James Van Der Beek received a career "wake-up call" when he was asked to appear on ‘Dancing with the Stars’.
The former ‘Dawson’s Creek’ actor felt he needed to "reinvent" himself when he was approached to compete on the celebrity dance contest, an offer his agents didn’t even want to tell him about.
Recalling the approach, he told ‘Access Hollywood’: "That’s a wake-up call! It’s time to do some reinvention.
"[My people told me], ‘We got an offer and we legally have to tell you that it came in [for] ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ We don’t think you should take it’…"
When ‘Dawson’s Creek’ ended in 2003 after six years, James, 37, decided to take some time out but quickly realised he was no longer as in demand as he once was and took a different approach to his career, accepting offers he thought would be fun.
He added: "Right after ‘Dawson’s Creek’ I needed to take some time out, I was burned out.
"I was passing on a lot of things and wanted to play a certain type of role and when you pass enough, people stop offering after a while.
"And I got to a point where I realised, ‘You know what? I’m going to start saying yes to things. If I haven’t done it before and it seems like it going to be fun, why not?’ "
And these days, the ‘Friends With Better Lives’ actor couldn’t be happier with his work.
He said: "I’ve been lucky enough to hang around for a number of years. One of the things I’ve got to do is reinvent and I’ve been having a great time…
"I’ve somehow managed to stay out of jail, rehab and bankruptcy court and now I get to laugh all day."
James Van Der Beek ‘reevaluated’ after DWTS offer
