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Birth name
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg
Nickname
Muscles from Brussels
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Mini biography
When Jean-Claude Van Damme became an international film star, there was some debate as to his ring accomplishments. Former multiple World Kickboxing Champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson even offered Jean-Claude a "$100,000" bounty match to get into the ring and fight him. Van Damme brushed off the "challenge" as a publicity stunt. But, the truth of the matter was that Jean-Claude Van Damme had indeed had a kick-boxing career, which turned out to be very successful on the European scene. He fought under his birth name of Jean-Claude Vandenberg. Fighting as a middleweight he captured a version of the European Middleweight Kickboxing Championship in 1980 with a first round knockout which was recorded in less than a minute. His career however, lasted only a few years as his interest lay in a film career. Jean-Claude's record was 12-1 with 12 knockouts.
Mini biography
Born on Oct 18 1960, Jean-Claude Van Damme is the son of Eugene Van Varenberg and Eliana Van Varenberg. "The muscles from Brussels" originally known as Jean-Claude Van Varenberg, started martial arts at the age of 11. His father Eugene Van Varenberg introduced him to martial arts when he saw his son was physically weak. Jean-Claude started with Shotokan Karate and later studied Kickboxing, Taekwon-Do, and Muay Thai. 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.
He came to Hong Kong at the age of 19 for the first time and felt insured to do action movies in Hong Kong. So in 1981 Van Damme left Hong Kong and moved to Los Angeles, where he was trying for 5 years. 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. He gave Van Damme a small role in the movie 'Missing in Action', but it wasn't good enough to get anybody's attention. Then in 1984 he got a role as a villain named Ivan in the low-budget movie _No Retreat, No Surrender (1985)_ .
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 gave him the leading role in Bloodsport (1988). But the movie, filmed in Hong Kong was so bad; when it was completed they shelved it for almost two years. It might have never been released if Van Damme did not help them to recut the film and begged producers to release it. They finally released the film, first in Malaysia and France and then into the U.S. and at last the miracle happened. 'Bloodsport', shot on a meager 1.5 million dollar budget, became a U.S box-office hit in the spring of 1988. It made about 30 million world and audiences supported this film for its new sensational action star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
His martial arts assets, highlighted by his ability to deliver a kick to an opponent's head during a leaping 360-degree turn, and his good looks led to starring roles in higher budgeted movies like Cyborg (1989), Lionheart (1990), Double Impact (1991) and Universal Soldier (1992). It was 1994 when he scored his big breakthrough $100 million worldwide hit Timecop (1994). But in the mean time his personal life was on the edge.
It began to show up in his career when all the anticipated projects from him began to tank in the box office like The Quest (1996/I) (which he directed), Maximum Risk (1996), Double Team (1997); and 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) which did averagely in box office terms, but he tried to give his fans the best, his acting in those movies got better, more emotional and each movie was basically in different action tones.
Trade mark
Thrilling one and all with his 360-degree ultimate leaping & super flying karate kicks.
Trivia
His fight scenes are so intense that he won't film them in the U.S. for fear of being sued.
In 1989, he was sued for "wilfully" gouging the eye of an extra in a swordfight while filming Cyborg (1989).
Won a court case filed against him by martial arts legend Frank Dux, who claimed he collaborated with Van Damme on his 1996 directorial debut The Quest (1996/I), only for Van Damme to deny him any share of the profits. His evidence was lost in an earthquake. Coincidentally, Van Damme played Dux in his debut Bloodsport (1988).
Former European Professional Karate Association middleweight champion.
On July 10, 2000, Van Damme was sentenced to a 90 day anti-drunk-driving class, $1,2000 fine, 3 years probation and a 90 day revocation of his license after pleading no contest in Beverly Hills for a September 23, 1999 DUI arrest.
Once said he learned to speak English by watching the cartoon "The Flintstones" (1960).
In Jesse Ventura's book, he mentions Van Damme as having played Predator (1987) monster until he was fired and replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.
Studied classical ballet for five years
Speaks Flemish, English, French, Spanish and German.
In his late teens he opened a Gym called California Fitness Center.
Was student of Dominique Valera.
Was a European Middle Weight Champion in Karate in his late teens.
Likes classical music and his favorite composer is Beethoven.
He became a European Karate Champion in 1979 and went to USA to win the World Championship. He didn't win. Few months later he had a rematch with the opponent he lost against in World Championship and he won in less than 2 minutes.
Can lift 166 kg on a bench.
Have own production company Long Road Productions (also known as 777 Films Corp).
Was the original choice to play the title character in Predator (1987).
Related to Screenwriter Adam Burnett through marriage.
Former sparring partner of Chuck Norris in the early 80s.
Children: Kristopher (b. 1987) and Bianca (b. 1990) with Gladys Portugues; son Nicholas (b. 1995) with 'Darcy La Pier' .
He was the inspiration for the character "Johnny Cage" from Mortal Kombat. One of "Johnny Cage's" special moves was where he did the splits and punched his oppenent in the groin, as seen when Van Damme's character, Frank Dux, punches his large sumo opponent in Bloodsport (1988).
Under mounds of make-up, he was going to play the title alien villain in "Predator," having even been on set for the shoot, but was replaced by Kevin Peter Hall (who, incidentally, was a foot and a half taller than Van Damme) when director John McTiernan and producer Joel Silver decided to go in a different direction.
As the original choice to play the role of the alien hunter itself in the movie 'Predator', he hit a few personal snags. For starters, he was not happy with the fact that his face would not be shown on camera, and that he would be having an uncredited special fx role. He was also not fond of the original monster suit...he frequently passed out due to heat exhaustion. Because he complained so much and was very uncooperative, he was fired from the film. When Stan Winston's Predator design came in, Kevin Peter Hall was chosen to play the title role and filled it perfectly. Supposedly, Van Damme has no regrets on backing out of the Predator project.
Recently purchased an apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Knocked out Strauss in 18 seconds in 1978.
In 1979 knocked-out Leibman in one round.
Often states Charlie Chaplin as the first great "action star".
Adopted 'Van Damme' to his name from one of his friend's father name considering it's punchy, short, and clear than his original name 'Van Veren Berg'.
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg
Nickname
Muscles from Brussels
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Mini biography
When Jean-Claude Van Damme became an international film star, there was some debate as to his ring accomplishments. Former multiple World Kickboxing Champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson even offered Jean-Claude a "$100,000" bounty match to get into the ring and fight him. Van Damme brushed off the "challenge" as a publicity stunt. But, the truth of the matter was that Jean-Claude Van Damme had indeed had a kick-boxing career, which turned out to be very successful on the European scene. He fought under his birth name of Jean-Claude Vandenberg. Fighting as a middleweight he captured a version of the European Middleweight Kickboxing Championship in 1980 with a first round knockout which was recorded in less than a minute. His career however, lasted only a few years as his interest lay in a film career. Jean-Claude's record was 12-1 with 12 knockouts.
Mini biography
Born on Oct 18 1960, Jean-Claude Van Damme is the son of Eugene Van Varenberg and Eliana Van Varenberg. "The muscles from Brussels" originally known as Jean-Claude Van Varenberg, started martial arts at the age of 11. His father Eugene Van Varenberg introduced him to martial arts when he saw his son was physically weak. Jean-Claude started with Shotokan Karate and later studied Kickboxing, Taekwon-Do, and Muay Thai. 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.
He came to Hong Kong at the age of 19 for the first time and felt insured to do action movies in Hong Kong. So in 1981 Van Damme left Hong Kong and moved to Los Angeles, where he was trying for 5 years. 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. He gave Van Damme a small role in the movie 'Missing in Action', but it wasn't good enough to get anybody's attention. Then in 1984 he got a role as a villain named Ivan in the low-budget movie _No Retreat, No Surrender (1985)_ .
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 gave him the leading role in Bloodsport (1988). But the movie, filmed in Hong Kong was so bad; when it was completed they shelved it for almost two years. It might have never been released if Van Damme did not help them to recut the film and begged producers to release it. They finally released the film, first in Malaysia and France and then into the U.S. and at last the miracle happened. 'Bloodsport', shot on a meager 1.5 million dollar budget, became a U.S box-office hit in the spring of 1988. It made about 30 million world and audiences supported this film for its new sensational action star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
His martial arts assets, highlighted by his ability to deliver a kick to an opponent's head during a leaping 360-degree turn, and his good looks led to starring roles in higher budgeted movies like Cyborg (1989), Lionheart (1990), Double Impact (1991) and Universal Soldier (1992). It was 1994 when he scored his big breakthrough $100 million worldwide hit Timecop (1994). But in the mean time his personal life was on the edge.
It began to show up in his career when all the anticipated projects from him began to tank in the box office like The Quest (1996/I) (which he directed), Maximum Risk (1996), Double Team (1997); and 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) which did averagely in box office terms, but he tried to give his fans the best, his acting in those movies got better, more emotional and each movie was basically in different action tones.
Trade mark
Thrilling one and all with his 360-degree ultimate leaping & super flying karate kicks.
Trivia
His fight scenes are so intense that he won't film them in the U.S. for fear of being sued.
In 1989, he was sued for "wilfully" gouging the eye of an extra in a swordfight while filming Cyborg (1989).
Won a court case filed against him by martial arts legend Frank Dux, who claimed he collaborated with Van Damme on his 1996 directorial debut The Quest (1996/I), only for Van Damme to deny him any share of the profits. His evidence was lost in an earthquake. Coincidentally, Van Damme played Dux in his debut Bloodsport (1988).
Former European Professional Karate Association middleweight champion.
On July 10, 2000, Van Damme was sentenced to a 90 day anti-drunk-driving class, $1,2000 fine, 3 years probation and a 90 day revocation of his license after pleading no contest in Beverly Hills for a September 23, 1999 DUI arrest.
Once said he learned to speak English by watching the cartoon "The Flintstones" (1960).
In Jesse Ventura's book, he mentions Van Damme as having played Predator (1987) monster until he was fired and replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.
Studied classical ballet for five years
Speaks Flemish, English, French, Spanish and German.
In his late teens he opened a Gym called California Fitness Center.
Was student of Dominique Valera.
Was a European Middle Weight Champion in Karate in his late teens.
Likes classical music and his favorite composer is Beethoven.
He became a European Karate Champion in 1979 and went to USA to win the World Championship. He didn't win. Few months later he had a rematch with the opponent he lost against in World Championship and he won in less than 2 minutes.
Can lift 166 kg on a bench.
Have own production company Long Road Productions (also known as 777 Films Corp).
Was the original choice to play the title character in Predator (1987).
Related to Screenwriter Adam Burnett through marriage.
Former sparring partner of Chuck Norris in the early 80s.
Children: Kristopher (b. 1987) and Bianca (b. 1990) with Gladys Portugues; son Nicholas (b. 1995) with 'Darcy La Pier' .
He was the inspiration for the character "Johnny Cage" from Mortal Kombat. One of "Johnny Cage's" special moves was where he did the splits and punched his oppenent in the groin, as seen when Van Damme's character, Frank Dux, punches his large sumo opponent in Bloodsport (1988).
Under mounds of make-up, he was going to play the title alien villain in "Predator," having even been on set for the shoot, but was replaced by Kevin Peter Hall (who, incidentally, was a foot and a half taller than Van Damme) when director John McTiernan and producer Joel Silver decided to go in a different direction.
As the original choice to play the role of the alien hunter itself in the movie 'Predator', he hit a few personal snags. For starters, he was not happy with the fact that his face would not be shown on camera, and that he would be having an uncredited special fx role. He was also not fond of the original monster suit...he frequently passed out due to heat exhaustion. Because he complained so much and was very uncooperative, he was fired from the film. When Stan Winston's Predator design came in, Kevin Peter Hall was chosen to play the title role and filled it perfectly. Supposedly, Van Damme has no regrets on backing out of the Predator project.
Recently purchased an apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Knocked out Strauss in 18 seconds in 1978.
In 1979 knocked-out Leibman in one round.
Often states Charlie Chaplin as the first great "action star".
Adopted 'Van Damme' to his name from one of his friend's father name considering it's punchy, short, and clear than his original name 'Van Veren Berg'.
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