James' bio

James Van Der Beek was born March 8 1977 in Chelsire, Connecticut. He started acting at age 13, when he landed the role of Dany Zuko in his school play of "Grease". After acting in some other small plays for 3 years, he and his mother decided to commute to New York City to find an agent and possible auditions. A year later, he was cast in an off-Broadway play called "Finding the Sun". For 3 months, he had to travel 6 hours a day to and from NY, on top of having to go to school. After yet another play, he earned an academic scholarship to Drew University in NJ, and won a role in the movie "Angus". In April 1997 he auditioned for the TV show "Dawson's Creek", and became Dawson Leery. He says Dawson reminds him of himself when he was 15.