Shemar Moore: Who is actor who plays Derek Morgan on Criminal Minds?

Shemar Moore as Derek Morgan in the Red Light episode of Criminal Minds. Pic: Sonja Flemming/CBS

This week’s Criminal Minds season finale sees actor Shemar Moore make his big return as Derek Morgan.

The episode, titled Red Light, sees Morgan come to the team with a lead which could possibly help catch the elusive fugitive Mr. Scratch, who has been taunting the team all season.

Shemar is a familiar face to Criminal Minds fans, having played the same role on the CBS series from 2005 to 2016. The last episode he appeared in was 2016’s A Beautiful Distaster.

But what else has he been in? And do you recognize him from other roles where he hasn’t had a beard?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8-WkX-itR4

Shemar was born in Oakland, CA, but lived abroad for the first seven years of his life, first in Denmark and then in Bahrain. He started out as a model to pay his bills while studying at Santa Clara University.

It wasn’t until the mid 90s that he broke into acting, when he took on the role of Malcolm Winters in The Young and the Restless, playing the character for 11 years from 1994 to 2005 and then reappearing again in 2014.

He later also starred as Jesse Reese in Birds of Prey from 2002 to 2003, and was the host of syndicated music-dance program Soul Train for three years from 2000 to 2003.

Shemar has also appeared in several feature films including 2001’s The Brothers, 2004’s Motives and 2005’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

He is set to star in CBS’s upcoming series based on the 2003 film S.W.A.T..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Syrz8PiDRU

Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.