In 1998, viewers first met the gang on Dawson's Creek.
It was a prime time drama that followed the romances, tragedies and aspirations of a group
of small town teenagers in fictional Capeside, Massachusetts, all with incredibly good looks,
and equally good vocabularies.
The show quickly ascended to insane levels of popularity.
And by the time it ended in 2003, it had become iconic.
Most of the young stars began their careers on the Creek.
Now here's a peek of what's become of them, almost 20 years later.
James Van Der Beek
In the title role of Dawson, James Van Der Beek spent six seasons playing one of the
most emotional dudes on television.
He was perpetually tormented by his feelings for Joey, who — twenty year old spoiler
alert! — ultimately chose Pacey in the series finale, leaving poor Dawson to work out his
issues alone with his video camera.
With the end of Dawson's Creek, Van Der Beek continued acting, sometimes taking roles that
directly poked fun at his real life persona, like on ABC's Don't Trust the B in Apartment
23.
Van Der Beek also took on roles that contrasted heavily with Dawson, like the dirtbag filmmaker
he played on One Tree Hill, and his two episode arc on CBS's Criminal Minds in 2006, playing
a serial killer with multiple personalities.
Van Der Beek won the Best Actor Award at the 2009 San Diego Film Festival for his role
in the film Formosa Betrayed, and then moved on to other TV roles like CSI: Cyber.
He also appeared in Kesha's "Blow" video in 2011.
In early 2017, Viceland announced that Van Der Beek would be producing, writing, and
starring in the network's first scripted series, called What Would Diplo Do?
Now in his forties and married with four children, Van Der Beek's career is still going strong.
But he'll always be Dawson to us…
Katie Holmes
Before she was picked to be Tom Cruise's wife, before she had a baby, and then made a run
for it — Holmes played Joey Potter on Dawson's Creek.
Joey was earnest and ambitious, perpetually pulled in by Dawson's emotional tractor beam.
Between the end of Dawson's Creek, and Holmes' divorce from Cruise in 2012, she starred in
2005's Batman Begins, as well as in a series of films, like Thank You for Smoking.
Unfortunately, her performances didn't really earn her many accolades.
Cruise and Holmes began dating in 2005, and married in 2006, after which Holmes took a
hiatus from acting while pregnant with daughter Suri.
When she returned to Hollywood in 2008, it was to star in the comedy flop Mad Money.
She came back to television in 2009 in the remake of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, played
Jackie Kennedy in a TV miniseries — which she reprised in 2016's After Camelot — and
appeared on Ray Donovan in 2015, before announcing that she wouldn't be returning to the show
in 2016.
But that's hardly the end of her Hollywood career — not by a longshot.
Holmes has announced plans to direct a screen adaptation of Kathleen Tessaro's novel, Rare
Objects, and is set to appear in the film Coup D'Etat, opposite Michael Caine and Jason
Biggs.
Joshua Jackson
At the center of Dawson's Creek's most important love triangle was the impulsive and charming
Pacey Witter, played by Joshua Jackson.
With that credit under his belt, Jackson moved to London in 2003 to do a stint in the theater,
before returning to the States to appear in Bobby, Emilio Estevez's 2006 film about the
hours leading up to the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
Jackson's role in the Canadian independent film, One Week, which he also produced, won
him a Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in 2010.
Jackson also had a five-season run as Peter Bishop on Fox's sci-fi drama, The Fringe,
which wrapped in 2013.
These days, you can catch Jackson on Showtime's The Affair, where he's once again involved
in a love triangle.
Only this time, it's Dawson-free.
Michelle Williams
From the moment Williams' character, Jen Lindley, arrived on the scene in Capeside in season
one, she was deemed the troublemaker, accidentally driving a wedge between Dawson and Joey.
Jen's death in the series finale may or may not have been an unfair end for her character,
but Williams' career had only begun.
After Dawson's Creek, Williams worked in a number of independent films before landing
a role in Brokeback Mountain, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, and wore
this legendary dress to the ceremony.
Between 2001 and 2011, Williams made 25 films.
She won a Toronto Film Critics Award for Best Actress for her performance in Wendy and Lucy
in 2006, and continued to nab sought after roles in films such as Shutter Island, Mammoth,
Meek's Cutoff, My Week With Marilyn, and Certain Women.
In 2016, she was again nominated for an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actress, for Manchester
by the Sea.
Unfortunately, her life off-camera hasn't been as picture perfect.
Williams met actor Heath Ledger on the set of Brokeback Mountain in 2004, and in 2005,
she gave birth to their daughter, Matilda Rose.
After Ledger's untimely death in 2008, Williams retreated from the media spotlight and, according
to E! News, has been vigilant about protecting Matilda from encountering the press.
Busy Phillipps
Phillipps made her first appearance on Dawson's Creek in season 5, as Joey's refreshingly
quirky college roommate, Audrey Liddell.
Audrey remained in the Capeside universe until the end of season 6.
An alum of the legendary but short-lived sitcom Freaks and Geeks, Phillipps had no problem
continuing her acting career after her run on Dawson's Creek — she won a Critics' Choice
Award in 2011 for her role as Laurie Keller on ABC's Cougar Town, and performed as a member
of the WorkJuice players in The Thrilling Adventure Hour, a stage production in the
style of 1940s radio, in Los Angeles.
In 2017, Phillipps appeared as a judge on Food Network's Chopped Junior, as well as
on an episode of the network's Star Plates.
According to Variety, Phillipps recently signed on to Tina Fey's The Sackett Sisters, a comedy
pilot for NBC, and currently stars on HBO's Vice Principals.
Philipps is married to screenwriter Marc Silverstein, who included the couple's 2007 wedding vows
in the 2012 film The Vow starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams.
Phillipps and Silverstein have two daughters, Cricket and Birdie.
The actress has spoken to Vanity Fair of her deep and enduring friendship with fellow Dawson's
Creek costar Michelle Williams, and Phillipps' daughter, Birdie, is extremely close to Williams'
daughter, Matilda.
Meredith Monroe
The fast talking, overachieving, vulnerable Andie McPhee, played by Meredith Monroe basically
looks exactly the same now as she did then.
The actress left Dawson's Creek in season 4, and although she filmed scenes for the
show's finale in 2003, they didn't air.
After the show wrapped for good, Monroe joined the cast of CBS's Criminal Minds from 2005
to 2009, playing Haley Hotchner, the super-patient and ultimately unlucky wife of FBI Agent Aaron
Hotchner.
In addition, she's worked basically everywhere — on CSI, Private Practice, and on the Lifetime
movie The Husband She Met Online.
Kerr Smith
Jack McPhee, Andie's brother, briefly dated Joey — before coming out and allowing actor
Kerr Smith to play one of the first gay teens on TV.
Jack and Ethan's kiss in May 1998, at the end of season three, was the first on prime
time television.
Since the end of Dawson's Creek, Smith has appeared in the film Final Destination, as
well as the TV shows Life Unexpected, NCIS, CSI, Charmed, and The Fosters, where he's
been since 2014.
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