Shemar Moore on Bill Bell
Question: Are you still going to try to do Y&R with the pilot?
Shemar Moore: I love YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. I was glad I could be here this year, and I meant what I said on stage that Bill Bell years ago took a risk on me. The way the story was told to me was that I was found out in GQ magazine, and I was broke as a joke, running around the streets of New York, working at a coffee shop at 14th in Union Square, trying to get somebody to take my picture, and Mark Walhberg was doing Calvin Klein ads and Miller Beer billboards. I said, “Okay, if I can just get in a pair of drawers or on a billboard, I’m somebody,” you know what I mean. Long story short, for me to come to L.A. and to be very green, I went in that room and supposedly he had looked at 368 guys. I was scared to do it, but this man saw something in me, Mr. Bill Bell. And he said, “I know he’s green, I know he’s young, I know he’s scared to death, but I see something in him I like. Let’s give it a shot.” And that shot honestly changed my life. I wouldn’t be standing here. I wouldn’t have been blessed with the career I’ve had thus far and excited about what’s yet to come. If I could stay at YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, to answer your question, I’m a dreamer. I want to chase Denzel (Washington) and Jamie Foxx, and all those guys, most definitely. I want to do movies, that’s my dream. I just got a prime time show, which is going to be a lot of fun. It’s mysterious, and it’s outside-of-the-box, the stuff I gotta do, so I’m just really having a good time, learning myself as an actor, but YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS is the place that took care of me and raised me, so if there is a way that I could still provide services as Malcolm, I would love to do it. So the answer is, I hope we can work something out.
Question: Has the storyline you’ve had since returning, has it been what you had hoped it would be because I know that was a big factor in your decision to come back when you did?
Moore: The writers embraced me in my first seven year run, and then I left for three years. The reason I left was not because I was unhappy at YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; I just wanted to grow and just set out. I definitely wanted to make some strides and get into the feature film world and the prime time game.
Question: You were young and restless.
Moore: Say that again?
Question: You were young and restless.
Moore: I was young and very restless. I still am, but now you know, it’s funny because I came back with the cornrows, which was [a wig] which fooled a lot of people. I came back with the cornrows and I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, and for me, I just wanted to be stretched and I wanted to be challenged emotionally. I mean everyday I continue to grow as a person, and I love that I can bring that to my work, and I need to bring that to my work. I felt like if I had come back to YOUNG & THE RESTLESS and just been a one-dimensional womanizer, flashy smooth-talking, slang-talking, “Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing,” you know what I’m saying? That was fun in its place, but I kind of outgrew it, and so I just wanted Malcolm to grow. I didn’t really make any demands, I just really passionately asked them to dig deep when they think about Malcolm. Make him the underdog, give me something, as an actor, to sink my teeth into. Give me some drama. You can kind of see the character full circle, so you can kind of root for this person. I felt like before that it was a little more one-dimensional, a dude with his shirt off all the time. That’s fun, and I liked it, (but) as an actor, it’s a whole lot of pressure to keep that six-pack. I don’t know if you can see it through the suit, but it’s hard to hold on to. No, I’m happy that YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS embraced me and gave me a chance to do some things that people didn’t expect.
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