Jean-Claude Van Damme
The Muscles from Brussels
With worldwide box office earnings exceeding $3.3 billion, Van Damme is considered a significant figure in action and martial arts cinema.[1] During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was viewed as a sex symbol.[2]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg
- Born
- 18 October 1960
- Birthplace
- Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels-Capital, Belgium
- Occupation
- Martial artist
- actor
- writer
- producer
- conservationist
- Style
- Karate
- Kickboxing
- Muay Thai
- Taekwondo
- Fighting out of
- Brussels, Belgium
- Team
- Team Goetz
- Rank
- black 2nd Dan–Karate
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
He began martial arts at age ten, studying Shōtōkan karate and kickboxing, and earned a black belt at 18.[3] He won a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978.[3] In 1980, he scored a first-round kick-knockout to win the world middleweight kickboxing crown of the European Professional Karate Association.[4] He sold his profitable California Gym in 1981 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.[4]
On 18 October 1960, in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg was born.[5] Ballet training began for him at sixteen years old and continued for five years.[3] His subsequent commercially successful films included Cyborg, Kickboxer, Lionheart, Death Warrant, Double Impact, Universal Soldier, Nowhere to Run, Hard Target, Timecop, Street Fighter, Sudden Death, The Quest, and Maximum Risk.[2] The Quest, released in 1996, marked his first time as a director.[2]
Following a period of reduced popularity, he regained prominence with the 2008 crime drama JCVD, which received critical acclaim.[2]
What the cited sources add
A 1988 Fighter Magazine interview describes Van Damme as "the new generation’s answer to Bruce Lee"[4] A 2014 review of Double Impact notes that director Sheldon Lettich "knows how to get the best out of our Belgian hero"[6] A 2019 Cinapse review states that Van Damme "wholly succeeds in delivering two distinct characters" in Double Impact.[7] A 2011 retrospective observes that 1989 to 1991 were the prime years of Van Damme's development, culminating with Double Impact as his first vehicle with serious studio faith.[8]
A 2016 Cinema Crazed review calls Double Impact "a damn good action film with some of the best Van Damme fights ever filmed".[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Jean-Claude Van Damme" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Jean-Claude van Damme - Box Office"; Eminizer, "Jean-Claude Van Damme Was A Bouncer At Chuck Norris' Bar, Here's How Much He Was Paid", TheThings, 8 July 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jean-Claude Van Damme" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bramesco, "When Jean-Claude Van Damme became Hong Kong's gateway to Hollywood / The Dissolve", The Dissolve, 2015-07-02 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jean-Claude Van Damme" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Why is he famous?", AskMen.com; Stanley, "Belgian Bruiser Muscles into B-Movie Scene", San Francisco Chronicle, 2 April 1989; Karate black belt; Stallings, "Jean-Claude Van Damme Once Earned a Film Role by Knocking out a Martial Artist", Showbiz Cheat Sheet, 18 July 2022; Grobel, "Playboy interview", Playboy, 1 January 1995; "Jean-Claude Van Damme - Movies, Age & Facts", Biography, 13 April 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Fighter Magazine. "Jean-Claude van Damme Interview", Fighter International Magazine, published December 1988. Retrieved 31 May 2023.. facts only, no text reused. backkicks.com
- Wikipedia, "Jean-Claude Van Damme" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hendrix, "Happy birthday, Jean-Claude Van Damme!", Slate Magazine, 19 October 2007; "Current Biography Yearbook", H. W. Wilson Company, 1999, p. 577; "Jean-Claude van Damme- Biography", Yahoo! Movies; "Jean-Claude van Damme - Bifff 2007", VanDammeTV, 21 March 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Eoin, "Double Impact (1991) Review", The Action Elite, 15 July 2014. facts only, no text reused. theactionelite.com
- Travis, "DOUBLE IMPACT: 2 Van Dammes For The Price Of 1 = Best Deal In Cinema History?", Cinapse, 9 June 2019. facts only, no text reused. cinapse.co
- "Reliving the Summer of 1991 Diary - Week Twelve", BRIANORNDORF.COM, 9 August 2011. facts only, no text reused. brianorndorf.com
- "Double Impact (1991) – Cinema Crazed", 22 August 2016. facts only, no text reused. cinema-crazed.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Jean-Claude Van Damme (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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