James Van Der Beek, actor known for playing Dawson Leary, protagonist of the television series Dawson Grows Up, died this Wednesday, February 11 at the age of 48. Van Der Beek was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2023 and made his illness public in November 2024.
Van Der Beek’s family announced the news with a statement posted on their Instagram profile. “Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed away peacefully this morning. He faced his last days with courage, faith and dignity,” says the text in which the family asks for “privacy and tranquility” to mourn “the loss of our beloved husband, father, son, brother and friend.”
Born in Connecticut, Van Der Beek began acting Off-Broadway while still in high school. He had appeared in several stage productions and a few independent films before he got his big break when he was chosen to star in Dawson’s Creek in 1997.
James Van Der Beek became known worldwide playing Dawson Leery in the youth series Dawson Grows, which he starred in for 128 episodes and a total of six seasons broadcast on The WB network from 1998 to 2003. Some of his co-stars later became brilliant stars such as Michelle Williams or Katie Holmes.
In film he stood out with the teenage sports drama Varsity Blues in 1999, number one at the US box office during its first two weeks, for which he won an MTV Movie Award for best actor. During that stage he also linked titles such as the western Texas Rangers (2001), the generational black comedy The Rules of the Game (2002) and self-referential cameos in comedies such as Scary Movie (2000) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001).
After the end of Dawson, Van Der Beek participated as a guest actor in series such as Criminal Minds and How I Met Your Mother. In One Tree Hill, Van Der Beek had a recurring role as a filmmaker and also appeared in other series such as Mercy, Apartment 23 or Friends With Better Lives. More recently, she has had recurring roles in titles such as CSI: Cyber ​​and Pose, and has lent her voice to 69 episodes of the animated series Vampirina.
In November 2024, Van Der Beek publicly revealed that he had stage 3 colorectal cancer, a diagnosis he received after a colonoscopy that was performed in 2023.
