James Van Der Beek, the star of 1990s teen drama Dawson’s Creek and the Taiwan White Terror-era political thriller Formosa Betrayed, died on Wednesday at the age of 48 after a battle with cancer, his wife announced on social media.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” his wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, wrote on Instagram.
Fans and fellow actors shared tributes on social media, recalling the influence he had on their lives and careers.
Photo: Ginsberg and Libby via AP
“While James’ legacy will always live on, this is a huge loss to not just your family, but the world,” Sarah Michelle Gellar wrote on social media.
James Van Der Beek is survived by his wife and six children.
In 2024, he announced a colorectal cancer diagnosis after it was discovered during a routine colonoscopy the year before.
Photo: AFP
“I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before,” he wrote on social media that year.
A Connecticut native, Van Der Beek got his breakout role in the 1990s as Dawson Leery in Dawson’s Creek, alongside Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes.
Outside of Dawson’s Creek, Van Der Beek had credits in more than 60 movies and television shows. Notable film roles include quarterback Mox in Varsity Blues in 1999 and drug dealer Sean Bateman in The Rules of Attraction in 2002.
In 2009, he starred in Formosa Betrayed as an FBI agent sent to Taiwan in the 1980s to investigate the murder of an outspoken critic of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) living in exile in the US. The plot is partially based on the real life deaths of Carnegie Mellon University professor Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) and Henry Liu (劉宜良).
Although based in Taiwan, the movie was mostly filmed in Thailand.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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