Actor and model Shemar Moore has been making women swoon for decades on the big and small screen. His notable roles are that of Malcolm Winters on The Young and the Restless from 1994 to 2005, the third permanent host of Soul Train, and Derek Morgan on CBS’s Criminal Minds for over 10 years.
It’s hard to believe that he just recently turned 51 (that’s right, 51)! Moore won eight Image Awards for his roles on The Young and the Restless and Criminal Minds, and the 2000 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Yet, with all the accolades and fame, life wasn’t always that easy for the handsome actor.
Moore’s dad, Sherrod Moore, was African-American and his mother, Marilyn Wilson, was Irish and French-Canadian. Both of his parents have passed away. Like many biracial children, Moore had trouble fitting in, but he also credits being biracial to shaping who he is today.
You May Also Like
His father ended up spending four years in Sam Quentin prison for domestic charges against his mother. Moore cites civil unrest, interracial relationships being taboo, and racism in the U.S. in the 1970s as part of the reason his mother moved abroad with him to another country for awhile before returning to the states as a pre-teen.
That aside, he kept trying to pursue his dream. After graduating high school, he initially struggled to make ends meet. At first, Moore could not get many modeling or acting assignments anywhere. He worked as a waiter at a coffee shop during nights while he tried to get modeling jobs by the day.
He was almost broke in 1994 when he auditioned for the part in ‘The Young and the Restless’. The competition was huge—there were 368 other actors auditioning for the same part, but Moore beat them all.
In 2019, Moore laid to rest his Young & the Restless co-star and good friend Kristoff St. John. Moore says that giving the eulogy of his friend was surreal.
