{"id":10093,"date":"2018-10-03T16:41:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T20:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/shemar-moore\/"},"modified":"2018-10-05T13:41:39","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T17:41:39","slug":"shemar-moore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/shemar-moore\/","title":{"rendered":"Shemar Moore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In his 24-year career as an actor, Shemar Moore has been on the soap opera The Young and the Restless<\/em>, guest-starred on several series, appeared in movies and played the beloved character Derek Morgan on Criminal Minds<\/em>, where he popularized the term of endearment \u201cBaby Girl,\u201d Derek\u2019s pet name for his FBI colleague Penelope Garcia. It spread like fire on the internet with millions of female fans calling themselves Baby Girls. Moore surprised the industry and shocked fans when he chose to leave Criminal Minds<\/em>. He tells TV<\/em> Drama<\/em> why he took that step and joined S.W.A.T.<\/em>, the high-adrenaline series that imparts messages about the world we live in today<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA: <\/strong>How did you hear about S.W.A.T.<\/em> and what appealed to you about the role of Daniel \u201cHondo\u201d Harrelson?
\nMOORE:<\/strong> I knew the TV show from the \u201970s and the movie. And I knew S.W.A.T. [Special Weapons and Tactics] teams are super cops running around doing some really cool, incredible stuff to save lives. I was going to play this cool dude, Hondo. I had the opportunity to be the lead of a show, working with Shawn Ryan, who\u2019s known for The Shield<\/em>, The Unit<\/em> and Nash Bridges<\/em>\u2014a phenomenal writer, with a phenomenal mind for story and characters. That got my attention, and the script was great. Justin Lin directed the pilot and he\u2019s Mr. Action, so I thought, Damn, it\u2019s as if I got cast to do a high-budget action movie with some of the major players, but for television. Yes, I\u2019m the lead of the show. [Last season I was] the only African American male lead in a non-black one-hour drama on network television. I\u2019m proud of that accomplishment, but I also understand the responsibility that comes with that. I represent diversity and diversifying the landscape of television, the stories that are being told and who\u2019s telling them. So if S.W.A.T.<\/em> were to fail, they wouldn\u2019t look at Shawn Ryan, they wouldn\u2019t look at CBS, they would look at me first. I know that, and that\u2019s why I put pressure on myself to do my best and give 150 percent, because, Oh, Shemar Moore can\u2019t carry a show, or, Diversifying television may not be the direction that you want to go\u2014who knows what dialogue would come from that.<\/p>\n

But now the show is in season two. It\u2019s successful; people in over 200 countries around the world want to watch it. So I\u2019m just a guy living my dream, taking risks and entertaining people for a living, and people actually want to watch me. I pinch myself that for 24 years my homies, fans and Baby Girls have been so loyal and people around the world watch [my] shows. If I can help broaden the horizon of diversifying television\u2014not just for black actors and actresses, but for people of all colors, Asian, Latino\u2014[that\u2019s great].<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA: <\/strong>What does being the lead actor entail?
\nMOORE:<\/strong> You don\u2019t get days off; it\u2019s a grind. But you do what you\u2019ve got to do\u2014you sleep right, you work out. I\u2019m not only the lead actor; I\u2019m a producer. It doesn\u2019t mean I get to say, Do it this way, or, Do it that way. But I\u2019ve earned my place at the table to be a part of the discussions and the ideas. I love that creative side of it, where I can influence the type of stories and how we tell them. I\u2019m corralling and maintaining the camaraderie with the cast and crew. I\u2019m leading by example, working hard, delivering my performances and stressing the importance of team. As proud as I am of being the lead actor, I don\u2019t take myself too seriously. I\u2019m smart enough and humble enough to know it can\u2019t be The Shemar Moore Show<\/em>. I might be the captain of the team, but I need a team. I know that I can\u2019t do it by myself and I don\u2019t want to do it by myself, because it\u2019s more interesting for audiences to see the individual characters, understand their strengths and weaknesses, but then see them\u2014especially in this scenario of being super cops\u2014saving people who can\u2019t save themselves. The teamwork is interesting and exciting. [I\u2019m] part of a unique, original show that you really can\u2019t compare to any other show on network television today. I get to be the leader of that and entertain people and thrill them with all the crazy action. But [the show is] also laced with messages of reality, real-life topics from Black Lives Matter to human trafficking to immigration to cyberbullying and so forth. That\u2019s Shawn Ryan\u2019s mind, and it\u2019s great that we\u2019re able to talk about the Trump years without talking about Trump. It\u2019s not a political show, we\u2019re not preaching to you, but we are giving you doses of things that are happening in real life. And we\u2019re trying to give you a more optimistic perspective; maybe a TV show can broaden people\u2019s mindsets, create a little more compromise, a little more patience and compassion, and maybe that can lead to a little more unity and togetherness, and a little less judgment and stereotyping. Those are heavy notions, so it sounds like S.W.A.T.<\/em> is heavy\u2014no, S.W.A.T.<\/em> is fun, but it has depth and it has relevance to what\u2019s going on in the world.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA: <\/strong>Tell us about Hondo and the community he is serving.
\nMOORE:<\/strong> Because Hondo is black and he\u2019s from the streets of South L.A., he represents the underdog, the struggle, chasing the dream, but [in a way that] all people can relate to. He understands the black story because he\u2019s black. You may not relate to the specifics of what Hondo\u2019s been through, but you can relate to the mindset of what he\u2019s done to overcome and succeed and make it bigger than himself. He comes from the streets; he\u2019s seen a lot of injustices. His father [told him when he was a kid], If you want things to change, you can complain all day long, but it\u2019s not going to fix anything; be a part of the change. That helped him choose his path and instead of staying in the streets, he said, What can I do to help people? So he got into the military; he\u2019s an ex-Marine. He joined law enforcement because his dream was to be the best of the best, not only for the accolade of being the best but because he wanted to promote change. And that\u2019s what you\u2019re watching, Hondo, with his team, taking on the injustices that you see in the United States and around the world. With the stories that are being told, he\u2019s a catalyst for humanity, understanding right from wrong and that we can do better. That\u2019s the message of S.W.A.T.<\/em> and that\u2019s the message of what Hondo stands for\u2014we, collectively, as human beings, can do better.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA: <\/strong>It was a gutsy decision to leave Criminal Minds<\/em>. What drove that?
\nMOORE:<\/strong> My mother gave me a card when I left Criminal Minds<\/em>; it sits on the mantel in my living room and it says, \u201cLeap and the net will appear.\u201d That\u2019s the way she lived her life and that\u2019s the way she raised me. My mother has a far more interesting story than I do. My father, with all his dysfunction, has a far more interesting story than I do. My story before Hollywood is more interesting than my Hollywood story. We, collectively, lived outside of the box. We broke boundaries. We created our own path. I\u2019m the type of person who always wants to grow; I don\u2019t want to get too comfortable. Comfort is good, money is good, but I always want to challenge myself. When I left The<\/em> Young and the Restless<\/em>, I knew that the next step was prime time. How do I grow? How do I get credibility? How do I broaden the scope of what I\u2019m doing as an actor and try different types of roles? You have to take chances. Then I landed on Criminal Minds<\/em>. I did that for 11 years, and [when I left] there was nothing on the horizon\u2014S.W.A.T.<\/em> was not there. I was unemployed, trying to figure out what the next move would be. But I believed in myself. I always say, I don\u2019t wear a lot of hats, but if I choose to wear a hat, I\u2019m going to make sure it fits. So the pieces fell into place, and it was not just about being the lead in a show. It was about working with Shawn Ryan and Justin Lin to play a character that represents humanity and that we can do better and still entertain. And to be an action hero\u2014fly around in helicopters, propel down buildings, fight, be in car and motorcycle chases, wear a cool cop suit and carry a big gun\u2014everybody wants to do that. When you\u2019re a kid, you want to be a fireman or a cop, and now, here I am on television, getting to live out that childhood dream.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA: <\/strong>Do you have consultants on the show?
\nMOORE:<\/strong> Yeah, we don\u2019t want to just be cool actors carrying guns and doing cool stuff on TV. I don\u2019t want it to just be fake and fun. I want it to be fun and real. For two-and-a-half months prior to the first episode of the first season, we trained with members of LAPD S.W.A.T., San Diego PD S.W.A.T., SEAL Team Six. We trained in weaponry, shooting ranges, tactics, how to move and flow as a team, how to communicate verbally, nonverbally. Physically we understood what the demands were, learning how to fight a certain type of hand-to-hand combat, and knowing what to do if you run out of bullets and you have to protect yourself.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA: <\/strong>Did you already know a good amount of that because of Criminal Minds<\/em>?
\nMOORE:<\/strong> Not S.W.A.T. training, no. From Criminal Minds<\/em>, I knew basic hand-to-hand combat, which is fighting, and I knew the basics of handling a pistol. We had consultants, so I went out to shooting ranges and understood how guns worked. But on Criminal Minds<\/em>, I just had a pistol on my belt and a heavy foot kicking down doors. That\u2019s why I say Hondo in S.W.A.T.<\/em> is Derek Morgan on steroids because it\u2019s just a whole different playing field. The stakes are so much higher and so is the skillset that you need to be these guys. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so hard to make S.W.A.T. You have to be highly trained to make the squad. These guys and gals are no joke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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