A certified teen idol due to his role on The WB's hit teen drama "Dawson's Creek" (1998- ), James Van Der Beek had a rockier road to success than his younger co-stars. After a football injury took him from the playing field to the stage, the young actor starred as Danny Zuko in a community theater production of "Grease". Weekly trips to New York from his Connecticut home to audition were largely fruitless, but in 1994 Van Der Beek was cast in an Off-Broadway production of Edward Albee's "Finding the Sun". A capable singer as well as actor, he was also featured in the Goodspeed Opera House's
