James Van Der Beek, the actor greatest identified for taking part in eloquent heartthrob Dawson Leery on the teenager drama “Dawson’s Creek,” has died on the age of 48. Van Der Beek was identified with stage 3 colorectal most cancers in November 2024, and his spouse Kimberly Van Der Beek introduced his dying through an Instagram put up on February 11, 2026.�
Van Der Beek was a large teen star within the Nineties and early 2000s, with starring roles in movies just like the soccer basic “Varsity Blues” and the acerbic black comedy “The Guidelines of Attraction.” Whereas many teen stars generally tend to fade out after their followers age up, Van Der Beek continued to work and develop, starring within the cancelled-too-soon comedy “Do not Belief the B— in House 23” with Kristen Ritter and even having a superb cameo within the music video for Kesha’s “Blow.”�
Van Der Beek is survived by his spouse Kimberly and their six youngsters.
James Van Der Beek’s humility and humor had been his best strengths
Whereas lots of the early initiatives James Van Der Beek was part of took themselves very significantly, it appeared just like the actor was just about the other. On “Do not Belief the B—- in House 23,” he performed a fictionalized model of himself that wasn’t precisely flattering, poking enjoyable at himself and his movie star in a very fearless method. In a single episode of the sequence, he goes on “Dancing with the Stars” and has a complete meltdown, after which he really participated in season 28 of the favored actuality sequence a number of years later. Fortunately, he was a significantly better dancer than his fictional counterpart, making all of it the best way to the semi-finals earlier than being eradicated.�
Even within the music video for “Blow,” Van Der Beek cheekily pokes enjoyable at himself as Kesha’s arch-nemesis, countering her calling him “James Van Der D*****” with “I do not respect you slander-Beeking my title, Ke greenback signal ha” earlier than the 2 have a laser gun battle that ends with numerous useless unicorns. It is irreverent and foolish and helped make the actor particularly lovable lengthy after his teen heartthrob years had handed.�
After he was identified with most cancers, he advised Individuals the outpouring of help he obtained was extraordinarily touching. “I am by no means the one that requested for any assist — ever,” he mentioned. “It isn’t in my DNA. And I believed that was a fantastic technique to be till most cancers. The best way pals confirmed up was such an exquisite expertise — and I’d by no means have in any other case seen how a lot folks care about me.”
Van Der Beek might be glorious in severe roles, like enjoying “American Psycho” killer Patrick Bateman’s terrible youthful brother in “The Guidelines of Attraction,” however his best power was his humility and self-effacing humor. He shall be deeply missed. �
