Jean-Claude Van Damme
Personal Info
Known For Actor
Gender Male
Birthday 1960-10-18 (64 years old)
Place of Birth Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium
Also Known As JCVD, The Muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude van Varenbergh, Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg, Ζαν-Κλοντ Βαν Νταμ, Ζαν Κλοντ Βαν Νταμ, Βαν Νταμ, 尚格·云顿, 장 끌로드 반담, ژان-کلود ون دام
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Biography
Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, to Eliana and Eugène van Varenberg, an accountant. “The Muscles from Brussels” started martial arts at the age of eleven. His father introduced him to martial arts when he saw his son was physically weak. At the age of 12, van Damme began his martial arts training at Centre National De Karate (National Center of Karate) under the guidance of Master Claude Goetz in Ixelles, Belgium. Van Damme trained for 4 years and earned a spot on the Belgium Karate Team. He won the European professional karate association's middleweight championship as a teenager, and also beat the 2nd best karate fighter in the world. His goal was to be number one but got sidetracked when he left his hometown of Brussels. In 1976 at the age of sixteen, Jean-Claude started his Martial Arts fight career. Jean-Claude retired from martial arts in 1982, following a knockout over Nedjad Gharbi in Brussels, Belgium. Jean-Claude posted a 18-1 (18 knockouts) kickboxing record, and a semi-contact record of 41-4. He came to Hong Kong at the age of 19 for the first time and felt insured to do action movies in Hong Kong. In 1981, van Damme moved to Los Angeles. He took English classes while working as carpet layer, pizza delivery man, limo driver, and thanks to Chuck Norris he got a job as a bouncer at a club. Norris gave van Damme a small role in the movie Missing in Action (1984), but it wasn't good enough to get anybody's attention. In 1984, he got his first significant role as a villain named Ivan in the low-budget movie, No Retreat, No Surrender (1986). Then one day, while walking on the streets, Jean-Claude spotted a producer for Cannon Pictures and showed some of his martial arts abilities which led to a role in Bloodsport (1988). The movie, filmed in Hong Kong, was so bad when it was completed, it was shelved for almost two years. It might have never been released if van Damme did not help them to re-cut the film and begged producers to release it. They finally released the film, first in Malaysia and France and then into the US shot on a meager 1.5 million dollar budget, it became a US box-office hit in the spring of 1988. It made about 30 million worldwide and audiences supported this film for its new sensational action star, Jean-Claude van Damme. His good looks led to starring roles in higher budgeted movies like Cyborg (1989), AWOL: Absent Without Leave (1990), Double Impact (1991) and Universal Soldier (1992). In 1994, he scored with his big breakthrough $100 million worldwide hit Timecop (1994). But in the meantime, his personal life was coming apart. A divorce, followed by a new marriage, followed by another divorce. It began to show up in his career when his projects began to tank at the box office: The Quest (1996), which he directed; Maximum Risk (1996) and Double Team (1997). The three films made less than $50 million combined. In 1999, he remarried his ex-wife, Gladys Portugues, and restarted his lost career to attain new goals. With help from his family, he faced his problems and made movies like Replicant (2001), Derailed (2002), and In Hell (2003).
Known For
Actor
as Self
as Léo
as Philip
as Van Damme
as Russell Hatch
as Self
as Self - Portait Subject & Interviewee (archive)
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Jean Clawed (voice)
as Jean-Claude Van Damme
as Richard Brumére
as (uncredited)
as JCVD
as Daniel
as Self
as Lukas
as Wheeler
as Master Durand
as Philip
as Master Durand
as Master Croc (voice)
as Johnson
as Jean-Claude Van Damme
as Deacon
as Gibson Rickenbacker (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Stillman
as Xander
as Storm
as George
as Luc Deveraux
as Samson Gaul
as Jean Vilain
as Tiano
as Himself
as Colonel Merot
as Vincent Brazil
as Master Croc (voice)
as Frenchy
as Self
as Luc Deveraux
as J.C.V.D.
as Jack Robideaux
as Anthony Stowe
as Charles
as Cmdr. Samuel 'Sam' Keenan
as Phillippe Sauvage
as Ben Archer
as Jean-Claude Van Damme fantasmé par Lenny
as Himself
as Kyle LeBlanc
as Self
as Self
as Jacques Kristoff
as Self
as Replicant / Garrotte
as Rudy Cafmeyer
as Eddie Lomax
as Luc Devereux
as Self
as Alain Lefevre
as Marcus Ray
as Self
as Jack Quinn
as Alain Moreau / Mikhail Suverov
as Christopher Dubois
as Darren Francis Thomas McCord
as (archive footage)
as Self
as Colonel William Guile
as Max Walker
as Jean-Claude Van Damme
as Jean-Claude Van Damme (uncredited)
as Chance Boudreaux
as Sam Gillen
as Luc Deveraux / GR44
as Alex / Chad Wagner
as Louis Burke
as Leon Gaultier
as Self (archive footage)
as Kurt Sloane
as Gibson Rickenbacker
as Andrei
as Frank Dux
as Ivan Kraschinsky "The Russian"
as Soldier (uncredited)
as Spectator in First Dance Sequence (uncredited)
as Extra in Police Arrival Sequence (uncredited)
as Gay Karate Man
as Movie Goer / Man in Garden (uncredited)
as Self
Producer
as Producer
as Executive Producer
as Executive Producer
as Executive Producer
as Executive Producer
as Executive Producer
as Executive Producer
as Producer
as Executive Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
Writer
as Story
as Characters
as Writer
as Writer
as Screenplay
as Screenplay
as Screenstory
as Story
as Screenplay
as Story
Crew
as Fight Choreographer
as Stunt Coordinator
as Martial Arts Choreographer
as Stunts
as Stunts