Jean-Claude Van Damme

**Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg** (born 18 October 1960), professionally known as **Jean-Claude Van Damme** and abbreviated as **JCVD**, is a Belgian actor, martial artist, screenwriter, film producer, and director best known for his martial arts action films.

## Early life

Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, on 18 October 1960, in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, the son of Eliana and Eugène Van Varenberg, who was an accountant and florist. His father is Walloon (French-speaking) from Brussels, and his mother is Flemish (Dutch-speaking).

He began martial arts at the age of ten, enrolled by his father in a Shotokan karate school. His styles consist of Shotokan Karate and Kickboxing. He eventually earned his black belt in karate at 18. He started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title. At the age of 16, he took up ballet, which he studied for five years. According to Van Damme, ballet "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." Later he took up both Taekwondo and Muay Thai.

## Martial arts career

At the age of 12, Van Damme joined the *Centre National De Karaté* (National Center of Karate) under the guidance of Claude Goetz in
Belgium. Van Damme trained for four years and he earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team; later training in full-contact karate and
kickboxing with Dominique Valera.

Semi-contact karate career
At the age of 15, Van Damme started his competitive karate career in Belgium. From 1976 to 1980, Van Damme compiled a record of 44 victories and 4 defeats in tournament and non-tournament semi-contact matches.

Van Damme was a member of the Belgium Karate Team when it won the European Karate Championship on 26 December 1979 at La Coupe Francois
Persoons Karate Tournament in Brussels.

Van Damme placed second at the Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials). At the 3-day tournament, Van Damme defeated 25
opponents before losing in the finals to fellow team-mate Angelo Spataro.

1980 Forest National match
On 8 March 1980, in Brussels, Belgium, Van Damme competed against his former team-mate Patrick Teugels at the Forest National Arena on the undercard of the Dan Macaruso-Dominique Valera Professional Karate Association Light-Heavyweight World Championship bout. Prior to this match, Teugels had defeated Van Damme twice by decision, including a match for the Belgium Lightweight Championship. Van Damme
had a 1977 victory over Teugels. Teugels was coming off an impressive showing at the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations
World Championships four months earlier, and was favored by some to win this match. According to reports, and Patrick Teugels' own interview (with photos), Teugels lost to Van Damme by TKO in the 1st round. Teugels was kicked in the nose and was unable to continue as a result. In a 2013 interview, Van Damme called this fight his most memorable match.

Kickboxing and full-contact karate career
Van Damme began his full-contact career in 1977, when Claude Goetz promoted the first ever full-contact karate tournament in Belgium.

From 1977 to 1982, Van Damme compiled a record of 18 victories (18 knockouts) and 1 defeat. He was even named "Mr. Belgium" in a bodybuilding competition.

In 1980, Van Damme caught the attention of *Professional Karate Magazine's* publisher and editor Mike Anderson, and multiple European champion Geert Lemmens. Both men tabbed Van Damme as an upcoming prospect. Van Damme retired from competition in 1982.

Since 2009, Van Damme has been planning to make a comeback to fight former boxing Olympic gold-medalist Somluck Kamsing. The fight was a focal point in his ITV reality show *Jean Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors*. In December 2012, Van Damme was seen as part of Kam Sing's ring crew, when Kam Sing fought against Jomhod Kiatadisak.

## Film and television career

*Main article: Filmography*
In 1982, Van Damme and childhood friend Michel Qissi moved to the United States in the hope of becoming action stars. They were both cast as extras in the film, *Breakin'*. Van Damme also had a non-speaking part as a Secret Service agent who carries a polio-crippled President Franklin Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy) out of a pool in the 1988 TV miniseries *War and Remembrance.* After a small part in *Missing In Action*, Van Damme was next cast in the film *No Retreat, No Surrender*, as the role of the villain, Ivan the Russian. Van Damme worked for director John McTiernan for the 1987 film *Predator* as an early (eventually abandoned) version of the titular alien, before being removed and replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.