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Van Dien was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the son of Diane, a retired nursery school teacher, and Casper Robert Van Dien, Sr., a retired U.S. Navy commander and fighter pilot. The name Casper is a family tradition, given to the eldest son of his family for more than 11 generations. There is a long military tradition in Van Dien's family. Aside from his father, his grandfather was a Marine during World War II. Van Dien is a descendant of an old Dutch family long settled in the New York area; his other heritage includes Swedish, French, English and Native American.

Van Dien grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The street on which he grew up in New Jersey, Van Dien Avenue, was named after his great great grandfather. He grew up on the same block as actor Robert Sean Leonard, and raced go-carts in their neighborhood.[citation needed] In high school, Van Dien was often referred to as "Ken doll" due to his good looks, and got into many fights for that reason. Coincidentally, he was later described as a "perfect life-sized Ken doll." When Van Dien was older, his family returned to Florida, where he enrolled at the St. Petersburg branch of the Admiral Farragut Military Academy, graduating 3rd in command. Next, he went to Florida State University in Tallahassee but never graduated.

Moving to Los Angeles, Van Dien landed a number of small parts in various television series and movies. Two early breaks were recurring roles on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live and the prime time drama Beverly Hills, 90210. Van Dien starred in the 1997 James Dean biopic James Dean: Race with Destiny. Soon after, he got the breakthrough role of Johnny Rico in Paul Verhoeven's 1997 science fiction action film Starship Troopers. This directly led to his being cast as Tarzan in Tarzan and the Lost City (1998). Van Dien next played Brom von Brunt in Tim Burton's 1999 film Sleepy Hollow, a reworking of the classic Washington Irving tale. In the film, Van Dien's character is a suitor to Katrina van Tassel (Christina Ricci); in real life, Van Dien's family are cousins to the historical van Tassels.[citation needed]

In 2000 Van Dien appeared in Aaron Spelling's short-lived NBC prime time soap Titans with Yasmine Bleeth, John Barrowman, Perry King and Victoria Principal. He filmed several scenes as Patrick Bateman in 2002's The Rules of Attraction, the same character that Christian Bale had played in 2000's American Psycho. However, the scenes wound up on the cutting room floor.

Van Dien reprised the role of Johnny Rico in Starship Troopers 3: Marauder in 2008.

Van Dien was married to Carrie Mitchum (the granddaughter of Robert Mitchum) from 1993 to 1997. They have two children, Casper "Cappy" Robert Mitchum Van Dien and Caroline "Gracie" Dorothy Grace Van Dien, of whom Van Dien holds full custody. Van Dien had co-starred with Robert Mitchum in James Dean: Race with Destiny.

Van Dien met actress Catherine Oxenberg during the filming of the 1999 TV movie The Collectors, and they soon worked together again in the 1999 thriller The Omega Code. On May 8, 1999 they married in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2005 the couple appeared in their own reality series, I Married a Princess, which aired on the Lifetime Television channel in the United States and on LIVINGtv in the United Kingdom; Oxenberg's mother is Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia. During the 2006-2007 TV season, Van Dien and Oxenberg co-starred in the American drama series Watch Over Me on MyNetworkTV.

Van Dien and Oxenberg have two children, Maya (born September 20, 2001) and Celeste Alma (born October 3, 2003). Oxenberg is the mother of India Riven Oxenberg, (born June 7, 1991), whose father has never been publicly identified.

Oxenberg and Van Dien are celebrity ambassadors for the non-profit organization Childhelp.

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