Tall, lean, and very handsome, Shemar Moore became known to legions of fans of daytime television for his long-running performance as Malcolm Winters on the popular CBS serial "The Young and the Restless" before branching out to other roles.

Born in Northern California to a Black father and Caucasian mother, Moore spent his formative years outside the USA. Shortly after his birth, his family relocated to Denmark in part to avoid prejudice and racism. After his parents' divorce when he was a toddler, he lived with his mother in such exotic locales as Bahrain (where she worked as a teacher), Greece, and the Virgin Islands. Following a stopover in Massachusetts, Moore and his mother finally settled in California, near Palo Alto, where he eventually attended high school. Torn between a desire to perform and his natural athletic abilities as a baseball player, he opted to pursue both in college, majoring in communications and theater and playing on the school's team. Moore also decided to try his hand at modeling as a fast way to earn cash for his tuition. A shoulder injury would eventually derail his dreams of a professional athletic career, allowing him to concentrate on his budding thespian skills.

Heading to NYC after graduating, Moore encountered several obstacles; as far as modeling career went, the issue of his color sometimes proved nettlesome. Eventually he booked an appearance in GQ and an agent spotted the layout. Moore returned to California in 1994 to read for the newly created role of wily shutterbug Malcolm Winters on "The Young and the Restless" and went on to earn several Daytime Emmy nominations before finally nabbing a statue in 2000.

By that point, Moore had begun to moonlight, making guest appearances on "Living Single", "The Jamie Foxx Show" and "Chicago Hope". In 1997, he shot his first movie role but the project, "Butter", ended up being sold to HBO. His first released film role came in Christopher Scott Cherot's romantic comedy "Hav Plenty" (1997), but the part was hardly memorable. Moore earned notice for his work as a privileged cad in the CBS miniseries "Mama Flora's Family" (1998) and as an out of work actor in "How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale" (Fox, 2000). In 1999, he increased his profile adding hosting duties on the syndicated music program "Soul Train". Finally, with "The Brothers" (2001), Moore landed a leading role in a feature film, playing a recently engaged young man in this relationship-driven comedy-drama.

Then it was on to primetime, as back-up for the trio of superheroic crimefighters in the short-lived WB series "Brids of Prey" (2002-03), before returning to features in a series of undistinguished films. Moore had a prominent role in the screen adaptation of Tyler Perry's play "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" (2005), bringing his suave charm to the hit slapstick film as Orlando, the perfect strong black male archetype who brings romance into the life of the film's jilted heroine (Kimberly Elise). He returned to the small screen as a regular on the hit CBS FBI show, "Criminal Minds" (2005- ).