James Van Der Beek
Biography
James Van Der Beek was an American actor who began performing professionally as a teenager, making his Off-Broadway debut at 16 in Edward Albee's Finding the Sun in 1993 and earning positive reviews. Born in Cheshire, Connecticut, he made his feature film debut in Angus (1995). His breakout came as Dawson Leery on Dawson's Creek (1998 to 2003), which became a success and ran for six seasons. He then starred in Varsity Blues (1999), winning an MTV Movie Award for breakthrough performance, and appeared in Texas Rangers (2001), The Rules of Attraction (2002), Formosa Betrayed (2009), Labor Day (2013) and Bad Hair (2020). For Formosa Betrayed he won Best Actor at the San Diego Film Festival. Later roles included Matt Bromley on Pose (2018), and he co-created and starred in What Would Diplo Do? He died in 2026.
48years old at death
- Born Cheshire
- Died Austin
- Star sign: PiscesThe sign runs February 19 to March 20
- James William Van Der Beek Jr. (birth name)
Movie Career
- Films
- 19
- Career span
- 40 years1986 to 2026
First and latest
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Big break
In early 1997, Van Der Beek tried out for three television pilots, among them a WB series called Dawson's Creek. He landed the title part of Dawson Leery, and the 1998 premiere was a breakout hit that helped build the network.
James Van Der Beek movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Justin Wu directed two of these films. Eight actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Mark Hamill's page
Jon Abrahams's page
Usher Raymond's page
Drew Ray Tanner's page
Siena Agudong's page
Jason Fernandes's page
Justin WuDirector, 2 films, 2024 to 2025
All films by Justin Wu
Also two films together2 more actors
- Asia LizardoSidelined 2: Intercepted (2025) and Sidelined: The QB and Me (2024)
- Noah BeckSidelined 2: Intercepted (2025) and Sidelined: The QB and Me (2024)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Box office
What James Van Der Beek's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$97.9 million
8 of the 19 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 19 films: 8 worldwide figure; 3 us gross only; 2 never in cinemas; 4 figure not found; 2 too new to count.
- 8Worldwide figure
- 3US gross only
- 2Never in cinemas
- 4Figure not found
- 2Too new to count
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$55M56.2% of the total
- 2$20M20.7% of the total
- 3$12M12.1% of the total
- 4$5.2M5.3% of the total
- 5$4.8M4.9% of the total
- 6$764K0.8% of the total
- 7$13K0.0% of the total
- 8$7K0.0% of the total
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.