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"James Van Der Beek has confessed that he enjoys playing a heightened version of himself on Don&amp;#039;t Trust The B----- In Apartment 23. The former Dawson&amp;#039;s Creek actor plays a caricature of himself on the ABC comedy. His alter ego has his own clothing label, Beek Jeens, in the show.  Van Der Beek revealed that exaggerating his own characteristics is good for keeping his ego in check during an interview with Parade. &amp;quot;My character became this fictional creation concocted in some comedy laboratory,&amp;quot; he explained. &amp;quot;When we started making up things on my r\u00C3\u00A9sum\u00C3\u00A9 that don&amp;#039;t exist, it very quickly stopped seeming like me and started seeming like a parody of actors and Hollywood and pop culture in general. &amp;quot;I just thought it was so funny. A little bit of ego assassination is always a good thing. The less seriously you take yourself, the better work you do in general.&amp;quot; Van Der Beek also discussed Apartment 23&amp;#039;s upcoming Dancing with the Stars storyline, adding: &amp;quot;It was a blast to film. I had to learn how to dance. It was really funny. I thought it would be a hoot if the fake me went on the fake Dancing with the Stars. &amp;quot;I think it&amp;#039;s more fun to do it this way. You can play it for laughs and not have to do all that work!&amp;quot; &amp;gt; James Van Der Beek: &amp;#039;I took myself too seriously as a young star&amp;#039; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a377034/james-van-der-beek-apartment-23-version-of-me-is-comedy-creation/>