Casper grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His mother is a retired nursery school teacher, and his father a retired U.S. Navy pilot. There is a long military tradition in Van Dien's family. Besides his father, his grandfather was a marine during WW 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. When he 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, enrolling in pre-med. Looking for college electives, he began taking theater classes. Soon acting began to overshadow medicine, and he dropped out of FSU to pursue a career in the field.

Moving to L.A., he landed a number of small parts in various television series and movies. Two early breaks were recurring roles on One Life To Live and Beverly Hills 90210. This was followed by parts in several straight-to-video releases, including Night Eyes 4, Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus, Night Scream and, ironically, Casper: A Spirited Beginning.

He achieved more notice as the lead in the biopic James Dean: Race with Destiny. Soon after, he got the breakthrough role of Johnnie Rico in Paul Verhoeven's science fiction action film Starship Troopers. This directly led to his being cast as the "Lord of the Jungle" in Tarzan and the Lost City. Soon following was the role of Brom von Brunt in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, a reworking of the classic Washington Irving tale.

Returning to his television roots, in 2000 he appeared in the Aaron Spelling's short-lived NBC series Titans with Yasmine Bleeth, John Barrowman, Perry King and Victoria Principal.

In 2005, he produced and appeared in the reality series I Married a Princess, about his professional and personal life with Catherine Oxenberg, whose mother is Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia.

--Wikipedia