James Van Der Beek, the 'Dawson's Creek' star who later mocked his own
hunky persona, has died at 48
[February 12, 2026]
By MARK KENNEDY
NEW YORK (AP) — James Van Der Beek, a heartthrob who starred in
coming-of-age dramas at the dawn of the new millennium, shooting to fame
playing the titular character in “Dawson’s Creek” and in later years
mocking his own hunky persona, 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. There is much to share
regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time.
Those days will come,” said a statement from the actor's family posted
on Instagram. “For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our
loving husband, father, son, brother and friend.”
Van Der Beek revealed in 2024 that he was being treated for colorectal
cancer.
Van Der Beek made a surprise video appearance in September at a
“Dawson's Creek” reunion charity event in New York City after previously
dropping out due to illness.
He appeared projected onstage 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 subbed for him on stage.
"Thank you to every single person here,” Van Der Beek said.
Forever tied to ‘Dawson’s Creek'
A one-time theater kid, Van Der Beek would star in the movie “Varsity
Blues” and on TV in “CSI: Cyber” as FBI Special Agent Elijah Mundo, but
was forever connected to “Dawson’s Creek,” which ran from 1998 to 2003
on The WB.
The series followed a group of high school friends as they learned about
falling in love, creating real friendships and finding their footing in
life. Van Der Beek, then 20, played 15-year-old Dawson Leery, who
aspired to be a director of Steven Spielberg quality.
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 hyper-articulate dialogue and frank talk about
sexuality. And it made household names of Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes,
Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.
“While James' legacy will always live on, this is a huge loss to not
just your family but the world,” Sarah Michelle Gellar wrote to his
widow on Instagram. Katharine McPhee Foster added: “This is just beyond
devastating news.” Others posting messages of mourning were Jenna Dewan
and Olivia Munn.
The show caused a stir when one of the teens embarked on a racy affair
with a teacher 20 years his senior and when Holmes' character climbed
through Dawson's bedroom window and they curled up together. Racier
shows like “Euphoria” and “Sex Education” owe a debt to “Dawson's
Creek.”
Van Der Beek sometimes struggled to get out from under the shadow of the
show but eventually leaned into lampooning himself, like on Funny Or Die
videos and on Kesha's “Blow” music video, which included his laser gun
battle with the pop star in a nightclub and dead unicorns.
“It’s tough 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 popular GIF and ‘Varsity Blues’
More than a decade after the show went off the air, a scene at the end
of the show’s third season became a GIF. Dawson was watching as his soul
mate embarks on a love affair with his best friend and burst into tears.
“It wasn’t scripted that I was supposed 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 boiled down
to one seven-second clip on loop.” (Van Der Beek himself recreated the
GIF in 2011 for Funny or Die and gave it a second life.)
While still on “Dawson’s Creek,” Van Der Beek hosted “Saturday Night
Live” — the musical guest was Everlast — and landed a plumb role in
“Varsity Blues,” playing a second-string high school quarterback who
leaps into the breach when the star suffers an injury.
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James Van Der Beek arrives at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Los
Angeles on Sept. 22, 2019. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP,
File)
 Van Der Beek’s character, Mox, turns
out to not be a football fanatic, preferring to read Kurt Vonnegut
and yearning for the college education that will allow him to escape
the jock mentality of his Texas town.
“I don’t want your life,” he screams 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 likable music producer in
the mockumentary satire on Viceland, “What Would Diplo Do?” In 2019,
he made it to 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 go for 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 made appearances in shows like “Criminal
Minds,” “One Tree Hill,” and “How I Met Your Mother.” He played
himself with a crackpot 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’s 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
prevented him from playing for a year. He landed the role of Danny
Zuko in his school production of “Grease.”
He stuck with theater, landing at 16 in 1994 an off-Broadway role 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.
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AP Music Writer Maria Sherman contributed to this report.
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