Jo Marie Payton

Payton has gained some measure of celebrity playing Harriet Winslow, first as a recurring character--the sarcastic elevator operator at the newspaper office on the goofy "buddy" sitcom "Perfect Strangers" (ABC, 1987-89)--and subsequently as a regular, the long-suffering Mom who must endure the increasingly cartoonish antics of her blowhard husband and oddball neighbor (the infamous Steve Urkel) on the hit sitcom "Family Matters," a role she vacated in 1997 after the series moved from ABC to CBS. Ironically, though her character was ostensibly the original spur for the spin-off, Payton has been somewhat shunted aside by the phenomenal success of her young co-star Jaleel White as Urkel. Even before this happened, however, her on-screen husband Carl (Reginald VelJohnson) was emphasized over her. Later, the interplay between Urkel and Carl became the focus when the stylized nerd shared the spotlight at all. Perhaps Payton's qualities are more those of a supporting player than a star. In any event, she has been working steadily for about a decade.