James van der Beek sustained a concussion when he was 13 years old. He was told that he could not play sports for a year, so he turned to acting. His first roll was Danny Zuko in the school play, "Grease". From then on, James began to love acting. He was in some off-Broadway plays before he got his first movie roll in "Angus". He has recently been in "I Love You, I Love You Not" with Claire Danes, and an independent film named "Harvest".