Jean-Claude Van Damme

**Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg** (; ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as **Jean-Claude Van Damme** (; ), is a Belgian martial artist, actor, and filmmaker. Nicknamed "**The Muscles from Brussels**", he is widely regarded as an icon of action and martial arts cinema. Van Damme's films have grossed over $3.3 billion worldwide, making him one of the most successful action stars of all time.

## Early life

Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to earn his black belt in karate at the age of eighteen, and the rank of 2nd-dan black belt. He competed in several karate and kickboxing competitions, and was a member of the Belgium Karate Team when it won the European Karate Championship on 26 December 1979.   At the age of 16, he took up ballet, which he studied for five years. He started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978. In 1979, he opened a gym called "_California Gym_" in Brussels.

## Acting career

With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film _Bloodsport_ (1988). The film introduced his trademark splits and spinning 360˚ heel kick to an American audience. Van Damme became a popular action film star and followed up with commercially successful films such as _Cyborg_ (1989), _Kickboxer_ (1989), _Lionheart_ (1990), _Death Warrant_ (1990), _Double Impact_ (1991), _Universal Soldier_ (1992), _Nowhere to Run_ (1993), _Hard Target_ (1993), _Timecop_ (1994), _Street Fighter_ (1994), _Sudden Death_ (1995), _The Quest_ (1996), which marked his directorial debut, and _Maximum Risk_ (1996). At the height of his career, he was one of the biggest action movie stars in the world, and one of the most successful martial arts actors of the 1980s and 1990s, alongside Steven Seagal.
Van Damme was also considered a sex symbol.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, his popularity declined. He mostly appeared in limited theatrical releases or direct-to-video films. During this time, he starred in _Replicant_ (2001), for which he was nominated for a Video Premiere Award for Best Actor. The film is considered the best outing from within Van Damme's direct-to-video career. He returned to prominence with the critically acclaimed crime drama _JCVD_ (2008). After _JCVD_, he began mixing things up, starring in comedies, and voicing kids animations, all the while keeping the action going. His big return to the action genre was in _The Expendables 2_ (2012), in which he starred as the villain, opposite Sylvester Stallone. From thereon Van Damme continued starring in action films and doing extensive voice work.

## Public image and influence

Van Damme is widely regarded as an icon of action and martial arts cinema. At the height of his career, he was one of the biggest action movie stars in the world, and one of the most successful martial arts actors of the 1980s and 1990s, alongside Steven Seagal. Van Damme's influence has been compared to the Bruceploitation explosion of the 1970s.

Van Damme achieved sex symbol status through publicity venues in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Unlike his major rivals in action film, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal, and Bruce Willis, Van Damme was nominated by the _National Enquirer_ as number one on their "Top Ten Sexiest Men in the World" list, being the only action film star listed.

Many martial artists, athletes, and filmmakers have cited Van Damme as an influence, such as Alain Moussi, Scott Adkins, Dave Callaham, Adam Brody, Jay Cutler, Lyoto Machida, Michael Page, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, Conor McGregor, Jiří Procházka, Mirko Cro Cop, James P. Bennett, Rico Verhoeven, Tom Duquesnoy, John Albert, Charles Rosa, Murad Ramazanov,  Halil Amir, Andrei Stoica, Giorgio Petrosyan, Alfie Davis, Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu, and Angela Chang.

## Personal life

Among his acting heroes growing up were Charles Bronson, Bruce Lee, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Steve McQueen, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Sylvester Stallone.

Van Damme stands at a height of 175 cm (5 ft 9 in). His weight is 84 kg (185 lb).

He was married to Maria Rodriguez from 1980 until they divorced in 1984. Then he was married to Cynthia Derderian from 1985 until they divorced in 1986. He then married Gladys Portugues, for the first time, from 1987 until they divorced in 1992. He was married to Darcy LaPier from 1994 until they divorced in 1997. Then he remarried Gladys Portugues in 1999. He has three children. In 2022, he was living in Hong Kong. Van Damme has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

## Film

|scope="col"|Year|scope="col"|Title|scope="col"|Role|scope="col" class="unsortable"|Notes|scope="col" class="unsortable"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_Woman Between Wolf and Dog_|Movie Goer / Man in Garden|Uncredited extra|style="text-align:center;"|||||||
|_Breakin_|Spectator in First Dance Sequence|Uncredited extra||||||||
|_Missing in Action_|Soldier|Uncredited extra; also stunt||||||||
|_Monaco Forever_|Gay Karate Man|Short film; cameo||||||||
|_No Retreat, No Surrender_|Ivan "The Russian" Kraschinsky|||||||||
|_Bloodsport_|Frank Dux|Also uncredited editor||||||||
|_Predator_||Uncredited body double only||||||||
|_Black Eagle_|Andrei|||||||||
|_Cyborg_|Gibson Rickenbacker|Also uncredited editor||||||||
|_Kickboxer_|Kurt Sloane|Also story, fight director and fight choreographer||||||||
|_Lionheart_|Lyon "Lionheart" Gaultier|Also writer/story and fight choreographer||||||||
|_Death Warrant_|Detective Louis Burke|||||||||
|_Double Impact_|Alex Wagner / Chad Wagner|Dual role; also writer/story, producer and fight choreographer||||||||
|_Universal Soldier_|Private Luc Deveraux / GR44|||||||||
|_Nowhere to Run_|Sam Gillen|||||||||
|_Last Action Hero_|Himself|Cameo||||||||
|_Hard Target_|Chance Boudreaux|||||||||
|_Timecop_|Agent Max Walker / Agent Max Walker|Dual role||||||||
|_Street Fighter_|Colonel William F. Guile|||||||||
|_Sudden Death_|Chief Darren Francis Thomas McCord|||||||||
|_The Quest_|Christopher Dubois|Also director and story||||||||
|_Maximum Risk_|Detective Alain Moreau / Mikhail Suverov|Dual role||||||||
|_Double Team_|Agent Jack Paul Quinn|||||||||
|_Knock Off_|Marcus Ray|||||||||
|_Legionnaire_|Alain Lefèvre|Direct-to-video; also story and producer||||||||
|_Universal Soldier: The Return_|Private Luc Deveraux|Also producer||||||||
|_Inferno_|Eddie Lomax|Limited release; also producer||||||||
|_Replicant_|Edward "The Torch" Garrotte / The Replicant|Direct-to-video; dual role||||||||
|_The Order_|Rudy Cafmeyer / Charles Le Vaillant|Direct-to-video; dual role; also writer||||||||
|_Derailed_|Agent Jacques Kristoff|Direct-to-video||||||||
|_In Hell_|Kyle LeBlanc|Direct-to-video||||||||
|_Narco_|Jean's Ghost by Lenny|||||||||
|_Wake of Death_|Ben Archer|Direct-to-video||||||||
|_Second in Command_|Commander Samuel "Sam" Keenan|Direct-to-video||||||||
|_The Hard Corps_|Philippe Sauvage|Direct-to-video; also uncredited fight choreographer||||||||
|_The Exam_|Charles|||||||||
|_Until Death_|Detective Anthony Stowe|Direct-to-video||||||||
|_The Shepherd: Border Patrol_|Detective Jack Robideaux|Direct-to-video||||||||
|_JCVD_|Himself|Limited release; also executive producer||||||||
|_Universal Soldier: Regeneration_|Private Luc Deveraux|Limited release||||||||
|_Kung Fu Panda 2_|Master Croc|Voice role||||||||
|_Assassination Games_|Vincent Brazil|Limited release; also executive producer||||||||
|_Beur sur la ville_|Colonel Merot|Cameo||||||||
|_Rzhevsky versus Napoleon_|Himself|Cameo||||||||
|_Dragon Eyes_|Jean-Louis Tiano|Limited release||||||||
|_The Expendables 2_|Jean Vilain|||||||||
|_Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning_|Private Luc Deveraux|Limited release||||||||
|_Six Bullets_|Samson Gaul|Direct-to-video; also executive producer||||||||
|_U.F.O._|George|Limited release||||||||
|_Welcome to the Jungle_|Storm Rothschild|Limited release||||||||
|_Enemies Closer_|Xander|Limited release||||||||
|_Swelter_|Stillman|Direct-to-video||||||||
|_Pound of Flesh_|Agent Deacon Lyle|Limited release; also executive producer||||||||
|_Jian Bing Man_|Himself|Cameo||||||||
|_Kung Fu Panda 3_|Master Croc|Voice role||||||||
|_Kickboxer: Vengeance_|Master Durand|Limited release||||||||
|_Kill 'Em All_|Philip|Direct-to-video||||||||
|_Kickboxer: Retaliation_|Master Durand|Limited release; also executive producer||||||||
|_Black Water_|Agent Scott Wheeler|Limited release; also executive producer||||||||
|_The Bouncer_|Lukas|Limited release||||||||
|_We Die Young_|Daniel|Limited release; also executive producer||||||||
|_The Last Mercenary_|Agent Richard Brumère / The Mist|||||||||
|_Haters_|Le fan de Thomas|||||||||
|_Minions: The Rise of Gru_|Jean Clawed|Voice role||||||||
|_Darkness of Man_|Agent Russell Hatch|Streaming releases; also story and executive producer||||||||
|_Kill 'Em All 2_|Philip|Streaming releases; also executive producer||||||||
|_The Gardener_|Leo|||||||||
|_Frenchy_|Frenchy|Also writer, director, producer and editor; _completed_||||||||

## Music video

|scope="col"|Year|scope="col"|Title|scope="col"|Role|scope="col"|Performer|scope="col"|Notes|scope="col"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|"Body Count's in the House"|Himself|Body Count|Uncredited cameo|||||||||
|"Time Won't Let Me"|Himself|The Smithereens||||||||||

## Video game

|scope="col"|Year|scope="col"|Title|scope="col"|Voice role|scope="col"|Notes|scope="col"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_Street Fighter: The Movie_|Colonel William F. Guile|Live action full-motion video||||||||

## Infobox (martial artist)

- **name**: Jean-Claude Van Damme
- **image**: Van Damme Cannes (cropped).jpg
- Van_Damme_Cannes_(cropped)
- **caption**: Van Damme in Cannes
- **birth name**: Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg
- **birth place**: Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Brussels-Capital Region, Brussels-Capital, Belgium
- **height**: 5 ft 9 in
- **weight**: 185 lbs
- **weight class**: Middleweight
- **style**: Karate, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo
- **fighting out of**: Brussels, Belgium
- **team**: Team Goetz
- **rank**: 2nd Dan Black Belt in Karate
- **trainer**: Claude Goetz
 Dominique Valera
- **kickbox win**: 18
- **kickbox kowin**: 18
- **kickbox loss**: 1
- **am win**: 44
- **am loss**: 4
- **years active**: 1976–1982 (martial arts)
 1979–present (acting)
- **children**: 3