‘Dawson’s Creek’ star James Van Der Beek dies at age 48

James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for starring in the teen TV drama “Dawson’s Creek” and films including “Varsity Blues,” has died. He was 48.

“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” reads a note posted Wednesday on Van Der Beek’s Instagram page.

“There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come,” the statement continued. “For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”

Van Der Beek revealed in a November 2024 Instagram post that he’d been diagnosed with cancer, stating that despite the diagnosis he was “in a good place and feeling strong.”

Later that month, the actor further revealed to People that he was battling Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Van Der Beek shared that he received the diagnosis after a colonoscopy.

In December 2024, Van Der Beek joined “Good Morning America” to discuss his mindset and emotional state during his ongoing battle with the disease.

“And thus began the full-time job of having cancer, signing up for all the various medical portals and getting on the phone with insurance and creating appointments … I was not prepared for just how much of a full-time job that it really is,” Van Der Beek said.

“I’m going to make changes that I never would have made otherwise, that I’m going to look back on in 30 years and say, ‘Thank god this happened.’ So, what can I do right now in order to make that the case? And that’s how it was, about 90 percent of the time,” he went on. “But 10 percent of the time, I was a sobbing, terrified mess, which I feel like is a pretty good percentage.”

Born March 8, 1977, in Cheshire, Connecticut, Van Der Beek began acting while in middle school and made his professional debut at age 16 in a 1993 off-Broadway production in New York City. He continued to appear in various amateur and professional productions throughout high school and while attending New Jersey’s Drew University.

It was while he was a student at Drew that Van Der Beek in 1998 auditioned for and won the title role of Dawson Leery in The WB network’s new show, “Dawson’s Creek.” Van Der Beek dropped out of Drew University to star in the show for the whole of its six-year run, opposite fellow cast members and future stars Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.

“That was when life was at its craziest,” Van Der Beek reflected about his time on the hit show in a 2020 interview with “Good Morning America.” “At 20 years old I got stupidly lucky and found myself in a zeitgeist, cultural phenomenon TV show, and I was suddenly famous.”

Van Der Beek also admitted his sudden stardom was difficult to handle: “My reaction to fame was to run away from it,” he said, though looking back he said he would tell his younger self to “relax, be grateful, enjoy it.”

Despite having already began a small film career with roles in films like the 1996 romantic drama “I Love You, I Love You Not,” which also starred Claire Danes, Julia Stiles and Jude Law, Van Der Beek’s “Dawson’s Creek” fame earned him the headlining role in the 1999 coming-of-age sports drama “Varsity Blues.” Van Der Beek’s character of Jonathan “Mox” Moxon, the backup quarterback on a small-town Texas high school football team, remains the film performance for which he’s best remembered. It also earned him the best breakout male performance award at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.

“It was a movie I really really cared about, it was a role I really cared about,” Van Der Beek told “Good Morning America.” “It was a role I really had to fight for. I had to fight for that role, nobody wanted me for that role initially,” he said.

The success of “Varsity Blues” led to roles in other films, including 2000’s horror film send-up “Scary Movie,” in which Van Der Beek made a cameo appearance as his “Dawson’s Creek” character, the 2001 Western “Texas Rangers,” and the 2002 dark comedy “Rules of Attraction.” Later film roles included the 2009 thriller “Formosa Betrayed,” 2013’s “Labor Day,” with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, and the 2019 comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.”

Yet Van Der Beek remained a larger small-screen presence, appearing on dozens of hit TV shows over the years in starring or guest roles, including “How I Met Your Mother,” “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23,” “One Tree Hill,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “CSI: Cyber,” “Modern Family” and more, as well as providing the voice of Boris Hauntley on the Disney animated children’s series “Vampirina.” Van Der Beek also placed fifth on Season 28 of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” in 2019. In 2025, he was announced as a recurring character on the “Legally Blonde” prequel series “Elle.”

In September 2025, the cast of “Dawson’s Creek” reunited for a one-night-only live reading of the show’s pilot episode to raise money for the nonprofit F Cancer and for Van Der Beek. A stomach virus prevented him from attending in person – Tony-winner Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped into the role of Dawson Leery in Van Der Beek’s place – but he shared a video message in which he thanked those who attended and shared his disappointment for not being unable to “stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most.”

Van Der Beek was married twice. He’s survived by his wife, film producer Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children.