James Van Der Beek

James David Van Der Beek (March 8, 1977 – February 11, 2026) was an American actor best known for playing Dawson Leery on the WB drama series Dawson's Creek. Over the course of his career, he achieved prominent television roles, including playing a fictionalized version of himself on Don't Trust the B— in Apartment 23, FBI Agent Elijah Mundo on CSI: Cyber, and Matt Bromley on Pose.

Van Der Beek was born in Cheshire, Connecticut, the eldest of three children of dancer and gymnastics teacher Melinda Weber and cell phone executive James William Van Der Beek. At age 15, he pursued professional acting, making his Off-Broadway debut in 1993 in Edward Albee's Finding the Sun. While attending Cheshire Academy, he made his feature film debut in Angus (1995). He studied English and sociology at Drew University on an academic scholarship from 1995 to 1997, leaving when Dawson's Creek began production. In 2024, he returned to Drew University as a commencement speaker and received an honorary Bachelor of Arts degree.

In early 1997, Van Der Beek landed the title role of Dawson Leery in Dawson's Creek, which premiered in 1998 and ran for six seasons. His breakthrough led to a starring role in the 1999 teen football drama Varsity Blues, which held the number-one spot at the U.S. box office for two weeks and earned him an MTV Movie Award for Best Male Breakthrough Performance. Around this time, he appeared in feature films such as Texas Rangers, Scary Movie, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and The Rules of Attraction.

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Van Der Beek maintained a steady screen career. He starred in films including The Plague, Formosa Betrayed, Labor Day, and Bad Hair. His performance as FBI agent Jake Kelly in Formosa Betrayed earned him Best Actor at the 8th Annual San Diego Film Festival in 2009. On television, he made guest and recurring appearances in series such as Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, One Tree Hill, Ugly Betty, Medium, and Mercy, and featured in Kesha's 2011 music video for "Blow."

In addition to acting, Van Der Beek co-created, wrote, produced, showran, and starred in the Viceland comedy series What Would Diplo Do?, portraying producer and DJ Diplo. He voiced Boris Hauntley in the animated series Vampirina, appeared in Carters Get Rich, and made a cameo in Downsizing. He also participated in television competitions, placing fifth on season 28 of Dancing with the Stars and competing as "Griffin" on season 13 of The Masked Singer in 2025. His posthumous credits include the feature film The Gates and the series Elle.

Van Der Beek was married to actress Heather McComb from 2003 until their divorce was finalized in 2010. Later that year, he married business consultant Kimberly Brook, with whom he had six children. The family relocated from Los Angeles to a farm in Spicewood, Texas, in 2020. In August 2023, he was diagnosed with stage III colorectal cancer, a diagnosis he revealed publicly in November 2024. Van Der Beek died on February 11, 2026, at the age of 48.