Jean-Claude Van Damme
Date of birth: 1960-10-18
Place of birth: Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium
Known for: Acting
Also known as: JCVD, The Muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude van Varenbergh, Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg, Ζαν-Κλοντ Βαν Νταμ, Ζαν Κλοντ Βαν Νταμ, Βαν Νταμ, 尚格·云顿, 장 끌로드 반담, ژان-کلود ون دام, ژان کلود ون دام
Biography
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).
Movie Credits
Cyborg
1989-04-07
A martial artist hunts a killer in a plague-infested urban dump of the future.
Kickboxer
1989-04-20
If your enemy refuses to be humbled... Destroy him. Accompanied by his brother Kurt, American kickbo
Replicant
2001-05-11
Scientists create a genetic clone of a serial killer in order to help catch the killer, teaming up w
Legionnaire
1998-12-03
Alain Lefevre is a boxer paid by a Marseille mobster to take a dive. When he wins the fight he attem
Universal Soldier: The Return
1999-08-05
Luc Deveraux, the heroic former Universal Soldier, is about to be thrown into action once again. Whe
Hard Target
1993-04-27
When a woman's father goes missing, she enlists a local to aid in her search. The pair soon discove
Nowhere to Run
1993-01-15
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict
Inferno
1999-09-25
Eddie Lomax is a drifter who has been in a suicidal funk since the death of his close friend Johnny.
Maximum Risk
1996-09-13
Alain Moreau's investigation into the death of his identical twin brother leads him from the beauty
Until Death
2007-01-19
Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious acciden
Bloodsport
1988-02-26
An American Army Major goes AWOL to Hong Kong for an outlawed martial arts contest called the Kumite
Street Fighter
1994-12-23
Colonel Guile and various other martial arts heroes fight against the tyranny of dictator M. Bison a
The Shepherd: Border Patrol
2008-03-04
A Texas cop battles ex-navy seals who are trying to traffic drugs from Mexico into the USA.
Timecop
1994-09-15
In 2004, an officer for a security agency that regulates time travel must fend for his life against
Sudden Death
1995-10-27
When a man's daughter is suddenly taken during a championship hockey game – with the captors demandi
The Quest
1996-04-19
Ghang-gheng, the ancient winner-take-all competition in which the deadliest fighters from around the
Double Impact
1991-07-31
Jean Claude Van Damme plays a dual role as Alex and Chad, twins separated at the death of their pare
Universal Soldier
1992-07-10
An American soldier who had been killed during the Vietnam War is revived 25 years later by the mili
Lionheart
1990-06-07
Lyon Gaultier is a deserter in the Foreign Legion arriving in the USA entirely hard up. He finds his
Double Team
1997-04-04
A CIA agent is interned for failing to kill an international terrorist. Escaping from his island exi
No Retreat, No Surrender
1986-05-02
The mob is trying to strongarm local martial arts schools, forcing young Jason Stillwell and his fam
The Hard Corps
2005-07-29
An Army veteran assembles a team of bodyguards to protect a former boxer. Complications arise when t
JCVD
2008-06-04
Between his tax problems and his legal battle with his wife for the custody of his daughter, these a
Universal Soldier: Regeneration
2009-10-01
When terrorists threaten nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl, the world's only hope is to reactivate de
Wake of Death
2004-12-28
Ben Archer, an ex-mob enforcer, seeks revenge against a ruthless Chinese kingpin responsible for his
Haters
2021-12-03
Internet humor star Thomas the Lama gets out of hand in a video. He becomes the target of all haters
The Order
2001-05-05
When Rudy, an artifacts smuggler, goes to Jerusalem to rescue his kidnapped archeologist father, he
Knock Off
1998-09-04
A fashion designer and his CIA agent business partner must join forces to stop a group of terrorists
Dolph: Unbreakable
This documentary explores Dolph Lundgren’s journey from his childhood in Sweden to becoming an inter
Death Warrant
1990-09-14
Canadian policeman Louis Burke is assigned in a jail to investigate the murders of prisoners and jai
Derailed
2002-05-19
NATO operative Jacques Kristoff (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is summoned into action—on his birthday, no
Black Eagle
1988-05-01
One of the US Air Force's most modern tactical aircrafts, an F-100 with a new laser guidance system,
Kung Fu Panda 2
2011-05-25
Po and his friends fight to stop a peacock villain from conquering China with a deadly new weapon, b
Second in Command
2006-05-02
Armed insurgents attempt a coup d'etat in a troubled Eastern European country, and the president fle
In Hell
2003-11-24
A man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the warden's entertainm
Assassination Games
2011-07-28
Brazil is a contract killer, willing to take any job if the price is right. Flint left the assassin
Full Love
2010-05-13
Military veteran and former mercenary, FRENCHY works as a taxi driver, and hiding in Bangkok, picks
Corporal vs. Napoleon
2012-01-25
Napoleon has decided to declare war to the world. When he approaches Moscow, the Russian military tr
The Expendables 2
2012-08-08
Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men i
Monaco Forever
1984-01-01
An American jewel thief in Monaco encounters various characters while trying to set up a robbery.
What's My Name?
Dragon Eyes
2012-05-10
In St. Jude, drug dealers and corrupt cops have destroyed an urban neighborhood. But newcomer, Hong,
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
2012-10-04
After his wife and daughter are murdered in a home invasion, a widower named John now finds himself
6 Bullets
2012-09-11
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose da
U.F.O.
2012-12-15
A group of friends awake one morning to find all electricity and power shut off and an immense alien
Welcome to the Jungle
2013-04-27
A company retreat on a tropical island goes terribly awry.
Enemies Closer
2013-12-04
After a major shipment of drugs goes missing on the US-Canadian border, forest ranger and former Nav
Swelter
2014-04-20
Ten years after their casino heist, four escaped convicts trace their former partner to a desert tow
Kill 'em All 2
2024-09-24
Phillip and Suzanne are retired from the spy game, living peacefully off the grid. That's until thei
Dans la peau de Jean-Claude Van Damme
2003-05-07
If you want to find out how it is being Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Kickboxer: Vengeance
2016-07-14
Eric and Kurt Sloane are the descendants of a well-known Venice, California-based family of martial
Pound of Flesh
2015-05-07
In China to donate his kidney to his dying niece, former black-ops agent Deacon awakes the day befor
Silent Kill
A hidden treasure in the Congo has been found by a group of mercenaries. They will bury it and all a
Darkness of Man
2024-05-07
Russell Hatch, an Interpol operative who takes on the role of father figure to Jayden, the son of an
The Gardener
2025-01-30
Every year the Prime Minister has a list of all kinds of troublemakers eliminated in the name of the
Days of Reckoning: The Making of Universal Soldier 4
2013-01-22
Feature length candid look into the making of the film "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning."
Kung Fu Panda 3
2016-01-23
While Po and his father are visiting a secret panda village, an evil spirit threatens all of China,
Breakin'
1984-05-04
A struggling young dancer joins forces with two breakdancers and together they become a street sensa
Narco
2004-12-01
Gustave Klopp suffers from narcolepsy, he can fall asleep everwhere at anytime whithout warning. Liv
Albert Pyun: King of Cult Movies
2023-11-26
Albert Pyun: King of Cult Movies tells the story of a true renegade and his love for filmmaking, a f
Beur sur la ville
2011-10-11
25-year-old Khalid Belkacem has failed at everything: college education, summer camp instructor's pe
Heist School
2006-10-20
Five high school students plans to steal University Entrance Exam booklets.
Kickboxer: Retaliation
2018-01-26
One year after the events of "Kickboxer: Vengeance", Kurt Sloan has vowed never to return to Thailan
Woman Between Wolf and Dog
1979-06-04
Lieve is a Belgian woman who marries just as World War II is beginning. When the Germans invade, her
Street of the Damned
1984-01-04
In a desolate Paris suburb, no one dares challenge crime boss Hagen, who rules his turf with an iron
Kill 'em All
2017-06-06
After a massive shootout, a mysterious stranger arrives at a local hospital on the brink of death. T
Black Water
2018-05-18
A deep cover operative awakens to find himself imprisoned on a submarine. With the help of a fellow
The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films
2014-10-22
Cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus relive the creation, rise and fall of their independent film
Jian Bing Man
2015-07-17
Beijing, the present day. Popular TV personality Da Peng is invited by gangster businessman Wang Hai
The Bouncer
2018-08-22
A tough nightclub bouncer struggling to raise his 8-year-old daughter is forced to go undercover aft
We Die Young
2019-05-09
Lucas, a 14-year-old boy inducted into the gang life in Washington D.C., is determined that his 10-y
Last Action Hero
1993-06-18
After his father's death, a young boy finds solace in action movies featuring an indestructible cop.
The Making of Double Impact, Parts 1 & 2
2019-05-28
Jean-Claude van Damme, Sheldon Lettich and more discuss the 1991 film "Double Impact" from inception
Minions: The Rise of Gru
2022-06-29
A fanboy of a supervillain supergroup known as the Vicious 6, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enou
Universal Soldier: A Tale of Two Titans
2004-10-19
Biography style segment that gives us some interesting background information on Van Damme and Lundg
Guns, Genes & Fighting Machines: The Making of 'Universal Soldier'
2004-10-19
Retrospective documentary on the making of the film Universal Soldier (1992).
In Search of the Last Action Heroes
2019-09-01
The most comprehensive retrospective of the '80s action film genre ever made.
The Last Mercenary
2021-07-30
A legendary secret service agent comes out of hiding and returns to France to help the son he's neve
Monsieur Jean-Claude
2021-07-15
Jean-Claude Van Damme is back, and this time it's personal. Seventy-two photograms constructed from
Missing in Action
1984-11-16
American servicemen are still being held captive in Vietnam and it's up to one man to bring them hom
All the Love You Cannes!
2002-05-16
Known for what must be the cheapest and cheesiest of the indie film world, Troma films takes on Cann
Spaten
2024-06-05
Slinger
2011-03-11
Set in a post-apocalyptic future where starvation and disease are plaguing the few remaining inhabit
Bloodsport
Sensation: Cruise
2025-06-28
Mykola Kuńko works as an unlucky TV reporter in early 2000s Ukraine. Together with his trusty camera
Ultrarêve
2020-08-28
Jean-Claude Van Damme drives a car into an empty out-of-the-way parking lot. As the song Ultrarêve b