By Laura Harding, Deputy Entertainment EditorDawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson has broken his silence on the death of his co-star James Van Der Beek, calling him a “good man” and “a beautiful, kind, curious, interested, dedicated father”. Speaking publicly for the first time about his friend’s death, Jackson, who played Pacey Whitter opposite Van Der Beek’s Dawson Leery, said: “I think it hits in a variety of different ways. James Van Der Beek in 2003 (Ian West/PA)“For me as a father now, I think the enormity of that tragedy for his family hits me in a very different way than just as a colleague. Kimberly marked what would have been his 49th birthday on March 8, saying: “I’m missing you tremendously.”Van Der Beek rose to fame alongside Jackson in the popular US teen drama Dawson’s Creek, which ran for six seasons from 1998 until 2003. A GoFundMe for the Van Der Beek family has raised more than 2.7 million US dollars.

Source: The Herald March 10, 2026 14:55 UTC