Moore was born in Oakland, California, the son of Marilyn Wilson, a business consultant, and Sherrod Moore. Moore's father is African American and his mother, who was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, is of Irish and French-Canadian descent. His mother, who has a degree in Mathematics, worked as a teacher in Bahrain and Denmark. Moore moved with her to Denmark as an infant, and then to Bahrain when he was four, where he attended a British private school until the age of seven. His grandmother is from Quebec City, Quebec. 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. Returning to the U.S. in 1977, the family moved to Chico, California, where his mother worked at a clinic, before later moving to Palo Alto. Moore graduated from Gunn High School in Palo Alto. He attended Santa Clara University, majoring in Communication, minoring in Theatre Arts, and modeled to pay his bills.
Career
Moore played the role of Malcolm Winters on The Young and the Restless for eight years. In November 2004, he returned to The Young and the Restless after originally planning to leave the show, but after a few months he dropped back to recurring status and left in September 2005. In 2007, he said, "My time is done on Y&R. I did eight solid years as Malcolm." He was the host of the syndicated version of the series Soul Train from 1999 until 2003, and appeared in the 2001 feature filmThe Brothers. He portrayed Detective Jesse Reese on the television series Birds of Prey from 2002 to 2003. Moore played the role of Emery Simms in the 2004 film Motives alongside Vivica Fox and Golden Brooks, and had a supporting role in the film Diary of a Mad Black Woman. He also appeared in the romantic comedyThe Seat Filler with Kelly Rowland and Duane Martin. In 2005, Moore began playing Derek Morgan in Criminal Minds. It was the seventh pilot in which he was cast. He is signed to DNA Model Management in New York City. Moore appeared on the March 2009 issue of Men's Fitness magazine. Moore exited Criminal Minds after 11 seasons and 251 episodes in episode 18 of season 11, "A Beautiful Disaster" on March 23, 2016. In February 2017, it was announced that Moore would star in CBS's new series entitled S.W.A.T., based on the 2003 film and 1975 television series of the same name.
