Mehcad Brooks stars as Detective Jalen Shaw on the 24th season of the hit NBC drama "Law & Order."

Brooks recently joined the cast of the upcoming third season of Max's "And Just Like That..." with Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis. He'll soon reprise his role as the cybernetically enhanced super-soldier Jax in Warner Bros' follow-up to the 2021 action-adventure film "Mortal Kombat."

Additional film credits include Tyler Perry's 2020 Netflix film "A Fall from Grace," "Nobody's Fool," "In the Valley of Elah," opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron, "Glory Road," produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, "Just Wright," opposite Queen Latifah and Common, and "About Last Night," opposite Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy and Regina Hall. 

In television, Brooks starred in the DC Comics superhero action-adventure series "Supergirl" for six seasons on The CW. He landed his first big break in 2005 with the role of Alfre Woodard's son on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," for which he won a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series and secured an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Other TV credits include "True Blood," "Necessary Roughness," "Boston Public," "Cold Case," "Ghost Whisperer," "Law & Order: SVU" and "Law & Order: Organized Crime."

His 2010 endorsement deal with Calvin Klein became one of the brand's most notorious campaigns to date, making international headlines as one of the four faces of their CK X underwear line two years in a row.

While bringing characters to life on screen remains one of Brooks' biggest passions, his love for telling stories through music is equally important. In 2018, he released his debut, full-length album, "May 20TH," which was inspired by multiple near-death experiences that all took place on May 20 and forever changed his life. His brand-new single, "American Dream," will drop on October 25, 2024, with a full-length album slated for 2025. 

Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Brooks excelled in academics and basketball. He attended both Yale University and USC's School of Cinematic Arts before pursuing an acting career.