James Van Der Beek Biography

James David Van Der Beek, Jr. (born March 8, 1977) is an American television, film, and stage actor, mainly known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in The WB series Dawson's Creek and for portraying a fictionalized version of himself on the ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. He is also famous for his website, which includes Van Der Beek himself acting out famous internet memes.

Early life and stage career

Van Der Beek was born in Cheshire, Connecticut, the son of Melinda (née Weber), a former dancer and gymnastics studio manager, and James William Van Der Beek, Sr., a cellular phone company executive and former professional baseball pitcher. He has a brother, Jared (born 1979) and a sister, Juliana (born 1981). He attended Norton Elementary School, Dodd Junior High School, and the Cheshire Academy.

At the age of 15, he asked his mother to take him into Las Vegas, Nevada to get an agent and try his hand in professional acting. He made his professional debut in the New York premiere of Edward Albee's play Finding the Sun at the Signature Theatre Company in which he played the role of "Fergus". Both he and the production, which was also directed by Albee, received good reviews. Aged 17, while still in high school, he performed in the musical Shenandoah at the Goodspeed Opera House, and made his feature film debut with a bit part as a bully in the teen-oriented 1995 film Angus. The following year, he shot a small role on the independent film I Love You, I Love You Not.

He attended Drew University, where he participated in an all-male a cappella group, but dropped out to pursue acting. 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 career

In early 1997, Van Der Beek auditioned for three television pilots. One of them was for the fledgling WB Network 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, which included Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, and Joshua Jackson. The series, shot in Wilmington, North Carolina, ran for six seasons and was syndicated worldwide.

In 1999, he starred in the teen football drama/sports film Varsity Blues, which held the number 1 spot at the US 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 movie within the movie opposite Jason Biggs as Silent Bob.

In 2002, he played Sean Bateman (younger brother of American Psycho protagonist Patrick Bateman) in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction, written and directed by Roger Avary. The film was an initial box office failure, but found a cult following on DVD. In 2006 he also 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, Van Der Beek returned to the off-Broadway stage, in Lanford Wilson's Rain Dance. He completed an unproduced screenplay titled Winning. Since then, he has made a few appearances on television, including a role on Ugly Betty.

In 2007, Van Der Beek guest-starred in a two-part episode of the series Criminal Minds, in which he played a fanatic religious serial killer with dissociative identity disorder called Tobias Hankel who kidnaps and drugs one of the main characters Spencer Reid played by Matthew Gray Gubler. During these two episodes, Van Der Beek was credited as a Special Guest Star.

In 2008, he made a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother. He has played the role of Simon, one of Robin Scherbatsky's early boyfriends. This character has appeared multiple times and as recent as February 2013. Since 2008, he has also had a recurring role on One Tree Hill. 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 movie Taken In Broad Daylight.

In 2009, Van Der Beek 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 plays Dr. Joe Briggs, the new womanizing ICU chief who harbors a dark secret. He stars alongside Rhona Mitra, Josh Lucas, and Jon Hamm in the Anders Anderson thriller film Stolen.

In 2011, Van Der Beek portrayed Kesha's nemesis in her music video for "Blow".

Recently, Van Der Beek portrayed a fictionalized version of himself in the show "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23".

Personal life

In July 2003, Van Der Beek married actress Heather McComb. Van Der Beek's representative confirmed in June 2009 that the couple had separated in April 2009, and on November 20, 2009, Van Der Beek filed for divorce. Their divorce was finalized on March 31, 2010.

On April 9, 2010, Van Der Beek announced via Twitter that he and his girlfriend, business consultant Kimberly Brook, were expecting their first child together, a girl. Van Der Beek and Brook married on August 1, 2010, in a small ceremony at the Kabbalah Center near Dizengoff Plaza in Tel Aviv, Israel. She took his last name, and the couple's daughter, Olivia Van Der Beek, was born on September 25, 2010. On October 26, 2011, Van Der Beek announced their second child was on the way. The Van Der Beeks welcomed a son, Joshua, on March 13, 2012. On August 30, 2013, it was announced the couple's third child is on the way.

In the May 2012 issue of Maxim, Van Der Beek was interviewed in the column "24 Hours To Live." Asked if he would be going to heaven or hell, Van Der Beek said that he had "always believed that each religion is a little bit right and a little bit wrong. As long as none of them are 100 percent right, I like my chances."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Angus	Rick Sandford
1996	I Love You, I Love You Not	Tony
1998	Harvest	James Peterson
1999	Varsity Blues	Jonathon "Mox" Moxon
2000	Scary Movie	Dawson Leery	Uncredited
2001	Texas Rangers	Lincoln Rogers Dunnison
2001	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Himself
2002	'	Sean Bateman
2003	Castle in the Sky	Pazu (voice)	English dub
2005	Standing Still	Simon
2006	'	Tom Russell	Direct-to-video
2007	Eye of the Beast	Dan Leland	Television film
2007	Final Draft	Paul Twist
2009	Taken in Broad Daylight	Anthony Steven "Tony Zappa" Wright	Television film
2009	Formosa Betrayed	Jake Kelly
2009	Stolen	Diploma/Roggiani
2009	Mrs. Miracle	Seth Webster	Television film
2010	'	Adam Nova
2011	Salem Falls	Jack St. Bride	Television film
2012	Backwards	Geoff
2013	Labor Day		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Clarissa Explains It All	Paulie	Episode: "Alter Ego"
1995	As the World Turns	Stephen Anderson	3 episodes
1996	Aliens in the Family	Ethan	Episode: "You Don't Have a Pet to Be Popular"
1998"2003	Dawson's Creek	Dawson Leery	Main cast
2005	Three	John-O	Unsold CBS pilot
2006	Sex, Power, Love & Politics	Ozzie	Unsold CBS pilot
2006	Robot Chicken	Various voices	2 episodes
2007	Football Wives	Brian Reynolds	Unsold ABC pilot
2007	Criminal Minds	Tobias Hankel/Raphael	2 episodes
2007	Ugly Betty	Luke Carnes	Episode: "Grin and Bear It"
2008, 2013	How I Met Your Mother	Simon	2 episodes
2008"2009	One Tree Hill	Reese Dixon	4 episodes
2009	Eva Adams	Connor Strikes	Unsold Fox pilot
2009	Medium	Dylan Hoyt	Episode: "All in the Family"
2009	'	Dr. Jonathan Kirk	Miniseries
2009	'	Judd Shaw	Episode: "Lucky John"
2010	Mercy	Dr. Joe Briggs	10 episodes
2011	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Rex Tamlyn	Episode: "To the Boy in the Blue Knit Cap"
2011	Franklin & Bash	Nathan	Episode: "Bachelor Party"
2012"2013	Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23	James Van Der Beek	Main cast
2012	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Sean Albert	Episode: "Father Dearest"
2013	Friends with Better Lives	Will Stokes	Pre-production

Awards and nominations

MTV Movie Awards

|- ||1999 || Varsity Blues |Best Breakthrough Male Performance | |- |2001 |Scary Movie |Best Cameo in a Movie | |}

Teen Choice Awards

|- |rowspan="2"|1999 || Dawson's Creek |TV " Choice Actor | |- || Varsity Blues |Film " Breakout Performance | |- |2012 |Don't Trust the B in Apt 23 |Choice TV Male Scene Stealer | |}

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

|- |2000 | Varsity Blues |Favorite Actor " Newcomer (Internet Only) | |}

San Diego Film Festival

|- |2009 | Formosa Betrayed |Best Actor | |}

NewNowNext Awards

|- |2011 | JamesVanDerMemes.com |OMG Internet Award | |}

In popular culture

James Van Der Beek is commonly referenced in an assortment of television shows and movies. In the movie The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard the character Jibby Newsome turns on Dawson's Creek and exclaims "James Van Der Beek! My nigga!" On the television show Tosh.0, in which Van Der Beek actually appears, the comedian Daniel Tosh makes somewhat frequent references to the Beek. In Kesha's music video for "Blow", she has a laser war with Van Der Beek and refers to him as "Van Der Douche". On the new television series I Just Want My Pants Back, the protagonist of the show Jason Strider says, "I was like a young James van der Beek!" after apparently playing it smooth with a girl he slept with the previous night. His best friend replies, "James van der Beek? That's your gold standard?" He is also satirically depicted in a trailer for David Firth's cartoon series Burnt Face Man. His name appears in the song "Bustin' Up a Starbucks" by Mike Doughty. An image of Van Der Beek weeping in a scene of Dawson's Creek went viral across social media in 2011 as a reaction face and/or with various captions. Also on Will and Grace Jack has a crush on him and he is the gold standard of handsome men for him.