Meshach Taylor

Meshach Taylor's first professional gig was in a National tour of Hair. He honed his craft in repertory theater as a member of Chicago's Goodman Theatre, and the Organic Theater Company alongside Joe Mantegna, André De Shields, Dennis Franz, Keith Szarabajka, Jack Wallace, and director Stuart Gordon. While in Chicago, he appeared in Streamers, Native Son (1979 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play), The Island and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, for which he garnered the 1977 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play. He received an Emmy Award for his role as Jim in the WTTV production of 'Huckleberry Finn,' and hosted Chicago television show 'Black Life'. In 1998, Taylor made his Broadway debut as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, starring alongside Toni Braxton. In September, 2012, he appeared in Year of the Rabbit at Ensemble Studio Theater-LA as Vietnam Vet JC Bridges.

In 1979, Taylor moved to Los Angeles, where he has crafted a gallery of memorable characters in film and on television, including his Emmy nominated turn in the CBS sitcom "Designing Women" as Anthony Bouvier, the assistant at the fictitious Sugarbaker interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia, starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart. In May 1981, the ninth season of "M*A*S*H," Taylor was seen as a corpsman in the final episode, "The Life You Save." He was a series regular on "Dave's World" (CBS), and had a recurring role as Alastair Wright, the history teacher turned school principal, on Nickelodeon's sitcom, "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" and "Buffalo Bill" (NBC) with Dabney Coleman. He has appeared on "The Unit" (CBS), "Jessie" (Disney Channel), "Hannah Montana" (Disney Channel) as a fashion designer, "All of Us" as Neesee's father, "The Drew Carey Show" (ABC), "Static Shock"(Kids WB!), "Caroline in the City" (NBC), "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters" (Nickelodeon), "Women of the House" (CBS), "In the Heat of the Night" (NBC), "Punky Brewster" (NBC), "What’s Happening Now!," "Hill Street Blues" (NBC), "ALF" (NBC), "Melba" (CBS), "The Golden Girls" (NBC), "Cagney & Lacey" (CBS), "Barney Miller" (ABC), "Lou Grant" (CBS), "The White Shadow" (CBS), "The Incredible Hulk" (CBS), and "Barnaby Jones"(CBS). His made-for-TV movies include "The Right Connections with MC Hammer," Sidney Sheldon’s "Nothing Lasts Forever" with Brooke Shields, "Virtual Seduction," "Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child" and "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" with the Olsen Twins. Taylor also hosted his own series on HGTV, "The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor" and was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of the television game show "To Tell the Truth." He co-hosted "Living Live!" with Florence Henderson on Retirement Living TV; in 2008, the program was revamped as "The Florence Henderson Show." In November, 2012, Taylor guest starred on "Criminal Minds" (CBS) opposite Joe Mantegna (Rossi) as Harrison Scott, Rossi’s former Marine sergeant with whom he served with in Vietnam on the episode, "The Fallen". In January, 2014, Taylor reprised his role on "Criminal Minds" (CBS).

Taylor has appeared in the feature films Wigger, Mannequin, Mannequin 2: On the Move, Damien: Omen II, The Howling, Jacks or Better, Kid 'N Play's Class Act, How to Murder a Millionaire, David Mamet's House of Games, The Allnighter, The Last Innocent Man with Ed Harris, Explorers, Friends and Family, The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue, One More Saturday Night, Warning Sign, and Inside Ou't with Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason.