Segal, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme. Where are the action heroes of our childhood now? Jean-Claude van Damme The beginning of a film career, a role in the film "Bloodsport"

Childhood and youth Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Van Damme (real name Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg) was born in the family of an accountant and a flower seller (erroneous name options: Jeanclaude Vandamme, Jean-Claude Vandamme). When Jean-Claude was born, his mother became a housewife and his father devoted himself to working in a flower shop.

The boy was thin and sickly. He always came home dirty and beaten. Jean-Claude studied classical ballet for five years. Once he was even invited to dance at the Paris Opera.

At the age of 11, his father took Jean-Claude to the famous French karateka Dominique Valera. After studying with him for about a year, the boy forgot what illnesses are. Martial arts teachers believed that Van Damme could have a great sports future.

At the age of 16, Jean-Claude, who did not really like to study, decided to leave school for the sake of sports. At the next tournament, the guy defeated an opponent who was twice as old and heavier than Van Damme. In 1978, Jean-Claude received a black belt in karate, and in 1980 he knocked out the experienced German Dietrich Targills and became the European champion among professionals.

After this fight, Jean-Claude decided to leave professional sports and try himself as an actor. However, to begin with, he decided to improve his financial situation. He took money from his first wife, Maria Rodriguez, a wealthy 25-year-old Venezuelan, and bought the California Jim Sports Complex.

Jean-Claude also bought a house, a brand new car and opened a solid bank account. In 1981, Jean-Claude sold the club and put the proceeds into a bank. After that, he and his best friend Kissy went to Hollywood.

Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hollywood

However, in Hollywood, she met a young karateka who did not speak English well, very hostile. First, Jean-Claude got a job as a driver, then as a bouncer in bars, then taught martial arts and karate. However, in 1984 he landed his first film role.

He starred in episodic roles in the films "Street of the Barbarians", "Monaco Forever", "Break Dance", "Missing". However, critics and viewers paid attention to the actor, who is in perfect control of his body, only in 1986, when Van Dam starred as the suave Ivan in the film "No Retreat, No Surrender." The producer of the film, Menachem Golan, allocated a million dollars for the promotion of the young actor.

In 1988, Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in the film "Bloodsport", where the actor played a serious-minded Frank. After that, the actor became famous. In the same year, the already popular actor starred in a wonderful supporting role, playing the sensual Kurt in the Kickboxer film. This film was a huge success with the audience.

In 1989, Jean-Claude starred in the action movie "Cyborg", where he excellently played the role of the brave Gibson, who works as a guide through the territory controlled by a gangster group, who, along with a cyborg woman, saves the people left on the planet from a slow death due to nuclear debris. With each new role, the professional skill of the actor also grew. Character began to develop. Van Damme played heroes, muscular handsome men, real men who restored justice.

In 1990, the actor played the role of strong-willed Leon Gauthier in AWOL. In 1991, Jean-Claude Van Damme played the lead role of the oddball Alex-Chad in the 1991 film Double Impact.

The heyday of Jean-Claude Van Damme's film career

The film career of Jean-Claude Van Damme developed very rapidly. The film success of the actor was reinforced by roles in such popular films as "Hard Target", "The Last Action Hero", "Nowhere to Run" and "Universal Soldier" in 1992. In "Universal Soldier," Van Damme played the universal killer Private Luke Devereux, who strayed from the cyborg program.

Now the actor himself began to choose roles, pictures, directors, and he himself indicated the amount of remuneration for participating in the film. The actor's fee has grown to 6 million dollars!

In Time Patrol, Van Damme played Police Officer Walker, who works for a strange bureau to control time travel and unmasks and destroys a powerful senator.

Jean-Claude Vann Damme in the ring against 3 karatekas

In 1996, Van Damme began to decline in his film career. This was mainly due to problems in his personal life, as well as problems with the police, with a craving for alcohol and drugs, and litigation.

In 1997 and 1998, the actor starred in only three films. He played in Jake Quinney's Colony, Alain Lefebvre's Legionnaire, and Marcus Ray's Blaster.

Van Damme: return to the screens

Jean-Claude Van Damme only calmed down in 1999, when he remarried for the fifth time to his former third wife, Gladys Portugues. His film career became stable, and began to gain height again, thanks to the work of the actor. In 2002, Van Damme starred in the American documentary The Best Combat Scenes in Movies.

Jean-Claude Van Damme: Kickboxer

Van Damme began to constantly act in films. In 1999, he starred in the films "Universal Soldier: The Return" and "Inferno". In 2001, "The Secret of the Order" and "The Double" were released, with the participation of Van Damme. In 2002, the actor appeared in the tapes "Derailed", "The best martial arts scenes in films." In 2003, the actor starred in the TV series Las Vegas, as well as in the film In Hell. In 2004, the film "Death Awakening" was released. In 2006, the actor starred in the film project Second in Team. Van Damme managed to create a patriotic image of the enigmatic American army officer Samuel Keenan.

In 2007, Van Damme starred in the film Until Death, playing the role of Anthony Stowe, a police officer from the drug trafficking department. In 2008, Jean-Claude played the main role of an agent of the state border guard patrol, who fought against smugglers in the film "The Shepherd".

In the same year, the actor starred in the film project "J.K.V.D." In 2009, the next "Universal Soldier 3: A New Beginning" was released.

Personal life of Jean-Claude Van Damme

The personal life of Jean-Claude Van Damme can be divided into several stages. Van Damme's first wife was Maria Rodriguez, but their family collapsed as soon as Jean-Claude stopped needing her financial support.

After that, Jean-Claude Van Damme married Cynthia Derderian. When the actor first appeared in films in 1986, he immediately divorced Cynthia.

In the same year, Jean-Claude met the American bodybuilding champion, fashion model Gladys Portugues. Soon they signed. Their marriage produced a son, Christopher. For the sake of the family, Gladys left the sport and was engaged in raising a child and at home. Soon she gave birth to a daughter, Bianca.

However, Jean-Claude met the winner of the Hawaiian beauty contest Darcy la Pierre. Jean-Claude went everywhere with her. They starred for erotic magazines, kissed and hugged in front of everyone.

Therefore, after six years of married life, Van Damme divorced Gladys Portugues and married Darcy la Pierre. The fifth Miss Van Damme in June 1999 was the former third wife of actor Gladys Portugues. This time, the actor decided to get married in a small Belgian town.

He was the star of the militants who poured into the USSR. The guys wanted to be like him and went to the gyms in droves, and the surname became a household name. We are talking about an athlete, actor, director, screenwriter and producer, who turned 58 this fall. His name is Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Successes and difficulties

The future actor was born in 1960 in Belgium in a prosperous family. At first he was a typical "nerd": glasses, painful thinness, and besides, he also took classes at a ballet school. But at the age of 10, his father gave Jean-Claude to the karate section.

In 1978, Van Damme won bronze at the European Amateur Bodybuilding Championships.

The boy turned out to be very talented and at the age of 20 he became the champion of Europe. This was facilitated by a great sense of purpose and giving one hundred percent in training. Having married, Van Damme opened his own sports club, but he did not like the field of a businessman.

Jean-Claude Van Damme at mass

In 1981 he moved to Hollywood. He came far from being a celebrity: without stopping training in the ring, he lived in a car, worked as a bouncer, until luck finally smiled. Van Damme was given the role of the main character in the film "No Retreat, No Surrender". On the set, Jean-Claude impressed everyone with his stunts and almost immediately landed his next role in Bloodsport. It was 1988, and it was this year that lit his star.

Past and present

The nineties were the time of the peak of popularity. Films starring him include:

• Legionary.
• Fuse.
• Universal Soldier.
• Difficult target.
• Street fighter and many others.

The actor is still in great shape, as evidenced by instagram

Unfortunately, the actor was unlucky in his personal life, he went through several divorces. Against this background, alcohol and drug abuse began. But Van Damme managed to stop in time, having undergone a course of treatment at the clinic. In the early 2000s, the popularity of action films began to slowly decline, but the actor did not start himself and continued to be interested in martial arts theory, as well as classical bodybuilding. Van Damme acted as a film producer and action scene consultant.

Van Damme with colleagues in the gym

Finally, his personal life returned to normal. Now the actor is happily married to Gladys Portugues. The actor is friends with famous Russians: Vladimir Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov and Fedor Emelianenko.

To this day, the star keeps herself in shape by regularly exercising in the gym. Recently, Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in an autobiographical series, as well as in the films "Lucas", "Black Waters". As a director, he is filming the film Full of Love, which is due out in 2019.

For example, 71-year-old Arnold continues to run around women, and Stallone generally surprised

About 25 years ago, when Western cinema was at its peak and gave birth to one masterpiece after another, the images of these actors firmly entered the life of Russian viewers. The main decoration of the walls of apartments instead of carpets at that time were posters with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the form of a terminator robot and muscular Van Damme from Kickboxer.

The portal site decided to recall these actors and find out what is happening in their lives now, when, due to their age, they no longer pull on the role of "sex symbols".

Jean-Claude Van Damme (age 57)

The Belgian handsome Jean-Claude, who won the MTV Movie Awards in the Most Desirable Man nomination for three consecutive years (1992-1994), is now starting to go bald and wears a cap to make it less noticeable. However, he still plays sports and is in excellent physical shape.

In 2018, another remake of Kickboxer with his participation was released. This time, the actor got the role not of the main character, but of the master, who must teach him how to fight for real.

In addition, this actor could be seen in an advertisement for one of the Russian mobile operators, where he starred with Dmitry Nagiyev. In general, Van Damme is known for his love for Russia. Supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump in the US presidential election in 2016, the actor urged him to "drink vodka with Mr. Putin and try to make peace."

In Jean-Claude's personal life, everything is also fine. Next to him is a loving wife - Gladys Portugues, two adult sons and one daughter.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (71 years old)

The actor, who gained worldwide fame thanks to the role of "The Terminator", from 2003 to 2011 served as governor of the US state of California.

After leaving the governor's chair, he admitted to his wife Maria Shriver that in 1997, when she gave birth to her youngest son, Christopher, another woman - their former housekeeper named Baena - gave birth to another boy from him. Christopher was born on September 27, Joseph on October 2.

Divorce after such recognition was inevitable. Arnie spent several years alone, and in 2015 had an affair with his physiotherapist Heather Milligan, who is 27 years younger than him.

In the coming years, he intends to star in several films, but for now he enjoys life, watching how his five children grow up.

Sylvester Stallone (72 years old)

Sylvester Stallone is one of those self-made actors. A short, muscular kid wrote the screenplay for Rocky many years ago and sold it to producers on the condition that he be given the lead role.

By 2012, Stallone's films had grossed $3.7 billion.

Sylvester himself was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011 for his contribution to the promotion of boxing. Donald Trump, after being elected president, offered the actor the post of chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, but he refused the offer.

Stallone was married three times, from his first marriage he has two sons, from the last - three daughters.

Dolph Lundgren (60 years old)

Swedish martial artist Dolph Lundgren became famous in 1985 for his role as Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in the fourth part of Rocky. After this film, there were others - Showdown in Little Tokyo, Universal Soldier, Punisher, The Expendables trilogy, etc. Dolph also tried himself as a director, but his films cannot be called particularly successful and popular.

After many years of marriage, in 2011 he divorced Anette Qviberg, the mother of his two daughters, Ida and Greta.

Now Lundgren leads a healthy lifestyle, practically does not drink and continues to fight at an amateur level. In 2007, he participated in the Russian TV show "King of the Ring", where Oleg Taktarov, an ex-fighter of mixed martial arts, became his opponent. In that battle, Taktarov won, but after the battle he said that he “takes off his hat” to Dolph, because he withstood the hardest blows and continued to fight.

Bruce Willis (63 years old)

A native of Germany, Bruce Willis gained particular fame thanks to the Die Hard series of films.

From 1987 to 2000, Bruce was married to actress Demi Moore, with whom he has three daughters. Shortly after the divorce, Demi married Ashton Kutcher, but they remained friends with her ex-husband.

Bruce himself in 2009 married fashion model Emma Heming and she bore him two more daughters.

The actor continues to act in films and every year plays roles in 2-3 films. But there were no pictures that the viewer would like more than the same Die Hard, The Fifth Element, Armageddon or the Moonlight Detective Agency series.

In the 80s and 90s, there seemed to be no action movie without Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD). His film career developed very rapidly, but for the last two decades he has been practically absent on the screen. What do we know about this still super popular actor?

1 Van Damme Was Originally Chosen For The Predator

The alien in Predator was intended specifically for the JCVD, but the actor ultimately turned it down when he found out he couldn't demonstrate his combat skills against Schwarzenegger. By the way, the appearance of the Predator was then planned to be completely different, and its movements were to be very limited, which Van Damme did not like at all.

2. Brief romance with Kylie Minogue

This is what happens when two actors work together in a movie (Street Fighter, 1994). It happened to Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, so why not Kylie Minogue and Jean-Claude Van Damme? Of course, the existence of a short-term romance was hidden, because at that time JCVD ​​was married to Darcy La Pierre, but 20 years later, the actor admitted this in an interview with The Guardian.

3. He was married five times

From 1980 to 1984 his wife was Maria Rodriguez. He then married Cynthia Derderian in 1985, but they divorced after three months of marriage. His third wife, Gladys Portugues, lived with him for five years (1987-1992). In 1999, they remarried, so that 15 years later, Gladys filed for divorce again in 2014 (although, according to rumors, they still reconciled). Plus, he was married to Darcy La Pierre (1994-1997) in between.

4. His daughter competes with him.

Bianca Van Varenberg (or Bianca Brie) is also a martial artist. As a child, she hated sports, but her bodybuilder mother felt that self-discipline would not hurt her daughter. Bianchi's choice at the time was more towards ballet and speed skating, but an injury forced her to take a different path. She began working in films with her father in 2008 (The Shepherd: Border Patrol) and has since starred in six more of his films.

5 He Was A Successful Martial Artist (and Ballet Dancer) Long Before Acting

JCVD was an active and very successful fighter for many years before finally breaking into the film industry. In addition, his fighting style plus gracefulness of movement is the merit of ballet, which he also practiced for a long time. Yes, the “muscles from Brussels” (as Van Damme is called) is a professional ballet dancer.

6 He Was The Model For Johnny Cage From Mortal Kombat

When Midway released their Mortal Kombat game in 1992, few people realized that the main character was "copied" from JCVD. Following the success of the Universal Soldier film, the producers approached Midway Games about making a game based on the film. Midway showed no interest, but negotiated directly with JCVD ​​to make a game based on Bloodsport. Unfortunately, the deal didn't go through. Eventually Midway turned their idea into Mortal Kombat and Johnny Cage.

7. He burned a lot of Hollywood bridges behind him.

Van Damme made a lot of mistakes in negotiations with producers and for years he was on the "black list" of Hollywood. Even when he took part in any project, he was known to be very difficult to work with. Rumor has it that Van Damme turned down Sylvester Stallone's offer to participate in The Expendables because he did not want to lose to Jet Li. JCVD ended up appearing in the sequel playing the bad guy.

8 He Had A Cocaine Addiction That Nearly Killed Him

One of JVCD's biggest problems after his career went downhill was cocaine. He admitted that he used 10 grams a day, which cost him about 10 thousand dollars a week. During this time, Van Damme released several failed films. This continued until he got rid of the addiction and starred in the film of the same name "JCVD".

9 He Was Suicidal And Bipolar

The drug problem has been linked to bipolar disorder. People with this condition are very prone to addiction, and the condition JCVD ​​has gone undiagnosed for many years. After starting treatment, Van Damme became very frank in his interviews and extremely convincingly played himself in the film "JCVD", as a broken and sunk man.

10. His fortune is estimated at 30 million dollars

With five marriages, three children, cocaine addiction and 10 years of inactivity in the cinema, Van Damme managed not to break down and become bankrupt. He continues to work actively and tries to regain his former position in the cinema again. Sure, he's no longer making $12 million a film, but that doesn't stop him from working hard to rebuild his image and celebrity status in Hollywood.

Jean-Claude Van Damme is an American actor, Belgian by origin, who has played about sixty film roles, including the films Bloodsport, Double Impact, Universal Soldier, The Expendables 2, and others.

Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/43746097@N05/

Interesting facts from his biography, career and personal life.

Biography

1. When and where was he born?

Date of birth - October 18, 1960, is a native of the suburb of the capital of Belgium, Berchiem-Saint-Agate, real name is Van Varenberg.

2. Started playing sports because of bullies

He grew up as a sickly and weak child, a typical "bespectacled man", who often got it from his peers, who thus sought to demonstrate their pseudo-coolness.

At the age of 11, at the insistence of his father, he began to practice karate, after which Jean-Claude's life began to change dramatically - two years later, the former offenders avoided meeting him. The future actor is more and more interested in sports, and at the age of 16 he drops out of school.

3. Sports career

Before becoming a film actor, Van Damme achieved considerable success in professional sports. So, he spent 19 kickboxing fights, winning 18 victories in them and finishing 16 of his fights in the first round, while receiving only one defeat, and even that was technical, associated with disqualification.

During his sports career, Jean-Claude became a junior karate champion, and in 1979 he became the gold medalist of the European kickboxing and karate championships. In the late 70s and early 80s. he was considered one of the most promising kickboxers and karatekas of the Old World, but in 1982 he stopped participating in competitions.

4. Business and moving to the USA

Shortly before the end of his sports career, he opened his own martial arts club in the very center of the Belgian capital. The club became very popular, and the income of the future celebrity began to grow rapidly, but this was not enough for him - Jean-Claude dreamed of becoming an actor. After parting with his wife, who was not burning with the desire to change the tit in his hand for the crane in the sky, he goes to California.

5. Ballet classes

Van Damme is known for his kicks and splits, which are the result of ballet training he received in his youth. He began to study at the ballet school at the age of 16, and continued to master the art of ballet for the next five years.

The actor still feels a special gratitude to the ballet for the resulting stretch and flexibility, referring it to a sport that requires exhausting and hard training. According to him, anyone who has endured ballet training will be able to easily adapt to training loads in any sport.

Career

6. The beginning of a film career, a role in the film "Bloodsport"

With a stubborn character and excellent physical data, Van Damme was confident in the success of his Hollywood career. Starting in 1984, they began to offer him small roles in action films, and in 1986, Jean-Claude was first invited to play the lead role in the film No Retreat, No Surrender.

With the start of filming a movie, he changed his unpronounceable name to a more harmonious one, taking the name of a deceased friend. But in parallel, the aspiring actor had to take on a variety of jobs: he worked as a driver, a bouncer, delivered pizza, trained beginners in karate and laid carpets.

The last of these works changed his life in many ways - while laying the carpet in the house of the famous martial artist Frank Dukes, whose biography became the basis for the script for the Bloodsport film, Jean-Claude talked with the owner of the home, and then, at his request, showed Frank his ability in karate.

Shortly after this meeting, he was invited to play the lead role in the film Bloodsport. However, Dux's invitation alone was not enough to get the role. The actor had to literally break into the office of producer M. Golan, to whom he showed his famous “ushiro-mawashi” blow, in order to convince the latter to give the role to him, which happened.

With "Bloodsport" the actor's career went uphill, now he began to actively offer roles in action films.

7. Quarrel and litigation with Frank Dukes

The name of Dux is associated not only with the beginning of Van Damme's great film career, but also with one very unpleasant incident that ended in a trial between them. The scandal erupted in the spring of 1997, when the film "In Search of Adventure" was released, which turned out to be very successful financially. Frank immediately filed a lawsuit against Van Damme, accusing him of deceit and fraud. He stated that before filming began, he promised to pay him $ 100,000, and in the future - to deduct 2% of the profit received from the rental. The final amount of the claim was $1.5 million.

In addition, Frank accused the former partner of lying, saying that Van Damme had never won the European Championship and was an amateur in the world of martial arts, who had learned all his knowledge and skills in this area from Dukes.

The proceedings turned out to be very heated - the parties almost got into a fight right in the courthouse, but they managed to separate them. As a result, the court sided with Vam Damm, and Frank's demands were not satisfied.

8 Action Star

The success of Bloodsport marked a turning point in Van Damme's film career, which was successfully secured by him over the next few years through his participation in the films Kickboxer, AWOL and Double Impact.

In the future, he is intensively engaged in acting, trying to improve his game as much as possible, which allows him to become one of the most famous and recognizable action heroes - the actor is invited to play the main roles in the films "Universal Soldier", "Hard Target" and "Time Patrol".

This period is considered the most successful in the film career of a celebrity, his acting fee eventually reaches a solid amount of $ 8 million. At the same time, one of the highest-grossing films with the participation of Van Damme, Universal Soldier, was released, which grossed about $ 100 million at the box office.

9. Decline in popularity and subsequent return to big projects

By the end of the 90s, the action movie begins to lose ground as a genre, which naturally entails a drop in the popularity of the hero of our article. In his film career, a clear and prolonged decline is planned, most of the films with the participation of Jean-Claude do not pay off at the box office, despite his professional abilities that have increased significantly by that time.

But in the future, persistent acting classes bore fruit, helping him regain his former professional demand - in 2008, the pseudo-realistic film “J. K. V. D. ”, where film critics positively assessed his acting abilities, thereby drawing the attention of viewers and journalists to him.

Then "Universal Soldier-3" was filmed, where Dolph Lundgren, who participated in the filming of the first part of this famous action movie, again became Jean-Claude's partner. The film was well received by film critics and audiences. And the release of "Killer Games", which became the first picture with Van Damme in many years, which turned out to be in wide distribution, allowed the celebrity to return to roles in large-scale film projects.

In 2012, he played the main antagonist character in the second part of the action movie The Expendables. The tape exceeded $300 million at the box office, making it Jean-Claude's most commercially successful film project and earning him the Film Critics Award for Best Villain 2012.

10 Could Have Been In The First Expendables And Predator

He refused to participate in the filming of the first part of The Expendables only because of the nature of his character, however, by the beginning of work on the second part, all the omissions were settled.

In addition, it was he who was supposed to play the Predator in the title role, but was fired after filming began. The official reason for the removal from the role was the change in the concept of the picture, according to which the Predator became very tall and physically powerful, and Van Damme, who had an average height, looked unconvincing in this image.

But Jesse Ventura, who starred in the same tape, once let slip about the real reason for Jean-Claude's departure from the set - it was the conflict between the actor and the representative of the management of the film crew.

11. Defeated drug addiction

In the second half of the 90s, the actor was treated for drug addiction. He first entered a rehabilitation clinic at the end of 1996, but instead of the prescribed month, he stayed in the hospital for only a week, declaring that he intended to continue treatment at home.

At the same time, he made an official admission that he did use cocaine, saying that he almost always starred in action scenes while under the influence of drugs, but now he is determined to quit. However, a year later, the actor broke down again and was forced to start treatment again. As a result, the addiction receded - in an interview, Jean-Claude admitted that he had found the strength to give up drugs, and he wants to believe that he will never return to them.

12. Was treated for manic-depressive psychosis

In 1998, the celebrity was officially diagnosed with manic-depressive psychosis, also called bipolar disorder. This explains his sudden fits of anger, bursts of hyperactivity and mood swings, which are clearly visible in old video interviews.

Van Damme admitted that he suffered from depression from an early age, but in those years in Belgium, children and adolescents were not diagnosed with such diagnoses, and therefore only constant training and the accompanying solid physical activity helped him.

By coincidence, the peak of the development of bipolar disorder coincided with the actor's drug addiction and provoked a suicide attempt. After the incident, Jean-Claude immediately agreed to go to a specialized clinic and undergo the required course of therapy.

Personal life

13. A large number of marriages

He entered into official marriages five times, while his current wife, Gladys Portugis, married twice. The rest of the actor's wives were Maria Rodriguez, Cynthia Derderian and Darcy Lapierre.

The most scandalous and covered in the press was precisely the marriage of Van Damme with Lapierre, who for the sake of him broke up with her first millionaire husband. Their life together was overshadowed by the decline in Van Damme's career and his passion for drugs and alcohol. For this reason, Darcy filed for divorce twice, but still did not bring the matter to a formal dissolution of the marriage.

However, in early 1998, Jean-Claude suddenly filed for divorce, motivating his decision by cheating on his wife and even demanding a paternity test - he seriously doubted that he was the father of their joint child. In response, Darcy filed a counterclaim against him, accusing him of assault.

After a divorce from his fourth wife, the actor returned to Gladys Portugis, who agreed to become his wife for the second time. Now their family life is developing almost perfectly, and Jean-Claude himself has repeatedly said that now he prefers peace and tranquility. Van Damme has three children: Christopher, Bianca and Nicholas.

Other facts

14. Jean-Claude Van Damme vs. Chuck Norris

At the dawn of the 80s, Van Damme tried on the role of Chuck Norris' sparring partner.

In addition, Chuck decided to support the ambitious Belgian, who was then only doing odd jobs, and provided him with a permanent job in one of his bars, at the same time offering to star in an episode of the film "Missing".

15. Became a vegetarian

Since 2001, he has been a vegetarian because he does not want to eat anything that would have eyes, rightly considering them to be a mirror of the soul. And that which has a soul cannot bring any benefit to the body.

16. Why did they call him Muscles from Brussels?

His famous nickname - Muscles from Brussels got because of the accent - he once admitted to reporters that he loves mussels in Brussels, and the word mussels (mussels) in English sounds almost indistinguishable from the word muscles (muscles). As a result, this nickname firmly stuck to Van Damme.

17. Lost only to Jordan

Ranked the fifth most popular celebrity in a 1998 poll of American teenagers. In the first place then was Michael Jordan.

18. Attacked his guard

At the beginning of the same 1998, he got into a fight with his former bodyguard, Chuck Zito, about whom he spoke impartially shortly before. The duel turned out to be very short - immediately missing one or two blows, Jean-Claude fell to the floor.

19. Van Damme loves dogs

Loves animals, especially dogs. Nine dogs live in his house, most of which the actor picked up on the street, and some even moved from Thailand on a rented private jet.

20. How the accent affected his career

Due to the strong accent, many of the characters played by the actor are either French or French-speaking by origin - for example, Luc Devereux, Lyon Gauthier, Jean Vilain, Chris Dubois, Philip Savage and others.

21. Once beat an extra participant

In 1989, he was brought to trial for intentionally inflicting bodily harm on one of the extras. The incident occurred during the filming of a sword fight for the film "Cyborg".

22. Why does Van Damme have a bump on his forehead?

According to one version, the famous bump on Van Damme's forehead appeared in his childhood and was the result of an unsuccessful fall in the pool, according to another, it is an ordinary wen that cannot be removed.

By the way, on many posters for his films, Jean-Claude asked to retouch this defect.

23. How he said hello to Ufa

At the beginning of 2019, Artur Shaemov, a native of Ufa, recognized the famous actor in one of the visitors to the Gold’s Gym in Los Angeles, where he himself trained, and asked him to say hello to his hometown.

Jean-Claude did not refuse and recorded a short video for the Ufa residents, which Arthur posted on his Instagram.

24. Got into the Comedy Club

In 2018, he visited the Comedy Club festival held in Yerevan, where he not only took pictures with his fans, but also went on stage to participate in humorous numbers. True, Jean-Claude did not demonstrate his signature twine, citing the fact that he came to the event in jeans.

25. Has his own statue

On October 21, 2012, a life-size bronze statue of Van Damme was unveiled and installed in the Belgian capital. So in the homeland they decided to celebrate the merits of a fellow countryman in the field of sports and cinema. The actor personally arrived at the opening of his bronze counterpart and took part in the solemn ceremony.

26. Voluntarily became the hero of memes

He is one of the most popular characters when creating chromakey effects.

Quick Facts

27. He believes that after some five or six decades, humanity will perish if it does not direct all its efforts to environmental protection.
28. Prefers classical music, especially appreciating the works of Beethoven
29. He began to learn English as a child with the help of TV - on the English-language cartoon "The Flintstones".
30. In addition to his native Flemish, he speaks English, French, German and Spanish.
31. In 1997, he received the title of "Hollywood's Sexiest Legs" from moviegoers; among women, this title was awarded to Tina Turner.
32. Studied five varieties of martial arts: setokan karate, karate-do, kickboxing, kung fu and taekwondo. He holds a black belt in Shotokan Karate.
33. In his youth he received the title "Mr. Bodybuilder of Belgium".
34. A citizen of three countries at once: the USA, Belgium and Hong Kong. Currently lives in Hong Kong.
35. He is friends with Fedor Emelianenko and considers him a special fighter with a unique reaction.
36. In 2013, he starred in a sensational Volvo commercial, sitting on a twine between two moving trucks. In just seven days, the video gained 35 million views on the Web.

37. A frame from the movie "Kickboxer" with dancing Van Damme has long been a popular meme, designed to convey a good mood.

38. A few years ago, he confessed to converting to Judaism. The artist explained his religious choice by the fact that his maternal grandmother was Jewish.
39. His height is 177 cm, weight is 82 kg.
40. Jean-Claude has dark blond hair and gray-blue eyes, according to the horoscope he is Libra.