Early life and stage career

Van Der Beek was born in Cheshire, Connecticut, the son of Melinda (née Weber), a former dancer and gymnastics teacher, and James William Van Der Beek, a cellular phone company executive and former professional baseball pitcher.

At the age of 15, he asked his mother to take him into New York City to get an agent and try his hand in professional acting. He made his professional debut off-Broadway at age 16 in 1993 in the New York premiere of Edward Albee's play Finding the Sun with the Signature Theatre Company. He played the role of "Fergus". Both he and the production, which was also directed by Albee, received positive reviews. A decade later, in 2003, he appeared again off-Broadway, briefly, in the play Rain Dance.

Aged 17, while still in high school, he performed in the musical Shenandoah at the Goodspeed Opera House, and made his feature film debut in a bit role as a bully in Angus (1995) and shot a small role in the independent film I Love You, I Love You Not (1996).

He attended Drew University, on an academic scholarship, where he participated in an all-male a cappella group, but dropped out to pursue acting. He performed at the Vineyard Theater in New York in Nicky Silver's play, My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine, and he played a supporting role in the independent film Cash Crop, which was originally shot in spring of 1997 and originally titled Harvest until released in 2001.

Television and film career

In early 1997, Van Der Beek auditioned for three television pilots. One of them was for the fledgling WB Network show Dawson's Creek. Van Der Beek won the title role of Dawson Leery, and the show's 1998 debut was a success that helped to establish the network and its cast. The series ran for six seasons and was syndicated worldwide. In 1999, he starred in the teen football drama Varsity Blues, which held the number 1 spot at the U.S. box office for its first two weeks. He won an MTV Movie Award for his role. Around this time he was selected one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World", and he appeared in several other films, including Texas Rangers, Scary Movie, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, playing himself playing Jay in the movie within the movie opposite Jason Biggs as Silent Bob.

In 2002, he played Sean Bateman (younger brother of American Psycho protagonist Patrick Bateman) in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction, written and directed by Roger Avary. The film was an initial box office failure, but found a cult following on DVD.

In 2006 he appeared on the Direct-to-DVD thriller The Plague, which was produced by Clive Barker and was panned by critics. After Dawson's Creek ended in 2003, he returned to off-Broadway, in Lanford Wilson's Rain Dance. He completed an unproduced screenplay titled Winning. Since then, he made a few appearances on television, including a role on Ugly Betty. In 2007, he guest-starred in a two-part episode of the series Criminal Minds, playing a serial killer with dissociative identity disorder called Tobias Hankel who kidnaps and drugs one of the main characters Spencer Reid. In 2008, he made a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother, in which he played Simon, one of Robin Scherbatsky's early boyfriends, multiple times.

In 2008, he began a recurring role on One Tree Hill as a film maker who was largely the satirical opposite of Dawson Leery. He appeared in an episode of the fifth season of Medium. In 2009, he portrayed real life kidnapper Anthony Steven "Tony Zappa" Wright in the Lifetime network television movie Taken In Broad Daylight.

In 2009, he won Best Actor at the 8th Annual San Diego Film Festival for his portrayal of FBI agent Jake Kelly working in Taiwan in the political thriller Formosa Betrayed, which also won Best Picture. The film was distributed theatrically in the United States starting February 26, 2010.

On January 5, 2010, TVGuide.com confirmed that Van Der Beek had been cast in a major recurring role on the television series Mercy. He played Dr. Joe Briggs, the new womanizing ICU chief who harbors a dark secret. He starred alongside Rhona Mitra, Josh Lucas, and Jon Hamm in the Anders Anderson thriller film Stolen.

In 2011, he portrayed Kesha's nemesis in her music video for "Blow".

He portrayed a fictionalized version of himself on the television series, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. The show debuted to critical praise, with Van Der Beek earning particularly good notices for his comic timing and brave sendup of his own image. The show was cancelled after two seasons but remains popular on Netflix and on Logo TV which picked it up in syndication. He played the character Simon in Season 9's "Bedtime Stories" episode of How I Met Your Mother which aired in November 2013. On January 31, 2014, he appeared on The Talk. March 4, 2015, he began his role as Senior Field Agent Elijah Mundo in the newest installment on CSI: Cyber.

Personal life

On July 5, 2003, Van Der Beek married actress Heather McComb. They separated in April 2009, and on November 20, 2009, Van Der Beek filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized on March 31, 2010 and enforced on June 3, 2010.

Van Der Beek and business consultant Kimberly Brook married on August 1, 2010, in a small ceremony at the Kabbalah Center near Dizengoff Plaza in Tel Aviv, Israel. The couple have four children together.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Angus	Rick Sandford
1996	I Love You, I Love You Not	Tony
1998	Harvest	James Peterson
1999	Varsity Blues	Jonathon "Mox" Moxon
2000	Scary Movie	Dawson Leery	Uncredited
2001	Texas Rangers	Lincoln Rogers Dunnison
2001	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Himself
2002	Rules of Attraction, TheThe Rules of Attraction	Sean Bateman
2003	Castle in the Sky	Pazu	Voice (English dub)
2005	Standing Still	Simon
2006	Plague, TheThe Plague	Tom Russell	Direct-to-video
2007	Eye of the Beast	Dan Leland	Television film
2007	Final Draft	Paul Twist
2009	Taken in Broad Daylight	Anthony Steven "Tony Zappa" Wright	Television film
2009	Formosa Betrayed	Jake Kelly
2009	Stolen	Diploma/Roggiani
2009	Mrs. Miracle	Seth Webster	Television film
2010	Big Bang, TheThe Big Bang	Adam Nova
2011	Salem Falls	Jack St. Bride	Television film
2012	Backwards	Geoff
2013	Magic Bracelet, TheThe Magic Bracelet	Joe	Short film
2013	Labor Day	Officer Treadwell
2015	Power/Rangers	Rocky DeSantos/Red Ranger	Short film, screenwriter

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Clarissa Explains It All	Paulie	Episode: "Alter Ego"
1995	As the World Turns	Stephen Anderson	3 episodes
1996	Aliens in the Family	Ethan	Episode: "You Don't Have a Pet to Be Popular"
1998-2003	Dawson's Creek	Dawson Leery	Main cast; 122 episodes
2006	Robot Chicken	Various voices	2 episodes
2007	Criminal Minds	Tobias Hankel/Raphael	2 episodes
2007	Ugly Betty	Luke Carnes	Episode: "Grin and Bear It"
2008, 2013	How I Met Your Mother	Simon	3 episodes
2008-2009	One Tree Hill	Adam Reese	4 episodes
2009	Medium	Dylan Hoyt	Episode: "All in the Family"
2009	Storm, TheThe Storm	Dr. Jonathan Kirk	Miniseries; 2 episodes
2009	Forgotten, TheThe Forgotten	Judd Shaw	Episode: "Lucky John"
2010	Mercy	Dr. Joe Briggs	10 episodes
2011	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Rex Tamlyn	Episode: "To the Boy in the Blue Knit Cap"
2011	Franklin & Bash	Nathan	Episode: "Bachelor Party"
2012-2013	Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23	James Van Der Beek	Main cast; 26 episodes
2012	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Sean Albert	Episode: "Father Dearest"
2013	The Eric André Show	James Van Der Beek Team Go! Member #2	Episode: "James Van Der Beek / Steve-O" Episode: "Lauren Conrad; Reese Witherspoon"
2014	Friends with Better Lives	Will Stokes	Main cast; 8 episodes
2015-2016	CSI: Cyber	Elijah Mundo	Main cast

Awards and nominations

MTV Movie Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
1999	Varsity Blues	Best Breakthrough Male Performance	Won
2001	Scary Movie	Best Cameo in a Movie	Won

Teen Choice Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
1999	Dawson's Creek	TV - Choice Actor	Nominated
	Varsity Blues	Film - Breakout Performance	Won
2012	Don't Trust the B in Apt 23	Choice TV Male Scene Stealer	Nominated

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2000	Varsity Blues	Favorite Actor - Newcomer (Internet Only)	Nominated

San Diego Film Festival

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2009	Formosa Betrayed	Best Actor	Won

NewNowNext Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2011	JamesVanDerMemes.com	OMG Internet Award	Won

Charities

James Van Der Beek supports the following charitable cause: Dyslexia.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]