James Van Der Beek
James David Van Der Beek is an American actor. Known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery on The WB's Dawson's Creek, he also played a fictionalized version of himself on the cult ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, starred on CSI: Cyber as FBI Agent Elijah Mundo, and appeared as Matt Bromley on the first season of the FX drama Pose.
His film credits include Varsity Blues, Texas Rangers, The [Rules of Attraction (film)|The Rules of Attraction], Formosa Betrayed, Labor Day, and Bad Hair.
Early life
James David Van Der Beek was born on March 8, 1977 in Cheshire, Connecticut, the son of Melinda, a dancer and gymnastics teacher, and husband James William Van Der Beek, a cellular phone company executive and former minor league baseball pitcher. He is of Dutch, German, English, Scots-Irish, and French descent; his last name translates to "from the creek" in Dutch.Career
Theatre
Van Der Beek played the role of Reuben in his middle school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. At the age of 15, he asked his mother to take him into New York City to get an agent and try his hand in professional acting. He made his professional debut off-Broadway at age 16 in 1993 in the New York premiere of Edward Albee's play Finding the Sun with the Signature Theatre Company. He played the role of "Fergus". Both he and the production, which was also directed by Albee, received positive reviews. A decade later, in 2003, he appeared again off-Broadway, briefly, in the play Rain Dance.At 17, while still in high school at Cheshire Academy, he performed in the musical Shenandoah at the Goodspeed Opera House, made his feature film debut as a sadistic bully in Angus and shot a small role in the independent film I Love You, [I Love You Not].
He attended Drew University on an academic scholarship, where he participated in an all-male a cappella group, but he left the university when Dawson's Creek started production. He performed at the Vineyard Theater in New York in Nicky Silver's play, My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine, and he played a supporting role in the independent film Cash Crop, which was originally shot in spring of 1997 and originally titled Harvest until released in 2001.
Television and film
In early 1997, Van Der Beek auditioned for three television pilots. One of them was for The WB show Dawson's Creek. Van Der Beek won the title role of Dawson Leery, and the show's 1998 debut was a success that helped to establish the network and its cast. The series ran for six seasons and was syndicated worldwide. In 1999, he starred in the teen football drama Varsity Blues, which held the number 1 spot at the U.S. box office for its first two weeks. He won an MTV Movie Award for his role.Around this time he was selected one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World", and he appeared in several other films, including Texas Rangers, Scary Movie, and Jay & [Silent Bob Strike Back], playing himself playing Jay in the film within the film opposite Jason Biggs as Silent Bob. In 2002, he played Sean Bateman in the [The Rules of Attraction (film)|film adaptation of the novel The Rules of Attraction] by Bret Easton Ellis, written and directed by Roger Avary. The film was an initial box office failure but found a cult following on DVD.
In 2006, he appeared on the Direct-to-DVD thriller The Plague, which was produced by Clive Barker and was panned by critics. After Dawson's Creek ended in 2003, he returned to off-Broadway, in Lanford Wilson's Rain Dance. He completed an unproduced screenplay titled Winning. Since then, he made a few appearances on television, including a role on Ugly Betty. In 2007, he guest-starred in a two-part episode of the series Criminal Minds, playing a serial killer with dissociative identity disorder called Tobias Hankel who kidnaps and drugs one of the main characters, List of [Criminal Minds characters#Spencer Reid|Spencer Reid]. In 2008, he made a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother, in which he played Simon Tremblay, one of Robin Scherbatsky’s former boyfriends. He returned for two more episodes in 2013.
In 2008, he began a recurring role on One Tree Hill as a filmmaker who was largely the satirical opposite of Dawson Leery. He appeared in an episode of the fifth season of Medium. In 2009, he portrayed real life kidnapper Anthony Steven "Tony Zappa" Wright in the Lifetime network television film Taken In Broad Daylight. In 2009, he won Best Actor at the 8th Annual San Diego Film Festival for his portrayal of FBI agent Jake Kelly working in Taiwan in the political thriller Formosa Betrayed, which also won Best Picture. The film was distributed theatrically in the United States starting February 26, 2010.
On January 5, 2010, TVGuide.com confirmed that Van Der Beek had been cast in a major recurring role on the television series Mercy. He played Dr. Joe Briggs, the new womanizing ICU chief who harbors a dark secret. He starred alongside Rhona Mitra, Josh Lucas, and Jon Hamm in the Anders Anderson thriller film Stolen.
In 2011, he portrayed Kesha's nemesis in her music video for "Blow". He portrayed a fictionalized version of himself on the television series Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. The show debuted to critical praise, with Van Der Beek earning particularly good notices for his comic timing and sendup of his own image. The show was cancelled after two seasons; the series streamed on Netflix and reruns aired on Logo TV.
On March 4, 2015, he began his role as Senior Field Agent Elijah Mundo on CSI: Cyber. In 2017, Van Der Beek appeared in the British comedy series Carters Get Rich. He made a cameo in the film Downsizing, starring Matt Damon, and voices Boris Hauntley in the Disney Junior show Vampirina.
As a writer, Van Der Beek co-created, wrote, produced and starred in What Would [Diplo Do?], in which he portrays producer and DJ Diplo. It was Van Der Beek's first foray as a showrunner of a series. The show debuted on Viceland to positive reviews, both for the writing and Van Der Beek's performance, was called, "The Veep of DJ Culture" by the L.A. Times and scored 90% on Rotten Tomatoes
In 2019, Van Der Beek was cast in the drama series Pose as Matt Bromley on FX, a role he played for one season.
Van Der Beek joined the cast of the 28th season of Dancing with the Stars. He was paired with professional dancer Emma Slater. A surprisingly good dancer, Van Der Beek was consistently scored in the top spot and favored to win until he was eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing in fifth place. That night, he revealed that his wife, Kimberly, had suffered a miscarriage forty-eight hours prior. The judges scored him lowest, and then, in a decision that was controversial with fans, was eliminated.
In 2025, Van Der Beek competed on season thirteen of The Masked Singer as "Griffin" which featured wings that spread open at some points during his performances. There was a reference to Van Der Beek's illness in the clues. He was eliminated in the "Group B Finals: Grand Ole Opry Night". As an added bonus, Nick Cannon surprised Van Der Beek by bringing his wife Kimberly Brook and their children out.
Personal life
Van Der Beek was married to actress Heather McComb from 2003 until their separation in April 2009. Van Der Beek filed for divorce later that year; the divorce was finalized later in 2010.Van Der Beek married business consultant Kimberly Brook on August 1, 2010, in a small ceremony at the Kabbalah Center near Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, Israel. The couple have six children: four daughters and two sons. He has spoken about a miscarriage Brook suffered in November 2019, just a month after announcing she was pregnant. On November 22, 2021, following the birth of their sixth child, he disclosed that she had actually suffered two miscarriages at 17 weeks or later. In September 2020, he and Brook announced that they were leaving Los Angeles and moving to Texas.