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The Stars

Get the facts about the four main characters!!! Much like the experience of the character he portrays, James Van Der Beek's dedication and talent surfaced at an early age. A mild concussion sidelined his school football career and instead Van Der Beek found himself playing the lead role in a local children's theater production of "Grease." He fell in love with the theater and continued to perform locally. "Dawson reminds me of myself when I was 15," says Van Der Beek. "I grew up in a small New England town and vacationed on Cape Cod, where the show takes place, and we both come from loving, supportive homes. We also look alike," jokes the 20-year old actor. "Dawson and I were both very impassioned at an early age," explains Van Der Beek. "Dawson is a burgeoning film maker, whose overactive imagination and idealism sometimes make him oblivious. He's prone to rejecting reality for a more romantic scenario. He's a bit of an innocent and is frequently off in his own little world, all of which I can definitely relate to." When Van Der Beek was 16, his mother, noting his intense interest in performing, offered to support his aspirations by accompanying him on daily six-hour round trips into New York City, to test the waters. In spite of landing an agent and manager on their first trip into the city, Van Der Beek spent a year auditioning for commercials without much success. At 17, Van Der Beek was cast in the off-Broadway play written and directed by Edward Albee, "Finding the Sun." Juggling the long commute for rehearsals and performances during the play's limited three-month run while attending high school, Van Der Beek credits the play as the defining experience for him as an actor and still managed to finish the school year second in his class. After his off-Broadway debut, he went on to star in "Shenandoah" at the Goodspeed Opera House. His first screen performance occurred in the 1995 feature film ANGUS as an arrogant j

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