Tahj Mowry Reveals Why He Loved Playing Michelle Tanner's Best Friend 'Teddy' on Full House (2024)

Tahj Mowry has nothing but fond memories from his time on Full House.

The actor, who played Michelle Tanner’s best friend Teddy on the beloved sitcom for four years in the early ’90s, recently opened up to Today about his character and what it was like working on the show.

Although he was only 5 years old at the time he began starring alongside Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Mowry was able to remember all of his favorite moments and even revealed why he believed Teddy was such a fan-favorite character.

“He’s just the best friend that everybody wants,” Mowry, 33, told Today during a recent interview. “He’s the homie, he’s that dude. He’s always got your back, he’s always honest … Teddy’s just cool.”

Recalling his first encounter with Michelle on the first day of kindergarten — in which he precociously tells her, “You are a strange kid” after meeting — Mowry joked, “He keeps it real, which every friend should. You don’t want a friend gassing you up, telling you lies. Teddy was like, ‘Yo, fall back, you’re kinda being weird right now.'”

Mowry went on to share some of his favorite scenes, which included working with many of Michelle’s other friends — Denise (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and Aaron (Miko Hughes) — and a time where he got to indulge in a delicious chocolate cake.

“I always remember enjoying when the other kids were on set, like Jurnee and Miko. When they were on set, it was more fun because it was like the crew was there,” he explained. “But I do have a favorite scene. It was when we followed her dad to his date at the restaurant and we hid under the table.”

“And I remember that chocolate cake we ate was [the] bomb. Like, it was fire,” he continued, before joking, “Definitely not gluten-free!”

Despite leaving the show in 1995, the actor said he still keeps in touch with many of his former castmates, including Bob Saget, who played Danny Tanner; Candace Cameron Bure, who played D.J. Tanner; as well as Hughes and Smollett-Bell, who he said he’s known for “quite a long time.”

“Everyone was so sweet,” he shared of his Full House costars. “It was kinda like a family.”

As for why he believes the show is still so beloved more than 30 years after it premiered on the air, Mowry said it’s due to the nostalgia factor.

“It’s just one of those classic shows and it’s such a blessing to have been a part of a show like that,” he explained to Today. “I think it was the family aspect of it and I think nowadays, it’s hard to find a show that your whole family can sit down and enjoy every week … I think it was one of those shows.”

“One of the best things about getting older is nostalgia and something that brings you back to a time when you were younger or a time that you remember was super fun,” Mowry continued. “I think that’s what Full House does for all the viewers. It brings them back.”

“It was a show about family and actual issues. It was fun, it was cute, Teddy was on it!” he jokingly added. “Some shows are just those classic shows, and Full House is definitely one of them.”

As fans of the sitcom know, Full House ended its eight-year, eight-season run in May 1995, shortly after Mowry left the show.

In Feb. 2016, a sequel series called Fuller House was launched on Netflix, which followed D.J. Tanner as a widowed mother of three sons.

Similar to the original, D.J.’s sister Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin) and best friend Kimmy Gibler (Andrea Barber) offer to help her raise her kids and live in the same house that the Tanner family grew up in, which is set in San Francisco.

While nearly every member of the original cast has reprised their role as a series regular or guest, the Olsen twins decided not to be a part of the reboot.

In January, Fuller House was renewed for a fifth and final 18-episode season. It is set to premiere before the end of the year.