\u201cThose days will come.\u201d<\/p>\n
The actor revealed he had stage 3 colorectal cancer in November 2024, though he had received the diagnosis in late 2023, according to the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialling in my overall health with greater focus than ever before,\u201d Van der Beek said in a social media post last November.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease know that my family and I deeply appreciate all the love and support.\u201d<\/p>\n
The actor became one of entertainment\u2019s most recognisable faces in the late 1990s through the early 2000s for his memorable appearances in television and film.<\/p>\n
He portrayed Dawson Leery on the hit teen drama show Dawson\u2019s Creek, which ran from 1998 to 2003.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe little pilot we shot in that small town for that fledgling network aired, changed our lives and launched our careers,\u201d he wrote in a social media post commemorating the series\u2019 20th anniversary in 2018.<\/p>\n
He also had a star turn as Jonathon \u201cMox\u201d Moxon in the 1999 coming-of-age film Varsity Blues.<\/p>\n
He featured in the main cast of CSI: Cyber from 2015 to 2016 playing Elijah Mundo, and voiced the character of Boris Hauntley in the animated series Vampirina from 2017 to 2021.<\/p>\n
The BBC reported the actor continued to take acting jobs through his illness, featuring in two episodes of the Prime Video college comedy series Overcompensating and participating in the talent show The Masked Singer last year.<\/p>\n
Actor James Van Der Beek and his family in Hollywood in 2019. Photo \/ Michelle Groskopf, The New York Times<\/p>\n
Marking what would be his final interview in December, the actor told Today he was feeling \u201cmuch, much better than I did a couple of months ago\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a longer journey than I ever thought it would be. It\u2019s required more of me \u2013 more patience, more discipline, more strength than I knew I had. I knew I was strong. I didn\u2019t know I was this strong. But I feel good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said his cancer diagnosis came as a complete surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so healthy, was in amazing cardiovascular shape. I was doing the cold plunges and the saunas and the intermittent fasting and all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI went into shock. I really don\u2019t think I knew what to do. Neither did my wife. And we drove home in silence. And part of me wanted to panic. Part of me wanted to just freak out. But then another part of my brain was like, \u2018You don\u2019t know enough yet\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is survived by his wife Kimberly Van Der Beek and their six children, Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn and Jeremiah Van Der Beek.<\/p>\n
Katie Holmes and James Van Der Beek during their Dawson’s Creek days.<\/p>\n
In a comment shared on the post announcing his death, Sarah Michelle Gellar wrote: \u201cI\u2019m so sad for your beautiful family. While James\u2019 legacy will always live on, this is a huge loss to not just your family but the world. F**k Cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dawson\u2019s Creek co-star Chad Michael Murray paid tribute to the late actor, sending \u201clove and light to your beautiful family\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJames was a giant. We\u2019re so so so sorry for what you\u2019re going through. His words, art and humanity inspired all of us \u2013 he inspired us to be better in all ways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The cast of Dawson’s Creek. Photo \/ Columbia, TriStar International Television<\/p>\n
Van Der Beek made a surprise appearance at a New York City charity event last September which saw Dawson\u2019s Creek alumni Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Busy Philipps reunite, the Chicago Sun Times reported.<\/p>\n
The event was dedicated to Van Der Beek who joined the event virtually, unable to attend in person due to stomach viruses, according to the BBC.<\/p>\n
In a pre-recorded message shown at the event the actor said: \u201cI want to stand on that stage and thank every single person in the theatre for being here tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the cast to the crew to everybody who\u2019s doing anything and has been so generous, and especially every single last one of you \u2013 you are the best fans in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
James Van Der Beek starred as Diplo in Viceland’s What Would Diplo Do?<\/p>\n
Shortly after breaking the news of her husband\u2019s death Kimberly Van Der Beek shared a link on her Instagram to a GoFundMe fundraising page aimed at supporting Van Der Beek\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
The page said she and their six children were facing an \u201cuncertain future\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout his illness, the family faced not only emotional challenges but also significant financial strain as they did everything possible to support James and provide for his care.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe costs of James\u2019s medical care and the extended fight against cancer have left the family out of funds. They are working hard to stay in their home and to ensure the children can continue their education and maintain some stability during this incredibly difficult time.”<\/p>\n
In the hour after his death was announced the page has received more than US$68,000 ($112,000).<\/p>\n
James Van Der Beek and his wife Kimberly Van Der Beek.<\/p>\n
Dancing with the Stars champion Emma Slater, who was paired with Van Der Beek in 2019 when he competed in season 28 of the show, shared an emotional tribute to her dance partner on Instagram.<\/p>\n
Slater posted: \u201cI\u2019m so devastated. He is and will always be family to me love you so much, James. The man that you are, you can be proud of. So grateful that I got to be there to say goodbye to you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThose days will come.\u201d The actor revealed he had stage 3 colorectal cancer in November 2024, though he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[68460,117582,3376,18919,1975,34690,3390,34692,34691,690,34689,6179,5136,156,14054,33450,111,139,69,205,21413,2737,11427],"class_list":["post-279397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-1990s","tag-117582","tag-actor","tag-aged","tag-at","tag-beek","tag-best","tag-creek","tag-dawsons","tag-dead","tag-der","tag-died","tag-drama","tag-entertainment","tag-james","tag-known","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-role","tag-serial","tag-star","tag-van"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}