Actor James Van Der Beek, finest recognized for his position on the TV’s “Dawson’s Creek,” has died at age 48.
Van Der Beek, who performed Dawson Leery within the 90s teen drama, introduced a colorectal most cancers analysis in 2023. Van Der Beek additionally starred within the movies “Varsity Blues and “Texas Rangers.”
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek handed peacefully this morning,” a put up on the actor’s spouse’s Instagram account stated. “He met his remaining days with braveness, religion, and beauty. There’s a lot to share concerning his needs, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. These days will come. For now we ask for peaceable privateness as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and good friend.”
NBCLA has reached out to his publicist for remark.
He’s survived by his spouse Kimberly and their six kids Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah.
Van Der Beek had introduced that he was identified with stage 3 colorectal most cancers in 2023 on the age of 46.
“I am simply on the journey,” he instructed TODAY of his most cancers battle in July 2025. “It is a course of. It’s going to in all probability be a course of for the remainder of my life.”
After his analysis, Van Der Beek grew to become dedicated to spreading consciousness concerning the significance of early screenings and detection as colorectal most cancers charges are skyrocketing in younger adults.
“I ate in addition to I might. I used to be wholesome. I used to be in wonderful cardiovascular form,” he stated. “There was no cause in my thoughts that I ought to have gotten a constructive analysis.”
In September 2025 Van Der Beek was scheduled to reunite with “Dawson’s Creek” forged members Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams and others for a reside studying of the present’s pilot episode in a one-night solely charity occasion.
“We wished to assemble round our pricey good friend James and remind him that we’re all right here. We at all times have been and we at all times shall be,” Williams stated on the time. “And I do know the followers of ‘Dawson’s Creek’ really feel the identical method.”
Van Der Beek — the titular character of “Dawson’s Creek,” which aired from 1998 to 2003 on The WB — was pressured to cancel his look attributable to sickness.
“So, you possibly can think about how gutted I used to be when two abdomen viruses conspired to knock me out of fee and preserve me grounded on the worst doable second,” Van Der Beek stated in a social media put up the day earlier than the occasion.
“I received’t get to be there. I received’t get to face on that stage and thank each soul within the theater for exhibiting up for me, and towards most cancers, after I wanted it most,” the put up reads.
Van Der Beek shocked followers on the occasion with a pre-recorded video look.
“I can not imagine I am not there,” he stated within the video performed on the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York Metropolis. “I can not imagine I do not get to see my castmates, my stunning forged, in individual. I wished to face on this stage and thank each single individual on this theater for being right here tonight.”
Van Der Beek’s spouse and kids had been in attendance, becoming a member of the celebs on stage to sing the present’s theme track, “I Do not Wish to Wait.”
“This evening was so particular for the entire household and, extra importantly, simply feeling my husband fill the whole theater and the love for him,” Kimberly Van Der Beek wrote on her Instagram story after the occasion.
James Van Der Beek was born on March 8, 1977 in Cheshire, Connecticut. He grew to become enthusiastic about theater in center college and went on to make his off-Broadway debut within the play “Discovering the Solar” in 1993 at 16 years outdated.
He made his first tv look on a 1993 episode of Nickelodeon’s “Clarissa Explains It All” and, in 1995, appeared in three episodes of the CBS cleaning soap opera “Because the World Turns.”
In 1997, he landed the position of Dawson Leery in “Dawson’s Creek,” a coming-of-age drama centered round a bunch of teenage associates within the fictional city of Capeside, Massachusetts. The present debuted Jan. 20, 1998 and ran for six seasons and 128 episodes, turning into a global success and turning a fundamental forged of unknowns into stars.
Van Der Beek went on to seek out success on the large display. He starred within the teen soccer drama “Varsity Blues” in 1999, taking residence the MTV Film Award for Greatest Breakthrough Male Efficiency.
He adopted with appearances in “Texas Rangers,” “Scary Film,” “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Again” and plenty of others by 2020.
He maintained a tv presence all through, with recurring roles on hits like “Prison Minds,” “How I Met Your Mom,” and “One Tree Hill.”
He later made actuality tv appearances on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2019 and “The Masked Singer” in 2025.
He continued working after his most cancers analysis, starring within the sequence, “Elle,” about the highschool years of the “Legally Blonde” character.
“The best factor about work is a most cancers would not exist between motion and reduce,” Van Der Beek stated in 2025. “It was enjoyable to drop in and simply have a blast as a result of it is such an ideal forged, an ideal manufacturing, and all people out there may be actually gifted.”
