His mother Melinda, a former Broadway dancer, owns a gym while her father, Jim van der beek, is an executive of a cell phone company. He has a younger brother by name Jared, and a younger sister named Juliana.
James He started acting at the age of 13 after suffering an injury playing soccer, for which he had to abandon his practice for a year. He then interpreted Danny zuko at the school staging of the play “Grease“, which aroused his interest in acting and that is how, in the following three years, he worked in numerous local plays.
When he turned 16, he traveled with his mother to New York City to find a representative and possible auditions. A year later he was selected to work on the Broadway play, “Finding the Sun“In 1994 he won a scholarship to study at the Drew University from New Jersey where he chose majors in English and Sociology.
A year later he got the role of Rick sanford in the feature film “Angus“(1995) and, the following year he worked in”I Love You, I Love You Not“(1996), film starring Claire danes.
Soon his career came to a standstill and, after continuing his studies, he decided to take some time to travel. Upon his return, he auditioned for a role in the series “Dawson’s Creek“, winning the leading role that would change his life. James played the character of Dawson leery during 128 episodes between 1998 and 2003.
Later he had a recurring role in the series “One Tree Hill“, where he played Reese dixon; and starred in the miniseries “The Storm“He currently has the role of Dr. Joe Briggs in the television series “Mercy“. He has also been a guest artist in other shows such as”Criminal Minds“,”Ugly Betty“,”Medium“or”The Forgotten“, among other.
In his scientific career, Van der beek has continued working on feature films such as “Champions game“(“Varsity Blues” -1999), “Scary movie“(2000),”The rules of the game“(2002),”Paranoia“(2007) or”The big bang“(2010), action thriller not yet released, starring Antonio Banderas Y Sienna miller.
In his personal life, James he is divorced from the actress Heather McComb, with whom he was married seven years; recently (2010), he married the production company Kimberly brook, with whom he has a daughter named Olivia.