Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek has died.
Photo by Michael Buckner/Deadline/Penske Media via Getty Images
- Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek has died aged 48.
- The actor had been battling colorectal cancer since 2024.
- Van Der Beek is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and their six children.
Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek has died.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace.”
“There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend,” read a statement shared on the actor Instagram page on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, Van Der Beek announced his colorectal cancer diagnosis after it was discovered during a routine colonoscopy the year before.
“I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialling in my overall health with greater focus than ever before,” he wrote on social media that year.
Van Der Beek continued to share his fight with cancer on social media until his death.
Van Der Beek shot to fame in 1998 as Dawson Leery, the teenage film buff.
The actor was voted one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People in the World.
On the 25th anniversary of the show starting, Van Der Beek wrote: “Twenty-five years ago today, my life changed. Not gradually, not day-by-day … instantly. It was the culmination of five years of auditioning, hundreds of hours on stage, thousands of hours travelling, preparing, dreaming, hoping, hearing ‘no’ and making up reasons to keep going. But the shift was overnight.”
