Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean Claude Van Damme <tr><td style="text-align:left;">Birth name</td><td>Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg</td></tr>
Born	October 18, 1960 Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Brussels, Belgium
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm) (Source: IMDb)
Other name(s)	"The Muscles from Brussels"
Official site	http://www.jeanclaudevandamme.us/
Notable roles	Kickboxer (film), Bloodsport, Timecop

Jean-Claude Van Damme (born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg in Sint-Agatha-Berchem, in the Brussels-Capital Region, on October 18, 1960), is a Belgian-born martial artist and actor who is most known for his large catalogue of action movies. His Belgian background gave rise to the nickname "The Muscles from Brussels". Jean has been called the "King Of The Belgians" due to his international superstardom.

Early life

Van Damme began martial arts at the age of 10, enrolled by his father in a shotokan karate school^[1]. He eventually earned his black belt in karate (see [1]), later winning the European Professional Karate Association's middleweight championship^[1] (although he has claimed that he was "twice world champion"^[2]). He also started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title ^[3]. At the age of 16 he took up ballet, which he studied for five years. He says of ballet that it "is an art, but it’s also one of the most difficult sports. If you can survive a ballet workout, you can survive a workout in any other sport."^[4]

At the age of 18, Van Damme opened up the California Gym in Brussels, which one article claimed brought in $15,000 a month ^[4]. Van Damme was first seen on screen in the French-made Rue Barbare, released in 1984, followed in the same year with Monaco Forever, where he was credited as ('Gay Karate Man').

This gave Van Damme the impetus to give up his profitable fitness business in favor of acting. He left for America in the early 1980s (having first tried Hong Kong), initially sleeping in a rented car and doing odd jobs until he broke into film^[4].

Acting career

Early films

He appeared as an extra in Breakin during one of the breakdance scenes.

In 1985, he played Ivan Krushensky in No Retreat, No Surrender, which starred Kurt McKinney in the main role.

Van Damme was scheduled to play the part of the camouflaged extraterrestrial monster in the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Predator, but wearing the heavy alien costume in the jungle was too difficult, and Van Damme, unhappy with his role, left the production. How he left the picture is disputed: some sources say he quit,^{[citation needed]} others say he was replaced when the character was revised. Van Damme claims he intentionally got fired so he could move on to other movies.

Van Damme's breakthrough role came in Bloodsport, a film that earned him a nomination as "Worst New Star" in the 1988 Golden Raspberry Awards. The critics were unimpressed, but Bloodsport proved to be Van Damme's stepping stone to more lucrative roles. The movie became a cult classic and is seen as one of the major contributors to the rise in popularity of Mixed Martial Arts.^{[citation needed]}

Van Damme became well known for his ability to do full splits while performing stunts, and his better than average flexibility, even for a martial arts practitioner. Many of his movies feature scenes showcasing him performing such splits. He was once known to train daily with Minh-Tri Dang.

Mainstream movies

Van Damme worked his way up to Hollywood mainstream in the 1990s, often working with acclaimed foreign directors. Notable movies include Kickboxer (1989), Double Impact (1991), Universal Soldier (1992), Nowhere to Run (1993), Hard Target (1993),Sudden Death (1995) and his most critically acclaimed work, Timecop (1994). Many of these roles included doppelgänger or Lazarus themes involving Van Damme's characters, an aspect unusual for the action movie genre.

Van Damme became an action superstar and martial arts legend. Van Damme's films have made him a worldwide superstar and one of the greatest action heroes of all time.

Later career

By the end of the 1990s, Van Damme's high-profile career had faded but he continues to star in smaller, often direct-to-video movies. One of the main reasons for the downfall was his film Double Team which co-starred Dennis Rodman.^{[citation needed]} After that Van Damme's film begin to tank at the box office. Knock Off and Legionnaire were two of his films that tanked at the box office. He tried to jump start his falling career by doing a sequel to one of his more succesful films, Universal Soldier. Universal Soldier: The Return did not do well at the box office or with his fans. After the failure of Universal Soldier:The Return, he started to star in direct to video films, such as Replicant and Derailed. Fans and critics do say that Van Damme's acting has improved recently with films like Wake of Death and In Hell.^{[citation needed]} Van Damme's more recent films, Second in Command and The Hard Corps have featured less action and more drama, which bothers fans.^{[citation needed]} His movies have earned over $ 1 billion worldwide, earning him a place in the action movie world along with others like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1998, Van Damme and his former bodyguard Chuck Zito were involved in a fist-fight at a New York strip-tease bar called Scores. The event became notorious in the news and a scandal for Van Damme.

Health issues

He had troubles with cocaine during 1993, entering a month-long rehab program in 1996, but leaving it only after a week. ^[5] He is also reported to have experienced bipolar disorder. ^[5] A turning point in his health issues came in late 1997, after having signed divorce papers charging him with spousal abuse and drug addiction.

Bipolar disorder

Quoted in the January 30 2006 edition of the Australian Woman's Day magazine:

The former action hero says he had bipolar disorder, but didn't know it until he became suicidal. He was diagnosed with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder and was placed on sodium valproate, which he calls "that simple salt".

On-screen nudity

Van Damme has had nude appearances in many of his films, though his nudity has only been shown from the rear. He first appeared nude in Bloodsport, with numerous such appearances in his subsequent films, including a lengthy one in Universal Soldier.

Van Damme has expressed pride in his body and especially his posterior, often citing the appeal of his body. Van Damme is on record as saying, "If you have a decent body why not show it? I'm very proud of my butt." This was the subject of parody in the television show Friends, where Van Damme, guest-starring as himself, flirts with a main character by announcing "I can crush a walnut with my butt."

An "abstract thinker"

In the French-speaking world, Van Damme is well-known for the picturesque aphorisms that he delivers on a wide range of topics (personal well-being, ecology, etc.) in a strange mixture of French and English. [2] He is especially well-known for his use of the English word aware when speaking French. While delivering an interview for a French channel, he indeed used the Englishword "aware" in order to introduce the notion of self-awareness as a key of success.

Marriages

Van Damme has been married four times, including two marriages with his current wife, bodybuilder and fitness competitor Gladys Portugues.

• Cynthia Derderian (1985 - 1985) (divorced)
• Gladys Portugues (1986 - 1992) (divorced) 2 children
• Darcy LaPier (3 February 1994 - November 1997) (divorced) 1 child
• Gladys Portugues (25 June 1999 - present)

Filmography

Footnotes

External links

• Jean-Claude Van Damme at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Jean-Claude Van Damme site (English)
• French website of Jean-Claude Van Damme (French)

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