James Van Der Beek didn't experience many symptoms initially, but there was one that ultimately pushed him to get the life-changing colonoscopy. As we're sure you've seen, the Dawson's Creek actor sadly passed away on Wednesday morning after a battle with colorectal cancer. In a resurfaced interview with Healthline from August 2025, James opened up about getting his diagnosis and how "there wasn't any red flag or something glaring": "I was healthy. I was doing the cold plunge. I was in amazing cardiovascular shape, and I had stage 3 cancer, and I had no idea.