James Van Der Beek, a heartthrob who came to prominence at the turn of the new millennium by playing the lead character in , and later made fun of his own good-looking persona, has died. He was 48.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed away peacefully this morning. He spent his final days with courage, faith, and grace. There is much to be shared about his wishes, love for humanity, and the sanctity of time. Those times will come,” said a posted on . “For now, we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”
Van Der Beek disclosed in 2024 that he was undergoing treatment for
Van Der Beek made a surprising video appearance in September at a “Dawson’s Creek” reunion charity event in New York City after having previously dropped out due to illness.
He was projected onto the stage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre during a live reading of the show’s pilot episode to benefit F Cancer and Van Der Beek. Lin-Manuel Miranda substituted for him on stage.
“Thank you to every single person here,” Van Der Beek said.
Forever linked to ‘Dawson’s Creek’
At one time a theater kid, Van Der Beek starred in the movie “Varsity Blues” and on TV in “CSI: Cyber” as FBI Special Agent Elijah Mundo, but was forever associated with “Dawson’s Creek,” which aired on The WB from 1998 to 2003.
The series followed a group of high school friends as they learned about falling in love, forming genuine friendships, and finding their place in life. Van Der Beek, then under 20, played 15-year-old Dawson Leery, who aspired to be a director of Spielberg caliber.
With Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want To Wait” as its moody theme song, “Dawson’s Creek” helped define The WB as a haven for teens and young adults who related to its highly articulate dialogue and candid discussion of sexuality. And it made household names of Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, and Joshua Jackson.
“While James’ legacy will always endure, this is a massive loss not just to your family but to the world,” wrote to his widow on Instagram. Katharine McPhee Foster added: “This is just utterly devastating news.” Others posting messages of mourning included Jenna Dewan and Olivia Munn.
The show caused a stir when one of the teens had a steamy affair with a teacher 20 years his senior and when Holmes’ character climbed through Dawson’s bedroom window and they curled up together. Racy shows like “Euphoria” and “Sex Education” owe a debt to “Dawson’s Creek.”
Van Der Beek sometimes struggled to break free from the shadow of the show but eventually embraced lampooning himself, such as in Funny Or Die videos and on which included his laser gun battle with the pop star in a nightclub and dead unicorns.
“It’s hard to compete with something that was the cultural phenomenon that ‘Dawson’s Creek’ was,” he told Vulture in 2013. “It ran for so long. That’s a lot of hours playing one character in front of people. So it’s natural that they associate you with that.”
A well-liked GIF and ‘Varsity Blues’
More than a decade after the show ended, a scene from the end of the show’s third season became a GIF. Dawson watched as his soul mate began a love affair with his best friend and burst into tears.
“I wasn’t scripted to cry; it was just one of those things where it’s a magical moment and it just happens in the scene,” Van Der Beek told Vanity Fair. He seemed exasperated when he told the Los Angeles Times: “All of a sudden, six years of work was reduced to one seven-second clip on repeat.” (Van Der Beek himself recreated the GIF in 2011 for Funny or Die and gave it a new lease on life.)
While still on “Dawson’s Creek,” Van Der Beek hosted “Saturday Night Live” — the musical guest was Everlast — and landed a prime role in “Varsity Blues,” playing a second-string high school quarterback who steps in when the star gets injured.
Van Der Beek’s character, Mox, turns out not to be a football fanatic, preferring to read Kurt Vonnegut and longing for a college education that would let him escape the jock mentality of his Texas town.
“I don’t want your life,” he yells at one point. Critic Roger Ebert called him “convincing and likable.”
After ‘Dawson’s Creek’
Some of his projects after “Dawson’s Creek” included co-creating and playing Wesley “Diplo” Pentz, a dull but likeable music producer in the mockumentary satire on Viceland, “What Would Diplo Do?” In 2019, he reached the semifinals of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” and played a balding, out-of-shape ex-boyfriend on “How I Met Your Mother.”
“The more you make fun of yourself and don’t try to gain any kind of respect, the more people seem to respect you,” he told Vanity Fair in 2011. “I’ve always been a clown trapped in a leading man’s body.”
Between 2003 and 2013, he appeared in shows like “Criminal Minds,” “One Tree Hill,” and “How I Met Your Mother.” He played himself with a crazy intensity in the Krysten Ritter-led ABC drama “Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23,” and the short-lived “CSI” spinoff “CSI: Cyber” and CBS’ “Friends With Better Lives.”
He also appeared in movies such as Kevin Smith’s 2001 comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and its 2019 sequel, “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.” He was in the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation of “The Rules of Attraction” in 2002 opposite Jessica Biel and Kate Bosworth.
In 2025, he was unmasked as Griffin on “The Masked Singer,” after singing a cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen.
Early life as a theater kid
Van Der Beek, who was raised in Cheshire, Connecticut, started acting at 13 after suffering a concussion playing football that kept him from playing for a year. He landed the role of Danny Zuko in his school production of “Grease.”
He stuck with theater, landing an off-Broadway role in 1994 at 16 in “Finding the Sun” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee and one of the sons in a revival of “Shenandoah” at the prestigious Goodspeed Opera House in his home state.
He earned a scholarship to New Jersey’s Drew University but left school early when he was cast in “Dawson’s Creek.” In 2024, he returned to campus to accept an honorary degree for his “selfless service and exemplary commitment to the mission of Drew,” the university said.
Drew University President Hilary Link welcomed Van Der Beek with a popular quote from his “Dawson’s Creek” character: “Edge is fleeting,” she said, “but heart lasts forever. So on this morning, we pay tribute to that heart.”
He is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and six children, Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah.
___
AP Music Writer Maria Sherman contributed to this report.