Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek dead at 48
CBC
James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for his role on 1990's TV show Dawson's Creek, has died. He was 48.
In an email to CBC News, the actor's publicist confirmed his death.
Van Der Beek announced in November 2024 he was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Since then, he had been chronicling his life with cancer and frequently speaking of his family life on Instagram.
A statement posted on the actor's official Instagram page Wednesday said he died earlier in the day.
"He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come," a statement from the actor's family that was posted on Instagram said.
"For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend."
A one-time theatre kid, Van Der Beek would go on to star in the movie Varsity Blues and on TV in CSI: Cyber as FBI special agent Elijah Mundo, but was forever connected to Dawson's Creek, which ran from 1998 to 2003 on the WB.
The series followed a high school group of friends as they learned about falling in love, creating real friendships and finding their footing in life.
Van Der Beek, then 20, played 15-year-old Dawson Leery, who aspired to be a director of Steven Spielberg quality. Dawson's Creek, which used Paula Cole's I Don't Want To Wait as its moody theme song, helped define the WB as a haven for teens and young adults who related to its hyper-articulate dialogue and frank talk about sexuality.
The show made household names of Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson, Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams.
The show caused a stir when one of the teens embarked on a racy affair with a teacher 20 years his senior and when Holmes's character climbed through Dawson's bedroom window and they curled up together.
Van Der Beek sometimes struggled to get out from under the shadow of the show, but eventually leaned into lampooning himself, like on Funny Or Die videos and on singer Kesha's Blow music video, which included a laser gun battle with the pop star in a nightclub and dead unicorns.
"It's tough to compete with something that was the cultural phenomenon that Dawson's Creek was," he told Vulture in 2013. "It ran for so long. That's a lot of hours playing one character in front of people. So it's natural that they associate you with that."
More than a decade after the show went off the air, a scene at the end of the show's third season became a GIF. It was of Dawson, watching as his soulmate embarked on a love affair with his best friend, and bursting into tears.
After his own fairytale-esque rise to fame, Hudson Williams has started writing his own stories.
The Grammys handed out their 68th round of awards last night at a ceremony dominated by famous faces, a stunning run by Bad Bunny — and, most notably, a raft of political proclamations from many of the night's winners, colouring an emotionally-charged night that stood in stark contrast to last month's tepid Golden Globes.
Catherine O'Hara, the gifted Canadian comic actor who gave life to a flurry of iconic movie and television characters in everything from SCTV sketches, to big-screen hits like Beetlejuice and Home Alone and the wildly successful sitcom Schitt's Creek, has died.