Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg born on October 18, 1960 in the municipality of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. His father, Eugene Van Varenberg, half-Fleming, half-Jewish, was an accountant and owner of a flower shop (he spoke French). The mother, a Flemish, spoke the Flemish dialect of the Dutch language. Van Damme was raised Catholic.

He began practicing martial arts at the age of eleven, when his father enrolled him in the Shotokan karate school. At the age of 12, Van Damme continued his studies at Center National De Karate (National Karate Center) under the guidance of a master Claude Goetz in Ixelles, Belgium. He trained for 4 years and earned a place on the Belgian karate team. As a teenager, he won the European Professional Karate Association middleweight championship.

Between 1976 and 1982 he competed in various karate and kickboxing competitions under the name Jean-Claude Van Varenberg. In 1977 at the tournament WAKO Open International in Antwerp, Belgium, he lost a decision to his teammate, Patrick Teugels, in a seven-pin match. At the tournament Challenge De Espoirs Karate Tournament 1978 – took 2nd place in the seven-pin division. During the week-long tournament, he defeated twenty-five opponents, but lost in the final Angelo Spataro. Later in 1978, he lost a three-round match for the Belgian lightweight championship, his second meeting with Patrick Teugels.

In parallel with martial arts, Van Damme trained with weights, and even participated in bodybuilding competitions, taking 3rd place among juniors at the WABBA European Championships in 1978, and first places in his weight and absolute categories at the Belgian Championship.

Having received a loan, he opened his own gym “California Gym“, which became quite popular in Belgium, but served only as a means for the owner to earn money to move to the USA.

In 1979, Jean-Claude went to Tampa, Florida. In his first and only match against an American opponent, he faced Sherman Bergman, a kickboxer from Miami Beach, Florida, and defeated him by knockout in the first minute.

December 26, 1979 at the tournament La Coupe Fancois Persons Karate Tournamentsanctioned by the Brussels Karate Federation, Van Damme was victorious in the final bout, helping his team win the European Team Championship and earn his black belt.

The same year, he played an uncredited role in the Belgian-French drama film Andre Delvaux "Woman between dog and wolf”С Marie-Christine Barrault и Rutger Hauer starring.

In 1980, Jean-Claude Van Damme fought a two-round kickboxing match and knocked out Georges Verlugel. March 8 of the same year, at the championship Forest Nationals in Brussels, Jean-Claude's third meeting took place with Patrick Teugels. He won by technical knockout, becoming the Professional Karate Association light heavyweight champion. Later, he mentioned this fight as the most memorable of his career.

Van Damme retired from the sport in 1982 after knocking out Nejad Gharbi in Brussels, Belgium.

Thus, in full contact competitions he set a record of 18:1 (all victories by knockout), and in seven-contact karate: 44:4.

After spending a short time in Hong Kong, Jean-Claude was inspired by local action films and wanted to star in similar films. To this end, he, together with his childhood friend, Michel Kissi, moved to Los Angeles and for several years tried out for films, while studying English, and working in various types of service industries to support themselves. Their first job was as background extras in the film “Brakedance” (1984), released Cannon Films.

Around the same time, Van Damme became friends with the action star, Chuck Norris. They started training together, Jean-Claude got a job as a bouncer at a bar.”Woody's Wharf“, owned by Norris, and later - a cameo role in the film with Chuck - “Missing” (1984). The same year he played in the short comedy “Monaco forever” .

Film Corey Yuen about martial artsNo retreat, no surrender“, which premiered on May 2, 1986, became Van Damme’s first significant role. He successfully played the antagonist of the main character, and became noticeable to the general public.

In 1987 he worked for the director John McTiernan over the filmPredator“, and was supposed to play the first version of the alien hunter, but after several days of filming he left the project. Subsequently, the role went to Kevin Peter Hall.

Van Damme's breakthrough film was “Bloody sport“, which was released on February 26, 1988, and is based on an alleged true story Frank Dukes. In the spring of 1988, the action film became a box office hit in the United States. The same year he played another villain in “Black Eagle” together with Sho Kosugi.

After the success “Blood sport” Cannon Films offered him a leading role in action films “Delta 2 Squad” ,"American Ninja 3” or "Cyborg” – a cyberpunk martial arts film directed by Albert Pyun. He chose "Cyborg“, which premiered in 1989. The film was a minor box office success, but got sequels in which Jean-Claude no longer participated.

Also in 1989, the action movie “kickboxer” with ZhKVD in the title role. It was a great success: with a budget of 3 million dollars, it brought in more than 50 million. This film marked the beginning of a new franchise. But Van Damme did not appear in any of the four sequels that followed.

In 1990, the premiere of the action films “Death warrant” And "AWOL“. Director of the latter Sheldon Lettich (he also co-wrote the script for “Bloodsport”), noted that it was the first film to demonstrate that Van Damme was more than just a throwaway “karate kid” who would never rise to the level of low-budget karate films.

In 1991, “P "RІRѕR№RЅRѕR№ SѓRґR ° SЂ“, in which Jean-Claude played double roles as different characters. Critics noted his good acting, but the film itself received mixed reviews.

In 1992, together with Dolph Lundgren he starred in one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, “Universal Soldier“. The film was a moderate success domestically, but became a hit worldwide, bringing in a total of over $102 million at the box office against a budget of $23 million.

In 1993, Van Damme played a cameo role in “The last movie hero”С Arnold Schwarzenegger and "Nowhere to run“, which became the first film for Columbia Pictures. The first American action movie was released in the same year. John Woo - "Difficult target“, in which the JCVD replaced Kurt Russell, who was unable to participate in the project due to scheduling.

In 1994 they released “Street Fighter“, which is based on the game of the same name, and “time patrol” Peter Hyams - one of the most commercially successful action films starring Van Damme at the time. The following year he collaborated with Hyams again on the thriller "Sudden death“, but the result of this cooperation was quite modest.

In 1996, Jean-Claude starred in the martial arts film “In search of adventures“. It did not show good results domestically, but international distribution became extremely successful. Also, this year the action movie “Maximum risk” – the first American film Ringo Lama, which marked the beginning of their collaboration. In the same year there was a cameo by JCVD in the popular TV series “Friends” .

In 1997, the premiere of the science fiction thriller “The colony“, in which Van Damme played alongside the basketball superstar, Dennis Rodman. This was the first American film Tsui Harka. Their next joint project in 1998 called “Fuse” – failed at the box office. Released in the same year “Legionnaire” Peter MacDonald, despite a solid budget, also did not gain success, and did not even appear at the box office in the United States.

The series of commercial failures continued in the films “Inferno” (1999),"Universal Soldier 2: Return” (1999),"The secret of the order” (2001),"Replicant” (2001),"derailed” (2002),"In hell” (2003),"Waking Death” (2004), and “To death” (2007).

Van Damme returned to the mainstream with the limited release of the 2008 pseudo-realistic drama "J.K.V.D.“, which received positive reviews. Time magazine named his performance in the film the second best of the year (behind Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight), having previously stated that he "deserves not a black belt, but an Oscar“. In the same year he appeared in the film Isaac Florentine - "Special task” .

Jean-Claude then reprized his role alongside Dolph Lundgren in the 2009 film “Universal Soldier 3: Rebirth” John Hyams. The action film was released in theaters in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and was also released on video in the United States and other parts of the world. Received positive reviews for the direction of the fight scenes and the overall dynamics of the plot.

In 2010, the film had its first limited screening at the Cannes Film Festival.Eagle Way“, written, produced, edited and directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme. However, the work did not find a distributor. Later the film was completed and renamed “Soldiers“, and then - in “Total love“, but the project still did not interest distributors. The current title of the upcoming action film, which also stars Van Damme's children, Christopher Van Varenberg и Bianca Bree - "Frenchman“, and it's still in post-production.

The next two years were productive for the “Muscles from Brussels”. In 2011, he voiced Master Croc in the animated film “Kung Fu Panda 2“, and starred in the action thriller “Killer games” with Scott Adkins. This was the first film in 10 years to be shown widely. It received mixed reviews, but slightly rehabilitated the actor in the eyes of the viewer. During the same period, another film was released in collaboration with John Hyams - "dragon eyes“, in which, in addition to Van Damme, he starred Kung Le. There was also a comedyNice town” and his own show – “Behind closed doors“, which covered the personal life of the movie star. One of the topics on the show was the failed fight with the Olympic boxing champion, Somluk Kamsing, which has been planned since 2009.

In 2012, the comedies “Rzhevsky against Napoleon” And "Welcome to the jungle“, as well as action films “Invasion from outside” ,"Six bullets“, and the sequel “The Expendables of 2” Sylvester Stallone. The latter collected over $300 million, and Van Damme’s performance was highly praised by critics, bringing the actor victory in the “Best Villain of 2012” from the prestigious publication Premiere France. During the same period, the film “Universal Soldier 4“, in which Jean-Claude again shared screen time with Lundgren и Scott Adkins.

In 2013, the action films premiered “Heat” And "swore enemies“. But these works became less popular than a commercial for the company Volvo Trucks, in which the movie star shows off his signature splits while standing on truck beds. The video quickly went viral online, receiving tens of millions of views.

In 2015, the crime thriller “Pound of Flesh” Ernie Barbara, in which he also played Darren Shahlavi, with whom ZhKVD has a good fight scene staged John Salvitti. In the same year, there was a minor role in the Chinese parody comedy “Pancake Man” .

In 2016, the actor returned to his voice as Master Croc in the third part of “Kung Fu Pandas“, played in restart"Kickboxer” John Stockwell and comedy mini-series “Jean-Claude Van Johnson” .

In 2017, he and his son, Christopher, starred in the action film “Finish them all off”director Peter Malota. This project also featured the famous film fighter, Daniel Bernhard, who played in the sequels “Blood sport” .

In 2018, three films with “Muscles from Brussels” were released: “The kickboxer is back” (sequel to the reboot starring Alain Moussi), “Lucas” , and "Black waters“, in which there was another reunion with Dolph Lundgren.

Next films, “We die young” (2019) and “The Last Mercenary” (2021) did not delight critics and did not collect much at the box office.

In 2022, Van Damme worked on voice acting in the cartoon “Minions: Gruvitation” and fighting game “Mortal Kombat 1” (2023), in which his voice was spoken by Johnny Cage, a character created in the image of Frank Dukes from “Bloodsport”.

The dramatic action film is due to premiere in 2024.Human darkness” .