The notoriously buff heartthrob says he doesn't mind getting physical on the psychological primetime thriller.

"I like kicking down the doors. I'm the tough guy," laughs Moore during an interview with CTV.ca. But he concedes, "I do miss the emoting and the character stuff I used to do."

Facing competition from other cop shows like "C.S.I.," "Cold Case" and "Law and Order," Moore thinks "Minds" has developed its own distinctive niche.

"We're about weird, dark people that do shady things. It shows you very ordinary looking people that are just a little twisted and something snaps in them," says Moore.

In the second season, Moore says the show grew to match its rising popularity.

"I think we raised the stakes. The show is more exciting. There's more of a pace to it and there's more of a thrill aspect to it."

On "Minds" Moore plays Senior Special Agent Derek Morgan, the skeptical and hard nosed everyman who never hesitates to bust down a door to find a suspect. Derek Morgan has a checkered past, complete with a juvenile record and extensive undercover experience.

The complicated back-story of a character like Morgan provides a welcome challenge, says Moore.

"Playing good guys get boring, but to play a bad, twisted guy that you can root for -- now that's exciting."

"That's what I like to watch, as an audience member. As an actor you can sink your teeth into that. You want to root for the guy that keeps messing up, until he gets it right."

Moore first rose to fame playing Malcolm Winters on "The Young and the Restless," a role that led to Moore winning a Daytime Emmy award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" in 2000.

He took on the role of Winters in 1994 as a relatively unknown actor and stayed on the show until till 2002. Moore returned for a stint from November 2004 to September 2005, which he followed with his current role on "Minds."

"I had a lot of fun playing Malcolm because there was a lot of me, Shemar Moore, invested in him, but those days are done and I've grown up," he says.

"That was a family for me. I was born and raised on that show, both as a person and an actor."

The California native says his next step after jumping from daytime to primetime will be into Hollywood. Moore says he's looking for the kind of career that big screen heavy weights like Brad Pitt and George Clooney enjoy, and wants to take on roles as the leading man.

"My feature film career is so brand new, it hasn't even started. There are so many stories I want to tell," says Moore.

"I want to catch up with Denzel, with Jamie, with Will and Terrance and those guys."

Goes down so easy

While in Toronto during the CTV fall preview, Moore appreciates the time in a city he's grown to love over the years.

According to the actor, "The Young and the Restless" has had a rabid following in Canada and the cast would regularly visit the city three or four times a year, signing autographs on the weekend.

"We'd come out, work for a day and we'd get to play for three. The winter is a little to cold for me, but in the spring and the summer, it's really a cool city," he says.

"I always say this about Toronto, and I don't mean it in a bad way. It just seems like a clean, conservative, quiet, safe city by day, but by night it's a whole other place."

But there's one special treat that Moore can't be without when he crosses the border: Lick's infamous hamburgers.

"Everyone laughs at me out here, but I love it. It might be greasy, but it goes down so easy. It's not good for you, but man, it tastes good," laughs Moore.

Moore returns for season three of "Criminal Minds" this fall on CTV. Check your local listings for details.