One of six children, he grew up in Canoga Park, California[1] and began working as a child actor at age 4.
[2] In the first season of Beverly Hills, 90210, Emerson's character Scott Scanlon was a nerdy freshman and best friends with David Silver, played by Brian Austin Green.
[3] After his departure from the show, Emerson enrolled in junior college and in 1993 transferred to Pepperdine University.
By 2002, he attained the rank of staff sergeant working in intelligence and had earned a dozen awards for, among other accomplishments, planning missions during the 1999 Kosovo War.
In 2019, Emerson reunited with 90210 co-stars Brian Austin Green and Ian Ziering at a Peach Pit charity pop up honoring the late Luke Perry.