Fate certainly played a hand in James Van Der Beek's entrance into the acting world, but it was his dedication 
and talent that earned leading roles in "Dawson's Creek" and two provocative new films - "I Love You...I Love You Not" and "Harvest."
Suffering a mild concussion when he was 13 years old, the athletic Van Der Beek wasn't permitted to play on the football team that year. So, for the first time, he decided to try out for the school play and landed the lead role of Danny Zuko in the school's production of "Grease." Bitten by the acting bug, he continued to do local children's theater in his hometown of Cheshire, Conn.
He was still focused on acting at age 16, so his mother agreed one summer to travel the three hours each way to New York City in order for him to pursue acting professionally. While he landed an agent and a manager on their very first visit, he didn't find much success auditioning for commercials.
The next year, he was cast in the Off-Broadway play, "Finding the Sun," which was written and directed by Edward Albee. He describes this as the defining experience for him as an actor, and commuted six hours every day during the limited three-month run for rehearsals and performances in the middle of high school. After that experience, he starred in "Shenandoah" at the Goodspeed Opera House.
His first on-screen performance came with a starring role in the 1995 feature film "Angus," and he is featured in the upcoming release "I Love You...I Love You Not" with Claire Danes. Last summer, he completed the independent feature film "Harvest."
A dean's list student, Van Der Beek received an academic scholarship from Drew University in Madison, N.J., where he majors in English with a minor in sociology. In what little free time he has, he enjoys writing and playing all kinds of sports.
Exuding a preternatural maturity both on and off the screen, Katie Holmes is a captivating newcomer to the acting
business, landing major roles both in film and on television with just a handful of auditions.
Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Holmes started acting in theater productions in high school, but didn't think she had a shot at stardom living in the Midwest. Fate intervened when she was attending a national modeling and talent convention in New York City, and she met a talent manager who encouraged her to come to Los Angeles for television's pilot season.
On her very first professional audition, Holmes dazzled the casting director for the acclaimed feature film "The Ice Storm." Directed by Ang Lee ("Sense and Sensibility"), the Fox Searchlight release won the screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival and starred Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Elijah Wood and Joan Allen. The slice-of-life art house film about the sexual revolution of the 1970s featured Holmes as the love interest of Toby Maguire.
When the next pilot season came up during her senior year of high school, Holmes opted to skip coming out to Los Angeles to perform in her school's production of "Damn Yankees" as Lola. For the "Dawson's Creek" audition, she sent in a videotape from Toledo, and when the call back conflicted with her play's opening night, she declined rather than let down her classmates. Fortunately, the producers were able to reschedule her audition and she landed the series regular role of Joey Potter.
While Joshua Jackson may play a bumbling adolescent grasping for adulthood in "Dawson's Creek," 
the young actor's focus and determination have resulted in an accomplished list of stage, feature film and television credits.
A native of British Columbia, he landed his first professional acting job at age nine, when he was cast in several commercials for British Columbia Tourism. This led to a part on the television series "MacGyver," also shot in Vancouver, and the lead role as Charlie in a Seattle-based musical production of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."
Jackson's big-screen debut was in Michael Bortman's well-received 1991 film "Crooked Hearts." This was quickly followed by his central performance playing on the ragtag hockey team in the Disney hit films "The Mighty Ducks" and "D2: The Mighty Ducks." In "Mighty Ducks 3," he played the coach's prodigy and the team's voice of reason. Additional feature credits include "Andre," "Digger" and "Magic in the Water." In 1998, Jackson will appear in Bryan Singer's "Apt Pupil," starring Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro.
On the small screen, Jackson has starred in two Showtime Contemporary Classics: "Robin on Loxly," an updated version of the Robin Hood legend; and as the lead role in a modern interpretation of "Romeo and Juliet" called "Ronnie and Julie." Additional television credits include a recurring role in the Gary David Golberg series "Champs," as well as a guest-starring role in the Showtime anthology "The Outer Limits."
Currently, Jackson and his family divide their time between Vancouver and California.
"Dawson's" may be her first starring role in a series, but Michelle Williams
is already a veteran of 
numerous feature films and television projects.
The proverbial small town girl, Williams was born and raised in rural Kalispell, Mont., before moving with her family to San Diego when she was 10 years old. She became involved in community theater productions and was soon commuting to Los Angeles for professional auditions.
At age 14, Williams made her big-screen debut in the 1994 family film "Lassie," and was soon cast as the young alien in the film "Species." Most recently, Michelle was seen in the dramatic feature "A Thousand Acres," starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jason Robards and Jessica Lange. In television, she starred in the television movie "A Mother's Justice."
In her free time, 17-year-old Williams is an avid reader, with her current favorite authors being Hermann Hesse, Dostoyevsky and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. She also enjoys boxing, which feeds into her early childhood fantasy of becoming the first female heavyweight champion of the world.
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