James Van Der Beek starred as main character Dawson Leery for all six seasons of The WB's beloved teen drama "Dawson's Creek" from 1998 to 2003. Along the way, he shared the screen with the likes of Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams, and Katie Holmes. But now that it's been quite some time since Van Der Beek and the rest of the gang left Capeside behind, you may be wondering where the stars of "Dawson's Creek" are now -- and whatever happened to the show's lead actor, in particular.
Although it took
a little while before he joined the main cast of a TV show again, Van Der Beek actually kept pretty busy after "Dawson's Creek" wrapped. Between 2003 and 2013, he made appearances in a few episodes each of popular shows like "Criminal Minds," "One Tree Hill," and "How I Met Your Mother." It was also during the 2010s that Van Der Beek started to land those full-time small-screen roles again, including as a fictionalized version of himself in the Krysten Ritter-led ABC drama "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," and the short-lived "CSI" spin-off "CSI: Cyber." He's also appeared in a number of movies, such as Kevin Smith's 2001 comedy "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and its 2019 sequel, "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot." Outside of his on-screen career, however, Van Der Beek has also had to contend with personal tragedy in recent years.
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James Van Der Beek's Dawson's Creek Co-Stars Rallied Around Him After His Cancer Diagnosis
In November 2024, James Van Der Beek revealed some heartbreaking health news: that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer about a year prior. Speaking to Today in July 2025, he described having cancer as a "full-time job," adding, "I'm just on the journey. ... It's a process. It'll probably be a process for the rest of my life." That being said, Van Der Beek has continued working. In 2025 alone, he competed on "The Masked Singer," and appeared in two episodes of the Prime Video dramedy series "Overcompensating." "The greatest thing about work is cancer doesn't exist between action and cut," the actor told Today.
Van Der Beek's former "Dawson's Creek" co-stars rallied around him. In August 2025, it was announced that Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Mary Beth Peil, John Wesley Shipp, Mary-Margaret Humes, Nina Repeta, Kerr Smith, Meredith Monroe, and Busy Philipps would all be taking part in a cast reunion event the following month, with proceeds benefiting Van Der Beek himself, as well as the nonprofit F Cancer. "We grew up in Capeside, and that's a bond that will last a lifetime," Williams said (via USA Today), adding, "We wanted to gather around our dear friend James and remind him that we are all here. We always have been and we always will be."
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