6:13
- culture
- March 6, 2020
Take this advice from James Van Der Beek
"The only place I felt comfortable being the center of attention was on stage.”
Video by Will Linendoll, Brittany Berkowitz, Olivia Smith
6:13
Going with his gut was definitely the right move. Years later, Van Der Beek was cast in the wildly popular TV show \"Dawson's Creek\" as the lead character, Dawson Leery.
Van Der Beek calls that the craziest point in his life.
\"My reaction to fame was to run away from it,\" he said adding he didn't know what to do with his fame and success.
The fame and attention that came along with starring as a lead character in a teen drama was intimidating and more than he could handle. Through the years, he told himself to relax, be grateful and enjoy every moment more.
\"Just recognize that you're able to make people very happy by doing something very simple,\" he said.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/james-van-der-beek-varsity-blues-gty-jef-200106_hpEmbed_23x15_384.jpg\")
At 21, Van Der Beek landed his first lead movie role as Mox in \"Varsity Blues\" alongside Jon Voight and the late Paul Walker.
\"It was a movie I really, really cared about. It was a role I really had to fight for,\" he said.
The opportunity to work with Voight, an Oscar-winner, was one he would never forget. He considered him a mentor who was always there for him.
During filming of a scene in which Mox tells off Voight's character, coach Bud Kilmer, Van Der Beek felt his monologue was coming off as \"too speechy.\"
While the cameras were rolling and the scene was still in action, Voight tried closing the door. In the heat of the scene, Van Der Beek immediately slammed his fist to prevent the door from closing. The director then yelled cut!
\"John turns to me and goes, ‘That was good, do that,'\" he said.
Van Der Beek later realized that Voight was giving him direction to avoid the scene coming off too much like a speech.
\"That's the kind of actor I want to be,\" he said, \"who not only knows what he's supposed to do, but can look around and help out everybody and make the whole production better.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/vanderbeek_200226_3_hpEmbed_4x3_384.jpg\")
There's no question that Van Der Beek's family is his crew.
After years of being center stage for various acting roles, his role as father has given him an opportunity to look at the world differently. He says when he was younger, his thinking didn't extend far beyond his own needs. Van Der Beek says his favorite thing about his kids is how weird he can be with them.
Looking back, it's something he often felt he never had permission to be as a kid.
\"But then you have kids, especially daughters, and you start looking at the world from a whole different perspective, and things that you never thought about before,\" he said.
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