Photo: gdcgraphics / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

James Van Der Beek

ジェームズ・ヴァン・ダー・ビーク　/　じぇーむず・ゔぁん・だー・びーく

American actor

March 8, 1977 (age 49)　・　Cheshire, Connecticut, United States

Connecticut
actor
stage actor
television actor

My Take

James Van Der Beek earned my lasting affection not for Dawson's Creek itself, but for what he did with its shadow. Plenty of teen idols spend decades running from their defining role; he turned around and parodied himself with genuine wit in Apartment 23, which takes both humility and craft. His passing in February 2026 hit harder than I expected, because he was the face of a very specific late-nineties adolescence. I admire actors who can hold nostalgia in one hand and self-awareness in the other, and he managed that balancing act more gracefully than almost anyone of his generation.

Overview

James David Van Der Beek (; March 8, 1977 – February 11, 2026) was an American actor. Known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery on The WB's Dawson's Creek (1998–2003), he also played a fictionalized version of himself on the cult ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (2012–2013), starred as FBI agent Elijah Mundo on CSI: Cyber (2015–2016) and appeared as Matt Bromley during the first season of the FX drama P…

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): James Van Der Beek
Name (Japanese): ジェームズ・ヴァン・ダー・ビーク
Reading: じぇーむず・ゔぁん・だー・びーく
Born: March 8, 1977 (age 49)
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Pisces / Snake
Origin: Cheshire, Connecticut, United States
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Occupation: actor / stage actor / television actor / film actor / screenwriter

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: Drew University

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

6. Links

Official sitehttp://vanderbeek.com/
Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/vanderjames/
Xhttps://x.com/vanderjames
Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%82%BA%E3%83%BB%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%93%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF

Actor — see all →　·　Stage actor — see all →　·　More people from United States →