JD
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Actor, Editor, Producer, Director, Writer
Born October 18, 1960 (61 years)
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).
Filmography
| 2022 | Minions: The Rise of Gru · as Jean Clawed (voice) |
| 2021 | The Last Mercenary · as Richard Brumére |
| 2021 | Monsieur Jean-Claude · as (uncredited) |
| 2021 | Haters · as Jean-Claude Van Damme |
| 2019 | We Die Young · as Daniel |
| 2019 | In Search of the Last Action Heroes · as Unknown |
| 2018 | Black Water · as Wheeler |
| 2018 | Kickboxer: Retaliation · as Master Durand |
| 2018 | The Bouncer · as Lukas |
| 2017 | John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs · as actor |
| 2017 | Kill 'Em All · as Philip |
| 2016 | Kung Fu Panda 3 · as Master Croc (voice) |
| 2016 | Kickboxer: Vengeance · as Master Durand |
| 2016 | Jean-Claude Van Johnson (TV Series) · as Johnson |
| 2015 | Pound of Flesh · as Deacon |
| 2015 | Jian Bing Man · as Jean-Claude Van Damme |
| 2014 | Swelter · as Stillman |
| 2014 | Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films · as Gibson Rickenbacker (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 2013 | Welcome to the Jungle · as Storm |
| 2013 | Enemies Closer · as Xander |
| 2012 | The Expendables 2 · as Jean Vilain |
| 2012 | Dragon Eyes · as Tiano |
| 2012 | Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning · as Luc Deveraux |
| 2012 | 6 Bullets · as Samson Gaul |
| 2012 | Alien Uprising · as George |
| 2011 | Kung Fu Panda 2 · as Master Croc (voice) |
| 2011 | Arab on the City · as Colonel Merot |
| 2011 | Jean-Claude Van Damme Behind Closed Doors (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 2011 | Assassination Games · as Vincent Brazil |
| 2009 | Universal Soldier: Regeneration · as Luc Deveraux |
| 2008 | The Shepherd · as Jack Robideaux |
| 2008 | JCVD · as J.C.V.D. |
| 2007 | Until Death · as Anthony Stowe |
| 2006 | The Hard Corps · as Phillippe Sauvage |
| 2006 | Second in Command · as Cmdr. Samuel 'Sam' Keenan |
| 2006 | Heist School · as Charles |
| 2004 | Wake of Death · as Ben Archer |
| 2003 | In Hell · as Kyle LeBlanc |
| 2002 | Derailed · as Jacques Kristoff |
| 2001 | Replicant · as Replicant / Garrotte |
| 2001 | The Order · as Rudy Cafmeyer |
| 2001 | Robot Chicken (TV Series) · as Count Dracula |
| 1999 | Universal Soldier: The Return · as Luc Devereux |
| 1999 | Inferno · as Eddie Lomax |
| 1998 | Legionnaire · as Alain Lefevre |
| 1998 | Knock Off · as Marcus Ray |
| 1997 | Double Team · as Jack Quinn |
| 1996 | Maximum Risk · as Alain Moreau / Mikhail Suverov |
| 1996 | E! True Hollywood Story (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1996 | The Quest · as Christopher Dubois |
| 1995 | Sudden Death · as Darren Francis Thomas McCord |
| 1995 | WCW Monday Nitro (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1994 | Timecop · as Max Walker |
| 1994 | Street Fighter · as Colonel William Guile |
| 1994 | Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor · as Kurt Sloane |
| 1994 | Friends (TV Series) · as Jean-Claude Van Damme |
| 1993 | Hard Target · as Chance Boudreaux |
| 1993 | Last Action Hero · as Jean-Claude Van Damme (uncredited) |
| 1993 | Nowhere to Run · as Sam Gillen |
| 1992 | Universal Soldier · as Luc Deveraux / GR44 |
| 1992 | The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1991 | Double Impact · as Alex / Chad Wagner |
| 1990 | Lionheart · as Leon Gaultier |
| 1990 | Death Warrant · as Louis Burke |
| 1989 | Kickboxer · as Kurt Sloane |
| 1989 | Cyborg · as Gibson Rickenbacker |
| 1988 | Black Eagle · as Andrei |
| 1988 | Bloodsport · as Frank Dux |
| 1985 | No Retreat, No Surrender · as Ivan Kraschinsky "The Russian" |
| 1984 | Breakin' · as Spectator in First Dance Sequence |
| 1984 | Barbarous Street · as Extra in Police Arrival Sequence (uncredited) |
| 1984 | Missing in Action · as Soldier (uncredited) |
| 1979 | Woman Between Wolf and Dog · as Movie Goer / Man in Garden (uncredited) |