing Sonic, to also playing Sonic's two siblings, Sonia and Manic. Instead of using the same voice for all three characters, Jaleel White came up with a new unique tone and sound for each Hedgehog. Most notable is Sonia who sounds very similar to White's most famed character, Steve Urkel.

Archie SonicEdit

In Issue 8, while Robotnik summoning robots based on comic book characters (such as Botman), he summons a Wolverine bot (based on the comic book character of the same name), but due to a communications glitch, a Wolvurkel was sent and started dancing. Sonic states that he sounds familiar, and a side bar even said, "It's true! Jaleel 'Urkel' White is the voice of Cartoon Sonic!"

Sonic Voice Credits Edit

• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic (1993)
• Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic (1993-1994)
• Sonic Christmas Blast - Sonic (1996)
• Sonic Underground - Sonic, Sonia and Manic (1999-2000)

TriviaEdit

• Because of school commitments and filming Family Matters, Jaleel White recorded his lines for SatAM separate from all the other actors who recorded their lines together.^{[citation needed]}
• According to an interview with Aaron Webber [1], he claims that if anyone were to voice Classic Sonic in Sonic Generations, it would be Jaleel White. Aaron had to make a choice whether Classic Sonic would be voiced by Jaleel White or have no voice at all. Aaron also mentioned that he grew up with the classic cartoons of Sonic like Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and he thought Jaleel White did a fantastic job.
• Most recently White voiced Sonic in Eddie Lebron's short 'Sonic' film which was released online in January 2013. His tone is more mature than his previous incarnations but still similar.^[1] Jaleel recorded many lines for Sonic, including a handful that didn't make it into the final version.
• In the Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog comics, in issue 8, a series of robots called Comic Book Bots have a member that is a tribute to Jaleel White called Wolvurkel. Wolvurkel is actually a combination between Wolverine and Steve Urkel, a character Jaleel White played in the sit-com Family Matters.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Jaleel White's new voice for Sonic as seen in the trailer

External linksEdit

• Jaleel White at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia