Daijiworld Media Network – Los Angeles
Los Angeles, Feb 12: James Van Der Beek, the actor who rose to fame as the earnest teen Dawson Leery in the hit coming-of-age series Dawson’s Creek, has died at the age of 48.
A statement posted on his official Instagram page on Wednesday confirmed that he passed away earlier in the day. “He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” the statement read.
Van Der Beek had revealed in 2024 that he was undergoing treatment for colorectal cancer. Despite his illness, he made a surprise virtual appearance in September at a Dawson’s Creek reunion charity event in New York City after previously withdrawing due to health concerns.
Projected onstage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre during a live reading of the show’s pilot episode — held to benefit F Cancer — Van Der Beek thanked supporters. “Thank you to every single person here,” he said, as Lin-Manuel Miranda stood in for him during the performance.
A former theatre enthusiast, Van Der Beek became a teen heartthrob at the turn of the millennium. He shot to stardom playing the idealistic aspiring filmmaker Dawson Leery on Dawson’s Creek, which aired from 1998 to 2003 on The WB.
The series followed a close-knit group of high school friends navigating love, friendship and self-discovery. Van Der Beek, then 20, portrayed the 15-year-old Dawson, whose dream was to become a director in the mould of Steven Spielberg.
With its signature theme song, Paula Cole’s I Don’t Want to Wait, and its emotionally charged storylines, the show became a cultural phenomenon. It helped establish The WB as a hub for teen-focused programming and propelled Van Der Beek, along with co-stars Joshua Jackson, Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams, to household-name status.
The show broke ground with frank discussions about relationships and sexuality, including controversial storylines that stirred public debate at the time. Later teen dramas such as Euphoria and Sex Education have often been seen as inheritors of its candid tone.
Beyond Dawson’s Creek, Van Der Beek appeared in films such as Varsity Blues and on television in CSI: Cyber, where he played FBI Special Agent Elijah Mundo. However, he remained closely associated with his breakout role.
In later years, he embraced self-parody, poking fun at his heartthrob image in comedy sketches, including Funny Or Die videos and a memorable cameo in Kesha’s Blow music video featuring a surreal laser gun battle.
“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.”
James Van Der Beek leaves behind a legacy as one of the defining faces of late-1990s and early-2000s television, remembered for both his iconic role and his willingness to reinvent himself beyond it.