Whatever happened to John Stamos from Full House?

John Stamos became a household name when he portrayed Jesse “Uncle Jesse” Katsopolis on the hit sitcom Full House. His character was a huge hit with female fans, as they loved to swoon over him every time he did his Elvis impersonation.

This is part of my series of articles on what became of the cast of Full House. Please feel free to also check out my articles on Bob Saget (Danny Tanner), Dave Coulier (Joey Gladstone), Candace Cameron (DJ Tanner), Jodie Sweetin (Stephanie Tanner), and Lori Loughlin (Aunt Becky).

Stamos originally joined the cast of Full House as Hermes Cochran, but he changed “Hermes” to “Jesse” before filming began. Not until the second season did he change the character’s last name to Katsopolis, to pay tribute to his Greek heritage.

Many people don’t know this, but Stamos is the reason that Full House only aired for eight seasons. After the show’s eighth season, ABC dropped it and the WB Network was set to pick up where ABC left off. However, Stamos didn’t like this and decided to leave the show. The show’s producers felt that the character of Jesse was too important to lose, so they decided to not do a ninth season.

After Full House, Stamos did a number of made-for-television movies, including A Match Made in Heaven, The Marriage Fool, Sealed with a Kiss, and Fortunate Son. He also starred in feature films, such as Dropping Out, My Best Friend’s Wife, Party Monster (with Seth Green and Home Alone’s Macaulay Culkin), and he did a voice in Full House co-star Bob Saget’s Farce of the Penguins.

In 2004, he played himself in the short comedy I Am Stamos, in which a lowly character actor begins to photograph as John Stamos, forcing the real John Stamos to take action.

He can currently be seen on the hit medical drama ER as Dr. Tony Gates. Here’s a clip from the Ellen Degeneres show promoting ER.