James Van Der Beek, the charming actor who captivated audiences as the teenage lead in the popular turn-of-the-millennium TV drama series ‘Dawson’s Creek,’ passed away on Wednesday at the age of 48.
His passing was shared through an announcement on his official social media account, though the location of his death was not disclosed. Van Der Beek had previously revealed in November 2024 that he was undergoing treatment for colorectal cancer.
He stated at the time, “I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before. I’m in a good place and feeling strong.”
When ‘Dawson’s Creek’ premiered in 1998, Van Der Beek embodied Dawson Leery, a 15-year-old high school sophomore with an innocent demeanor and an aspiring filmmaker’s dreams. Dawson was portrayed as sensitive, vulnerable, and occasionally self-absorbed, yet he possessed a remarkable articulateness far beyond his years, a trait shared by many of the show’s young characters.
“Why is my mere presence suddenly a detriment to your happiness?” Dawson once asked a friend in Season 2. He understood, as he put it, the “unyielding, merciless torture” of unrequited love. To his closest male friend, he offered surprisingly profound relationship advice: “The only thing you can really do is make sure that the time she spends with you is as stress-free as possible.”
Kevin Williamson, the creator of the series, acknowledged in a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the dialogue of the young characters was “a little stylized,” but intentionally so, to convey their inner thoughts and emotions effectively.
Caryn James, in her debut review of the show for The New York Times, lauded the characters’ “sophisticated awareness.” However, the series’ candid portrayal of teenage sexuality drew criticism from some, leading at least one major corporation, Procter & Gamble, to withdraw its co-producer and sponsorship support.
Despite this, WB, then only three years old, found immense success due to the show’s popularity, especially among its target teenage demographic. By the series finale, six seasons later, Dawson’s fictional journey mirrored reality: he became a successful, confident college dropout with his own hit TV show. Van Der Beek was just 26 at the time.
In later years, he reflected on the minor frustrations that often accompanied his widespread fame.
When asked in 2023 for advice he would offer his younger self, he philosophically shared on “Good Morning America”: “Don’t be surprised if six years of work gets reduced to a three-second GIF of you crying.” He added with a shrug, “It’s all good.”
James David Van Der Beek was born on March 8, 1977, in Cheshire, Connecticut, north of New Haven. He was the eldest of three children to Melinda (Weber) Van Der Beek, a dancer and gymnastics instructor, and James William Van Der Beek, a telephone company executive.
At 15, James, already active in school plays, convinced his mother to drive him to New York City to seek representation from an agent.
Roughly a year later, he debuted on the New York stage in “Sand,” a collection of three one-act Edward Albee plays directed by Albee himself and produced by the Signature Theater Company. David Richards, then chief theater critic for The Times, described the young actor as “refreshingly un-self-conscious.”
Vincent Canby, also writing for The Times, commended the production’s “excellent cast, most notably (if only because he really is 16) James Van Der Beek, who plays the boy with the comic ease of someone with 20 years’ experience onstage.”
Van Der Beek made his film debut as a high school bully in “Angus” (1995) while still a student at Cheshire Academy. That same year, he performed in the musical “Shenandoah” at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut.
In 1997, while studying English at Drew University in New Jersey, he took on the role of a troubled teenager in Nicky Silver’s Off Broadway comedy “My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine.” He left college that year after landing the lead in ‘Dawson’s Creek.’
During his time on the hit series, he also starred as a high school football player in the coming-of-age film “Varsity Blues” (1999), played himself in Kevin Smith’s comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (2001), and portrayed a cynical, promiscuous, drug-dealing college student in “The Rules of Attraction” (2002), a dark comedy based on Bret Easton Ellis’s novel.
After ‘Dawson’s Creek’ concluded, Van Der Beek remained a sought-after presence in prime-time television. His roles included a womanizing doctor on NBC’s “Mercy” (2010), a sarcastic doctor on “Friends With Better Lives” (2014), an F.B.I. agent on the spinoff “CSI: Cyber” (2015-16), a superstar DJ in “What Would Diplo Do?” (2017), and a cocaine-addicted villain in the first season of Ryan Murphy’s “Pose” (2018). In a clever meta-role, he played a fictionalized version of himself, constantly hounded by ‘Dawson’s Creek’ fans, across all 26 episodes of “Don’t Trust the B____ in Apartment 23” (2012-13).
He also continued to take on film roles, notably co-starring in “Backwards” (2012), a romance centered on an Olympic rower played by Sarah Megan Thomas.
His final appearance on screen was in the movie “Sidelined 2: Intercepted,” a 2025 sequel to “Sidelined: The QB and Me” (2024), both sports romance comedies.
His last stage performance was in 2013, in “The Gift” at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, a play about married couples at a Caribbean resort.
Last September, the cast of ‘Dawson’s Creek’ reunited for a special one-night charity event on Broadway to raise cancer awareness and support Van Der Beek. The event at the Richard Rodgers Theater featured a reading of the show’s pilot script, with Lin-Manuel Miranda stepping in for Van Der Beek, who was unable to attend due to his illness. Van Der Beek appeared via a video message to the audience.
Mr. Van Der Beek married actress Heather McComb in 2003; their divorce was finalized in 2010. Shortly after, he married business consultant Kimberly Brook, with whom he had six children: Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah. His wife and children survive him.
In a 2013 interview with HuffPost, Van Der Beek reflected on his acting journey, sharing that he quickly learned the importance of being “completely open and just jump in with both feet.” He concluded, “Everything you do belongs to the audience, ultimately.”
Ash Wu contributed reporting.