The Dawson's Creek gang might have said goodbye to Capeside — and complicated,
self-aware convos — long ago, but they're still around… and for a few,
all you have to do to see them is flip on the Hallmark channel.
It's impossible to separate Dawson's Creek from actor James Van Der Beek, who played
Dawson Leery and instantly shot to stardom. Van Der Beek has always seemed comfortable
in the spotlight and his self-deprecating sense of humor continues to win fans over.
"What is with this 'When Harry Met 80s' crap? It doesn't apply to us. We transcend it."
After the series premiere, young heartthrob Van Der Beek landed major roles in films like
Varsity Blues and The Rules of Attraction. He still occasionally pops up in films,
but these days it's in memorable bit parts instead of starring roles.
Van Der Beek has also appeared on television in recent years. He
played Dr. Joe Briggs on the short-lived NBC drama Mercy, and a self-centered,
sad-sack version of himself in Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23.
"Isn't this gonna hurt me on Dancing With the Stars?"
He had a lead role on CSI: Cyber, which lasted for just two seasons. More recently,
you might've seen him on Pose or heard him as the voice of Boris on Disney's
Vampirina. Van Der Beek made headlines in 2023 for a TikTok rant calling for U.S.
President Joe Biden to take the debate stage ahead of his re-election campaign.
In addition to playing Joey on Dawson's Creek,
Katie Holmes appeared in the notable films Go, Disturbing Behavior, and Teaching Mrs. Tingle,
in which she co-starred with Helen Mirren. Holmes has had a solid acting career since,
but she's probably better known for her personal life at this point.
"Who was the best kisser on Dawson's Creek? Dawson or — Was it Dawson or Pacey?"
Things looked pretty promising for Holmes after Dawson's Creek ended. She was cast as
Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins and had a small role in Thank You for Smoking. Then she met
Tom Cruise and, just seven weeks later, they were engaged. Given his status in Hollywood,
and Holmes' as a rising star in the industry, the pair held "It Couple" status for much of
their marriage. But when they divorced in 2012, it seemed to affect Holmes' career.
That career seems to have recovered in later years, with Holmes playing Jackie Kennedy in
the miniseries The Kennedys and Paige Finney in a memorable arc on Ray Donovan. More recently,
she starred in the horror flick Brahms: The Boy 2. The actor has been focusing on her
work behind the camera in recent years, directing and producing on The Kennedys,
as well as feature films All We Had, Alone Together, and Rare Objects.
Everyone thinks of Dawson and Joey when they remember Dawson's Creek,
but we can't forget Jen. Played by Michelle Williams, Jen starts out as a complete mess
who's been sent to Capeside to live with her grandmother. Her upbringing differs from the
other lead characters, which gives her a unique perspective on life in the town.
"Now, Jenny."
"Jen. Okay? It's Jen."
Williams has a formidable range as an actor. She's been nominated for Academy Awards on
five separate occasions, but has yet to win. She was nominated for best supporting actress
for Brokeback Mountain and Manchester by the Sea, and leading actress for 2010's
Blue Valentine and 2011's My Week With Marilyn. Williams' most recent Oscar nod came in 2023,
when she played the tragically whimsical mother in Steven Spielberg's pseudo-biopic The Fablemans.
"You do what your heart says you have to. Because you don't owe anyone your life."
Williams will probably score another Oscar nom for her star turn as singer Peggy Lee in the
biopic Fever. Some of her more recent roles include Anne Weying in Venom and its sequel,
Charity Barnum in The Greatest Showman, and Gwen Verdon in the miniseries Fosse/Verdon,
for which she won her first Emmy award.
On Dawson’s Creek, Pacey, played by Joshua Jackson,
rounds out the four most prominent characters on the show.
"Well, Jack tells me you're dying, but other than that, everything's okay, right?"
Jackson has continued to find success in the post-Dawson years. A few years after the series
finale, Jackson landed a starring role in the sci-fi series Fringe. Fringe ran until 2013,
when he landed yet another major role on the Showtime series The Affair.
Jackson has also had success as a stage actor, and appeared in a few major miniseries. Look for
him on Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere as the husband of Reese Witherspoon's Elena,
on Dr. Death alongside Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, and Carrie Preston,
and on the critically panned, but audience adored adaptation of Fatal Attraction on Paramount+.
Even though Dawson's Creek was billed as a teen drama, most of the supporting cast was older,
as parents and other authority figures were central to the show's story. Actor Mary Beth
Peil is one of the most memorable, playing Jen's religious grandmother, Evelyn "Grams" Ryan.
Peil was a renowned stage actor before being cast as Grams, earning a Tony Award nomination
for her role in a 1985 run of The King and I. She's returned to the stage often since then,
receiving yet another Tony nomination in 2017 for her role in Anastasia.
"As one of my favorite artists, Eminem, once said, 'You better lose yourself in the music,
the moment, you own it, you better never let it go."
On the film and television side of things, Peil's appeared in major films like 2006's
Flags of Our Fathers and 2008's Mirrors. Her biggest television role since Dawson's
Creek came in The Good Wife, where she played Peter's mother, Jackie.
Even though actor Kerr Smith didn't show up until season two of Dawson's Creek,
his character was central for the remainder of the show's run. Smith played Jack,
a rebound love interest for Joey, before becoming popular enough to warrant his own storyline.
"I remember back then, a lot of the fan mail that
I was getting were from kids that were – teenagers in the closet,
and they were kind of going through the exact same experience as what we were telling."
Smith has carved out quite a career for himself, between his many recurring television roles
and a handful of lead performances. He hasn't worked much in film since early in his career,
when he appeared in a number of horror movies, including Final Destination.
On the TV side, however, Smith has been all over the place. After Dawson's Creek ended, Smith
landed major roles on the legal drama Justice and the military drama E-Ring. Unfortunately,
neither series made it past its first season. Smith also appeared briefly on NCIS. He had
a little more luck with The Fosters and Life Unexpected. More recently, you may
have caught Smith on the absolutely bananas show Riverdale, where he plays Principal Holden Honey.
Throughout the show's run, Dawson's parents go through almost as much drama as he and his friends
do. Dawson's mother, Gale, was played by actor Mary-Margaret Humes, and her on-again-off-again
marriage to husband Mitch showed that relationship hurdles never stop, no matter how old you are.
Humes began as a model. In 1975, as Miss Florida, she was third runner up in the
Miss USA pageant. She started making guest appearances on TV not long after,
and appeared in films like History of the World: Part I and the series Eerie, Indiana.
Since Dawson's Creek came to an end, Humes occasionally makes TV guest appearances,
but her bread-and-butter gig seems to be Hallmark Channel movies, including
Winter Love Story, A Valentine's Match, and Christmas in Love.
Dawson's father, played by veteran actor John Wesley Shipp, has enough charm,
old-school good looks, and dark secrets to
make him every bit as compelling and memorable as the younger characters.
"But a chance at actually winning? That's something I could really use right now."
After Dawson's Creek, he had recurring roles on Teen Wolf and One Life to Live. Shipp is
probably best known for his recent work on the Arrowverse shows on The CW. He first
appeared on The Flash as Henry Allen and has since made appearances on other series
in crossover episodes. It's a role he's fit into very nicely: Shipp actually played Barry Allen,
aka The Flash, on the short-lived series all the way back in 1990.
Another important Dawson's Creek character who didn't show up until the second season is Andie,
sister to Jack McPhee. Played by actor Meredith Monroe, Andie is
innocent and enthusiastic by nature, even in the face of extreme hardship.
"You get behind by one day and then you're always struggling to catch up and then
you just get more and more confused and then you're out on the street,
drunk and dirty, wheeling a shopping cart."
Over the years since "Dawson's Creek" came to an end, Meredith Monroe has carved out an impressive
career. She occasionally lands recurring roles, but you've most likely seen her in
a single-episode guest star appearance on series like The Closer, NCIS, The Mentalist, and Bones.
If you're looking for some of Monroe's more substantial roles, check her out as Haley
Hotchner from Criminal Minds. Her run on that show ended in 2013. More recently, she appeared
in the film The Edge of Seventeen, and she also had a substantial role on 13 Reasons Why.
Actor Busy Philipps joined the Dawson's Creek party pretty late;
her character, Audrey Liddell, didn't show up until the show's fifth season. Still,
she became a central character over the show's final two seasons as Joey's
friend and college roommate. By the time she appeared on Dawson's Creek,
she'd already picked up some name recognition from the critically-acclaimed series Freaks and Geeks.
Philipps has had an impressive career in the years since Dawson's Creek. The role she's probably
best known for these days is Laurie Keller on Cougar Town, but she's also had recurring roles
on shows like ER and Vice Principals, as well as one-off appearances on hit shows like Search
Party, New Girl, and Arrested Development. Philipps has appeared in a number of films,
often in smaller supporting roles. Look for her in White Chicks, Made of Honor,
The Gift, and I Feel Pretty. She also hosted the E! talk show Busy Tonight from 2018-2019.
"I'm gonna memorize this. I'm memorinizin' all of it."
Philipps has used her celebrity to address social issues that are
meaningful to her. She's a major advocate for abortion rights,
and started the hashtag #youknowme to encourage women to share their stories and help eliminate
the stigma of abortions. She shared publicly that she had an abortion at age 15,
and has helped to raise awareness and fight against state laws that restrict the procedure.
Perhaps better known as "Dougie" or "Deputy Doug," Pacey Witter's annoyingly straight-laced
big brother Doug appeared in just 20 episodes over Dawson's Creek's primetime run. However,
few characters maximized their screen time as much as Dylan Neal.
Neal perfectly embodied the self-righteousness of an older sibling, who also played the part
of a pseudo father figure in his younger brother's life.
"Does being the leading contender for the official joke of Capeside bother you even a little bit?
Because I must say it's a distinction the rest of the Witter family could certainly live without."
The actor has, however, spent much of his post-Creek career spreading his charm on the small
screen. He started out playing Sabrina Spellman's almost-husband on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. And,
over the years, Neal has appeared in hit series like Psych, The L Word, Smallville,
and Bones, among others, though Arrow fans no doubt recognize him as Dr. Anthony Ivo.
In recent years, Neal has also become a regular player on the Hallmark Channel,
a turn that began with a starring role opposite Andie McDowell in the drama
series Cedar Cove. Neal has appeared in several Hallmark projects since,
including five episodes of The Gourmet Detective, which he co-created for the network alongside his
wife Becky Southwell, and Christmas She Wrote, which he starred in alongside Danica McKellar.
It hardly seems like it, but Pacey Witter's big sis Gretchen logged
just as many episodes as big brother, Doug. That's, in part,
because her Dawson's Creek stint began and ended in season 4. Despite the one-season-and-done arc,
Sasha Alexander shined in the role, and more than left her mark on the series.
"You know, I'm the only one here with the right to feel like a freak. My senior prom
was last century. You know, when you think about it, it's actually kind of depressing."
Dawson's Creek was Alexander's first real break in Hollywood,
though she had fronted Creek creator Kevin Williamson's short-lived series
Wasteland before playing Gretchen Witter. In the years following her series exit,
Alexander's made notable appearances in major films like Mission: Impossible III, Yes Man,
and He's Just Not That Into You. And the actor booked one of the biggest roles of her career in
the immediate aftermath of Dawson's Creek, signing on to play NCIS regular Caitlin Todd in 2003.
In 2010, Alexander became the star of her very own series, fronting Rizzoli and Isles alongside Angie
Harmon for seven full seasons. Shameless fans will also surely recall her as Helene Runyon.
Of all the stars who got their start on Dawson's Creek, few shined brighter in
the immediate aftermath of their departure than Michael Pitt. Pitt joined the Dawson's
Creek cast in Season 3 as Henry Parker, a tender-hearted freshman football player who
develops a seriously intense crush on Michelle Williams' Jen Lindley.
"You don't even make eye contact with me in the hallway. It's like
you've got this giant blind spot in exactly my shape and size."
Though the pair eventually coupled-up, their romance ended for good when Season 3 did,
likely because Pitt was fast becoming the toast of the indie film scene.
In fact, Pitt quickly scored major roles in memorable films like Finding Forrester, Bully,
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and The Dreamers. He then went on to share the screen with Ryan Gosling
and Sandra Bullock in the underrated thriller Murder By Numbers, booked a minor role in M. Night
Shyamalan's The Village, and terrorized Naomi Watts in the U.S. remake of Funny Games.
"We're gonna make a bet now. You bet that you'll be alive tomorrow
at nine o'clock, and we bet that you'll be dead."
In 2010, Martin Scorsese tapped Pitt to play Jimmy Darmody in his star-studded gangster
drama series Boardwalk Empire, which Pitt followed with a deeply unsettling turn as Mason Verger on
Hannibal. Unfortunately, the actor has struggled both legally and emotionally of late, though he's
looking to make a big screen comeback with a role in the hotly-anticipated bio drama You Can't Win.
It's almost shocking to realize how little time Monica Keena actually
spent playing troublemaker Abby Morgan on the set of Dawson's Creek.
"You're turning me into a juvenile delinquent."
The series' O.G. mean girl didn't even make it out of the second season. As it was,
Keena shared most of her scenes with Michelle Williams, as Abby fanned
the simmering "bad girl" flames within Jen Lindley before her shocking Season 2 death.
As Kevin Williamson recently explained, Abby's death was very much of Keena's
making. But the actor did pretty well for herself after leaving Dawson's Creek behind,
promptly booking roles in teen-centric fare like Crime and Punishment in Suburbia and the
Jack Black cult comedy Orange County. She went on to play a key role in Judd
Apatow's canceled-too-soon college dramedy Undeclared. She followed up
with recurring roles on Entourage, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and Castle.
Keena has worked less frequently since 2013, when personal struggles with her
troubled ex Edward Furlong landed her on tabloid covers. But the actor has rebounded of late,
and appears to have a handful of intriguing projects in the works.
Like many of his Dawson's Creek co-stars, Jensen Ackles didn't have many screen credits before he
joined the series' cast. He had, however, worked for years on Days of Our Lives,
and shared the screen with Jessica Alba in James Cameron's sci-fi series Dark Angel. Needless to
say, he was hardly a newb when he signed up to play Bay College helpline hunk C.J. Braxton in
Season 6. Ackles no doubt needed to leverage those years of experience, as he regularly
shared the screen with more seasoned Creek stars like Michelle Williams and Kerr Smith.
A look at Ackles' post-Creek credits confirms that the show served as a professional springboard. The
actor soon signed up to play football coach turned villain Jason Teague in Season 4 of Smallville.
"When my girlfriend invites me to some old crypt for some brass rubbing,
I thought it was code for something else."
He followed that gig with a celebrated run as Dean Winchester on the iconic fantasy series
Supernatural. Ackles would, of course, play that role for 15 seasons before it finally left the
airwaves. Most recently, Ackles joined the cast of the hit superhero satire The Boys. If you've seen
him as old school "supe" Soldier Boy on the show, you know the role rivals his work on Supernatural.
With the Capeside gang going co-ed for Seasons 5 and 6 of Dawson's Creek,
an influx of new faces made their way into the mix. The new cast members included Oliver
Hudson, who turned up as Eddie Doling, the literary-minded beau of Katie Holmes' Joey.
"We're a regular Sam and Diane. Me with my rugged charms, you with your fancy book-learning."
Though fans may have tired a bit of their on-again, off-again romance, few could argue
Hudson didn't bring some serious intellectual and emotional heat to the proceedings.
Hudson is part of a Hollywood brood that includes Bill Hudson, Goldie Hawn,
Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson, and Wyatt Russell, so acting is in his DNA. While Dawson's Creek was
one of his biggest early roles, it was hardly his last. Hudson would go on to appear in the
2006 remake of Black Christmas and land a recurring role in the long-running sitcom
Rules of Engagement, starring alongside Patrick Warburton and David Spade.
The actor would follow that with a three season run as record exec Jeff Fordham on Nashville,
and score a steady gig on Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens. In 2018,
he starred with stepdad Kurt Russell in The Christmas Chronicles. Most recently,
Hudson appeared in the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That.
By the time Ken Marino made his way to Capeside, he'd already made a bit of a name for himself in
Hollywood circles, having appeared on numerous hit sitcoms in the '90s. He also earned fans for
his work in the sketch comedy series The State, and the cult comedy sensation Wet Hot American
Summer. Given his largely comedic background, it was a bit of a surprise that his Dawson's
Creek role as Professor David Wilder was a touch more serious. In fact, Marino showed unexpected
range as the charming English teacher who briefly wooed the lit-loving Joey Potter.
"You are obviously a writer. Which mean's the torture's just begun."
Marino has continued to show that range in dozens of projects over the years. If you've
been tracking his career, you know those projects are too numerous to even consider
covering in detail. Nevertheless, it's safe to say that one of Marino's more baffling post-Creek
gigs came in 2009 when he reprised the role of David Wilder in an episode of Californication.
"Hank Moody. David Wilder. Big fan. Big, big fan."
Among the actor's more legit highlights, however, would have to be his recurring
role as sleazy private detective Vinnie Van Lowe on Veronica Mars, and his iconic
turn as Ron Donald in the beloved service and entertainment industry insider comedy Party Down.