# James Van Der Beek

James David Van Der Beek (/ˈvændərˌbiːk/; born March 8, 1977) is an American actor. Known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery on The WB's Dawson's Creek (1998–2003), he also played a fictionalized version of himself on the cult ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (2012–2013), starred on CSI: Cyber as FBI Agent Elijah Mundo (2015–2016), and appeared as Matt Bromley on the first season of the FX drama Pose (2018).
His film credits include Varsity Blues (1998), Texas Rangers (2001), The Rules of Attraction (2002), Formosa Betrayed (2009), Labor Day (2013), and Bad Hair (2020).

## Early life

Van Der Beek was born in Cheshire, Connecticut, the son of Melinda (née Weber; 1950–2020), a former dancer and gymnastics teacher, and husband James William Van Der Beek, a cellular phone company executive and former minor league baseball pitcher. He is of Dutch, German, English, Scots-Irish, and French descent; his last name translates to "from the creek" in Dutch.

## Career
### Theatre

Van Der Beek played the role of Reuben in his middle school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. At the age of 15, he asked his mother to take him into New York City to get an agent and try his hand in professional acting. He made his professional debut off-Broadway at age 16 in 1993 in the New York premiere of Edward Albee's play Finding the Sun with the Signature Theatre Company. He played the role of "Fergus". Both he and the production, which was also directed by Albee, received positive reviews. A decade later, in 2003, he appeared again off-Broadway, briefly, in the play Rain Dance.
At 17, while still in high school at Cheshire Academy, he performed in the musical Shenandoah at the Goodspeed Opera House, made his feature film debut as a sadistic bully in Angus (1995) and shot a small role in the independent film I Love You, I Love You Not (1996).
He attended Drew University on an academic scholarship, where he participated in an all-male a cappella group, but dropped out once Dawson's Creek was picked up to series. He performed at the Vineyard Theater in New York in Nicky Silver's play, My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine, and he played a supporting role in the independent film Cash Crop, which was originally shot in spring of 1997 and originally titled Harvest until released in 2001.

### Television and film

In early 1997, Van Der Beek auditioned for three television pilots. One of them was for the fledgling WB Network show Dawson's Creek. Van Der Beek won the title role of Dawson Leery, and the show's 1998 debut was a success that helped to establish the network and its cast. The series ran for six seasons and was syndicated worldwide. In 1999, he starred in the teen football drama Varsity Blues, which held the number 1 spot at the U.S. box office for its first two weeks. He won an MTV Movie Award for his role.
Around this time he was selected one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World", and he appeared in several other films, including Texas Rangers, Scary Movie, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, playing himself playing Jay in the film within the film opposite Jason Biggs as Silent Bob. In 2002, he played Sean Bateman (younger brother of American Psycho protagonist Patrick Bateman) in the film adaptation of the novel The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, written and directed by Roger Avary. The film was an initial box office failure but found a cult following on DVD.
In 2006, he appeared on the Direct-to-DVD thriller The Plague, which was produced by Clive Barker and was panned by critics. After Dawson's Creek ended in 2003, he returned to off-Broadway, in Lanford Wilson's Rain Dance. He completed an unproduced screenplay titled Winning. Since then, he made a few appearances on television, including a role on Ugly Betty. In 2007, he guest-starred in a two-part episode of the series Criminal Minds, playing a serial killer with dissociative identity disorder called Tobias Hankel who kidnaps and drugs one of the main characters, Spencer Reid. In 2008, he made a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother, in which he played Simon, one of Robin Scherbatsky’s early boyfriends, multiple times.
In 2008, he began a recurring role on One Tree Hill as a filmmaker who was largely the satirical opposite of Dawson Leery. He appeared in an episode of the fifth season of Medium. In 2009, he portrayed real life kidnapper Anthony Steven "Tony Zappa" Wright in the Lifetime network television film Taken In Broad Daylight. In 2009, he won Best Actor at the 8th Annual San Diego Film Festival for his portrayal of FBI agent Jake Kelly working in Taiwan in the political thriller Formosa Betrayed, which also won Best Picture. The film was distributed theatrically in the United States starting February 26, 2010.
On January 5, 2010, TVGuide.com confirmed that Van Der Beek had been cast in a major recurring role on the television series Mercy. He played Dr. Joe Briggs, the new womanizing ICU chief who harbors a dark secret. He starred alongside Rhona Mitra, Josh Lucas, and Jon Hamm in the Anders Anderson thriller film Stolen.
In 2011, he portrayed Kesha's nemesis in her music video for "Blow". He portrayed a fictionalized version of himself on the television series Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. The show debuted to critical praise, with Van Der Beek earning particularly good notices for his comic timing and sendup of his own image. The show was cancelled after two seasons but remains popular on Netflix and on Logo TV, which picked it up in syndication.
On March 4, 2015, he began his role as Senior Field Agent Elijah Mundo on CSI: Cyber. In 2017, Van Der Beek appeared in the British comedy series Carters Get Rich. He made a cameo in the film Downsizing (2017), starring Matt Damon, and voices Boris Hauntley in the Disney Junior show Vampirina.
As a writer, Van Der Beek co-created, wrote, produced and starred in What Would Diplo Do?, in which he portrays producer and DJ Diplo. It was Van Der Beek's first foray as a showrunner of a series. The show debuted on Viceland to positive reviews, both for the writing and Van Der Beek's performance, was called, “The Veep of DJ Culture” by the L.A. Times and scored 90% on Rotten Tomatoes
In 2019, Van Der Beek was cast in the Emmy-nominated Pose as Matt Bromley on FX, a role he played for one season.
Van Der Beek joined the cast of the 28th season of Dancing with the Stars. He was paired with professional dancer Emma Slater. A surprisingly good dancer, Van Der Beek was consistently scored in the top spot and favored to win until he was eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing in fifth place. That night, he revealed that his wife, Kimberly, had suffered a miscarriage forty-eight hours prior. The judges scored him lowest, and then, in a decision that was controversial with fans, sent him home.

## Personal life

Van Der Beek was married to actress Heather McComb from 2003 until their separation in April 2009. Van Der Beek filed for divorce in the fourth quarter of that year; the divorce was finalized in the second quarter of 2010.
Van Der Beek married business consultant Kimberly Brook on August 1, 2010, in a small ceremony at the Kabbalah Center near Dizengoff Plaza in Tel Aviv, Israel. The couple have six children: four daughters (born 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018) and two sons. He has spoken about a miscarriage Brook suffered in November 2019, just a month after announcing she was pregnant. Following the birth of their sixth child, he disclosed that she had actually suffered two miscarriages at 17 weeks or later, explaining in a November 22, 2021 announcement on Instagram that the couple had waited five weeks to publicly announce the arrival of their sixth child. In September 2020, he and Brook announced that they were leaving Los Angeles and moving to Texas.

### Illness

On August 31, 2023, Van Der Beek was diagnosed with colorectal cancer; he did not make his diagnosis public until November 2024. He stated that he has "been privately dealing with this diagnosis and [has] been taking steps to resolve it" with the support of his family.

## Filmography
### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1993 | Clarissa Explains It All | Paulie | Episode: "Alter Ego" |
| 1995 | As the World Turns | Stephen Anderson | 3 episodes |
| 1996 | Aliens in the Family | Ethan | Episode: "You Don't Have a Pet to Be Popular" |
| 1998–2003 | Dawson's Creek | Dawson Leery | Main cast; 122 episodes |
| 2006 | Robot Chicken | Various Voices | 2 episodes |
| 2007 | Criminal Minds | Tobias Hankel / Raphael | 2 episodes |
| 2007 | Ugly Betty | Luke Carnes | Episode: "Grin and Bear It" |
| 2007 | Eye of the Beast | Dan Leland | Television film |
| 2008–2013 | How I Met Your Mother | Simon | 3 episodes |
| 2008–2009 | One Tree Hill | Adam Reese | 4 episodes |
| 2009 | Medium | Dylan Hoyt | Episode: "All in the Family" |
| 2009 | The Storm | Dr. Jonathan Kirk | Miniseries; 2 episodes |
| 2009 | The Forgotten | Judd Shaw | Episode: "Lucky John" |
| 2009 | Taken in Broad Daylight | Anthony Steven "Tony Zappa" Wright | Television film |
| 2009 | Mrs. Miracle | Seth Webster | Television film |
| 2010 | Mercy | Dr. Joe Briggs | 10 episodes |
| 2011 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Rex Tamlyn | Episode: "To the Boy in the Blue Knit Cap" |
| 2011 | Franklin & Bash | Nathan | Episode: "Bachelor Party" |
| 2011 | Salem Falls | Jack St. Bride | Television film |
| 2012–2013 | Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 | James Van Der Beek | Main cast; 26 episodes |
| 2012 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Sean Albert | Episode: "Father Dearest" |
| 2013 | The Eric André Show | James Van Der Beek Team Go! Member #2 | Episode: "James Van Der Beek / Steve-O" Episode: "Lauren Conrad; Reese Witherspoon" |
| 2014 | Friends with Better Lives | Will Stokes | Main cast; 13 episodes |
| 2015–2016 | CSI: Cyber | Elijah Mundo | Main cast |
| 2017 | Carters Get Rich | Trent Zebrisky | Main cast |
| 2017 | What Would Diplo Do? | Diplo | Co-creator, writer |
| 2017 | Room 104 | Scott | Episode: "Pizza Boy" |
| 2017–2021 | Vampirina | Boris Hauntley (voice) | Main cast |
| 2017 | Modern Family | Bo Johnson | Episode: "No Small Feet" |
| 2017 | Drop the Mic | Himself | Episode: "James Van Der Beek vs. Randall Park / Gina Rodriguez vs. Rob Gronkowski" |
| 2018 | Pose | Matt Bromley | Main cast (season 1) |
| 2019 | Dancing with the Stars | Himself | Season 28 |
| 2020 | 25 Words or Less | Himself | Game Show |
| 2024 | We Are Family | Himself with oldest daughter Olivia | Season finale |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Castle in the Sky | Pazu | Voice English dub produced in 1998 by Disney |
| 1995 | Angus | Rick Sandford | |
| 1996 | I Love You, I Love You Not | Tony | |
| 1998 | Harvest | James Peterson | |
| 1999 | Varsity Blues | Jonathon "Mox" Moxon | |
| 2000 | Scary Movie | Dawson Leery | Uncredited |
| 2001 | Texas Rangers | Ranger Lincoln Rogers Dunnison | |
| 2001 | Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back | Himself | |
| 2002 | The Rules of Attraction | Sean Bateman | |
| 2005 | Standing Still | Simon | |
| 2006 | The Plague | Tom Russell | Direct-to-video |
| 2007 | Final Draft | Paul Twist | |
| 2009 | Formosa Betrayed | Jake Kelly | |
| 2009 | Stolen | Diploma / Roggiani | |
| 2010 | The Big Bang | Adam Nova | |
| 2012 | Backwards | Geoff | |
| 2013 | The Magic Bracelet | Joe | Short film |
| 2013 | Labor Day | Officer Treadwell | |
| 2015 | Power/Rangers | Rocky DeSantos / Red Ranger | Short film, screenwriter |
| 2017 | Downsizing | Anesthesiologist | |
| 2019 | Jay and Silent Bob Reboot | Himself | |
| 2020 | Bad Hair | Grant | |
| 2024 | Sidelined: The QB and Me | Leroy Lahey | |

## Awards and nominations
### MTV Movie Awards

| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 1999 | Varsity Blues | Best Breakthrough Male Performance | Won |
| 2001 | Scary Movie | Best Cameo in a Movie | Won |

### Teen Choice Awards

| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 1999 | Dawson's Creek | Choice TV Actor | Nominated |
| 1999 | Varsity Blues | Choice Movie Breakout Star | Won |
| 2012 | Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 | Choice TV: Male Scene Stealer | Nominated |

### Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 2000 | Varsity Blues | Favorite Actor – Newcomer (Internet Only) | Nominated |

### San Diego Film Festival

| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 2009 | Formosa Betrayed | Best Actor | Won |

### NewNowNext Awards

| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 2011 | JamesVanDerMemes.com | OMG Internet Award | Won |