Meshach Taylor began studying acting in high school in Indianapolis and continued his studies at Wilmington College in Ohio. After discovering that there were few opportunities for black actors in Wilmington's program, he transferred to Florida A&M in Tallahassee. A few credits short of completing his studies, Taylor returned to Indianapolis where he began to work at a local radio station as a State House political correspondent.

He later joined the Organic Theatre group in Chicago, where he met and worked with good friends Joe Mantegna and Dennis Franz. He also became part of Chicago's Goodman Theatre, where his performance in Sizwe Banzo Is Dead won him the Joseph Jefferson Award. Taylor also won a Chicago area Emmy for his performance in the PBS production of Huckleberry Finn, and he hosted his own talk show, Black Life, on the local NBC affiliate.

After moving to Hollywood, Taylor landed a role in the feature film Damien - Omen II. He also joined the Westwood Playhouse production of Sizwe Banzo Is Dead, made guest appearances on Barney Miller, Lou Grant, The White Shadow and M*A*S*H, and landed a regular role on Buffalo Bill. Taylor nabbed the Emmy-nominated role of Anthony Bouvier, the ex-convict-turned-assistant to the decoratrix dynasty in CBS's Designing Women. Following this success Taylor moved straight into four seasons with the sitcom Dave's World (1993) as a poker-playing buddy/neighbor to Harry Anderson.

Taylor's other credits include the CBS telefilm How to Murder a Millionaire, the hit comedies Mannequin and Mannequin Two: On the Move, a cameo appearance in A Class Act, the ABC movie-of-the-week Double, Double Toil and Trouble opposite twins Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Virtual Seduction for Showtime/Concorde New Horizon, and CBS movie-of-the-week Nothing Lasts Forever with Vanessa Williams and Brooke Shields. He appeared on Broadway as Lumier in Beauty and the Beast and in an independent film called Jacks or Better.

Taylor currently co-hosts Living Live! along with Florence Henderson on Retirement Living TV.

Taylor is married and has three daughters, Tamar, Yasmine, Esme and a son Tariq