James van der Beek is a popular American actor and a TV personality who got famous through his character named Dawson in a very popular series for teenagers called „Dawson’s Creek”.
After portraying this character he had starred in a lot of TV series and a few movies but never gained the fame he earned in that series.
He also had several supporting roles in various series and this brought him a lot of female fans because most of his roles were professional in some way: he was either a criminal or a doctor. Either way, he was a heartthrob.
He is often nicknamed Baby James and Beek.
Early years
He was born as James David van der Beek on March 8, 1977, in the town of Cheshire, in the state of Connecticut in the United States. The town itself isn’t really famous, but it has a special place in his heart and he likes to talk about it in his interviews.
He has two siblings: his younger brother Jared and a younger sister named Juliana. James often jokes about how their parents named them all similarly, but he says that it was probably a coincidence. The siblings spent a lot of time together, but nowadays they don’t really have the time.
His mother’s name is Melinda and she was a great dancer and was a teacher of gymnastics in school. His father was also a very athletic type because he is a former professional baseball player. After finishing his baseball career he started working in a company which works with cellular phones.
James was never really interested in sports too much and he knew that his career wasn’t going to be related to something athletic. Thankfully, his parents didn’t force him to move on in their direction and he had the chance to pursue the things he loved.
James has a Dutch surname since his ancestors came to the United States from the Netherlands. His surname is translated as „from the brook“. Other than dutch he also has german and English roots. He says that he is very sad for the fact he doesn’t really know much Dutch.
He was 15 years old when his mum decided to make him the New York, to one of many acting agencies where his mother tried to find him an agent who will help him get into the movie business. He knew that his chances there would be better and he wanted to start pretty young as well.
He soon gained his first role when he was 16, and it was in an off-Broadway play named „Finding the Sun“. He has received positive reviews for his role in this play so he continued working in various plays there. Unfortunately, most of the plays weren’t his ticket to bigger success.
Career development
He has appeared in a TV show for the first time in the role of Paulie in a TV sitcom made for teenagers, called Clarissa Explains It All. This helped him gain his first fans, who were mostly female.
At the age of 17, he played in a high school musical for his Cheshire Academy High School. He also gained his first movie role in a comedy movie titled „Angus”. This was in 1995.
He was also hired for a small role in an independent movie called „I Love You, I Love You Not” which happened one year later. This movie was pretty popular during that year but didn’t become much of a classic.
After graduating from high school he had continued his education by enrolling Drew University where he had a scholarship and was a member of a musical group. He never finished college since he was too eager to continue his acting career.
He had several roles in Vineyard Theather plays and several independent movies such as „Cash Crop”. He said that he liked to work in theaters because it was a true learning experience: he doesn’t prefer the set over the theatre and loves them both.
In 1997 his big breakthrough happened after he auditioned for a TV series named „Dawson’s Creek“. He gained the role of the main character named Dawson Leary and it became very successful. He says that he never expected such huge reactions to the show and that he was very thankful for it.
This series was made by WB Network which was then a relatively unknown network and it gained them great reviews and established their position in the market.
This series was aired for six seasons and it was highly popular all over the world. It gained him recognition and helped him get other roles.
In 1999 he was hired for a role in a drama called „Varsity Blues”, a comedy-drama directed by Brian Robbins and the movie was a hit for some time.
This role gained him his first bigger award: the MTV Movie Award. He got in touch with his fans at that moment and had the opportunity to thank them all for the wonderful support he has been getting from the day when he made Dawson’s Creek.
During his career, he had made several endorsement deals from which the most popular was the one for HTC mobile phones. This brought him quite a lot of cash at the time and he said that he was very happy to work with many other companies.
It was the same year when he found himself on the list of „50 Most Beautiful People in the World“ made by the „People“ magazine.
After this movie, he had roles in a lot of popular films such as „Jay & Silent Bob Strike back” and „Scary Movie”.
In 2002, he starred in a not very successful adaptation of a movie called „The Rules of Attraction”, based on the same-named book written by Bret Easton Ellis.
In 2003, he gave his voice to a character of a Japanese animated movie called Laputa: Castle in the Sky. He said that giving his voice to this character was very fun and that he enjoyed it a lot. Because of this, he thought of doing more of these.
In 2006 he found himself starring in one more failure, the Clive Barker’s movie called „The Plague“.
In 2003, the series Dawson’s Creek came to an end and he came back to starring in off-. Broadway shows such as „Rain dance”.
He had several appearances on television, once in a popular series named „Ugly Betty”.
In 2007, he appeared in „Criminal Minds” twice and played a very difficult part of a serial killer on both occasions.
He also starred in a comedy series called „How I Met Your mother” and did it on several occasions.
A year later he found himself at home in a role in „One Tree Hill“ and in „medium“.
In 2009 he showed his great acting skills by acting as a kidnapper Tony Zappa in a TV movie based on a true story.
In 2009 he played the role of an FBI agent in a series called „Formosa Betrayed” and he received the award for the best actor at San Diego Movie Festival.
In 2010 he was hired to star in a TV series named „mercy“, which is a medical drama where he played the role of a doctor.
In 2011, he appeared in the music video for the first time, hired by Ke$ha for her single „Blow“.
„Don’t Trust the B**** in apartment 23“ was one of his successes as a sitcom in which he had an important role. It was released on Netflix and also on Logo TV.
He was invited to a talk show titled „The Talk“ in 2014.
In 2015 he started acting in a popular TV series called „CSI: Cyber” which was very lucrative for him.
He has created and produced a comedy series „What Would Diplo Do?”, together with the main star of the series: DJ Diplo.
In 2017 he co-starred in „Downsizing”, the Sci.fi comedy-drama where he was honored to work side by side with Matt Damon.
He gave his voice to a character in „Vampirina”, a show aired on Disney Junior.
Personal life
As for his personal life, he was earlier married to an actress named Heather McComb for six years, until their separation in 2009.
In 2010 he was already planning to marry his next wife, Kimberley, who was a business consultant and with whom he fell in love. He says that he knew that he met the love of his life when he connected with his wife and that he is very thankful for her as well.
They got married in a private ceremony in Israel and they already have five children.
They have four daughters and a son. Olivia is their first daughter and she was born in September 2010, then came Annabel in January 2014, Emilia in March 2016 and Gwendolyn on June 2018.
His only son Joshua was born in March 2012.
James trains constantly and can be often found playing football and basketball with his friends. James is also a fan of martial arts.
James has his personal fitness trainer and her name is Nonna Gleyzer.
Not many people know that James had dyslexia while he was a little kid which brought him into a special class.
When he was a kid his dream was to become a football player but he suffered a very severe concussion while playing it and his parents decided against it.
He also likes music very much and knows how to play the guitar.
Quick summary
Full name: James David Van Der Beek
Date of birth: March 8, 1977
Birthplace: Cheshire, Connecticut, United States
Age: 42
Profession: actor, writer, producer
Height: 183 cm
Weight: 74 kg
Net Worth: $10 million