James Van Der Beek

James Van Der Beek
Birth name	James William Van Der Beek, Jr.
Born	March 8 1977 (age 31) Cheshire, Connecticut, United States

James Van Der Beek (born March 8, 1977 in Cheshire, Connecticut) is an American television and film actor, best known for his role as Dawson Leery in "Dawson's Creek".

Biography

Early life

James William Van Der Beek, Jr. was born in Cheshire, Connecticut.He has a brother, Jared (born 1979) and a sister, Juliana (born 1981). He has a Dutch ancestry. Van Der Beek attended Cheshire Academy (a private school), where he played football, although he suffered a concussion which prevented him from continuing his interest in the game. He was identified as being dyslexic during his childhood,^{[citation needed]} but became an honors student in his school, through hard work and dedication.

He began acting at age 13, playing Danny Zuko in his school's performance of Grease. Van Der Beek began auditioning in New York City at age 16 and appeared in the off-Broadway play Finding the Sun, as well as in the play Shenandoah in 1994. Later, he was given a scholarship to attend Drew University, where he was an English major and participated in an all-male a cappella group, 36 Madison Avenue.

Career

Van Der Beek started his film career with a supporting role in the teen-oriented movie Angus in 1995. However, he did not gain wide renown until 1998, when he was cast in the lead role of Dawson Leery on the television series Dawson's Creek. He stopped attending college in order to film the series, but plans to return in order to complete his degree.^{[citation needed]}

The series was a big success among its intended teenage audience, and Van Der Beek became a well known teen idol. His on and off air chemistry with Katie Holmes was one of the main reasons for the success of the show. During the first season of the show, James and Katie were dating.

In 1999, Van Der Beek took a break from Dawson's Creek and starred in the lead role in the film Varsity Blues, as a player on a Texas high school football team. The film was successful, grossing $52 million and Van Der Beek won an MTV award for his lead performance, though the overstated Texas accent he occupied in the film earned him much ridicule in popular culture. He subsequently appeared in "Texas Rangers" and The Rules of Attraction, and also appeared in Standing Still.

In 1998, Van Der Beek was chosen as one of People Magazine's "50 most beautiful people in the world".

Presently, Van Der Beek is working on 2 projects, Eye of the Beast and Zoe (2006) with Eliza Dushku.

In early 2007, he appeared as Tobias Henkel/Raphael, the Unsub, on two episodes of Criminal Minds.

Personal life

Van Der Beek married actress Heather McComb in July 2003; he lives primarily in New York City. There have been hints about his recording an album, spurred by his singing the original "Born To Lose" on an episode of Dawson's creek.

He enjoys playing the guitar and participating in sports; his favorite football team is the Green Bay Packers.

Van Der Beek is friends with Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams - his co-stars from Dawson's Creek.^{[citation needed]}

Selected filmography

Awards

• 1999 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Male Performance (for Varsity Blues)
• 2001 MTV Movie Award for Best Cameo in a Movie (for Scary Movie)

He was also nominated for the 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Newcomer (for Varsity Blues)

Interviews

• Collection of interviews at :James Van Der Beek Online

Template:Wikiquote

Wikipedia information about James Van Der Beek This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "James Van Der Beek". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.