1960-10-18 Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium
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).
Kill 'em All 2 | Philip | 2024-09-24 | |
Dolph: Fights Worth Fighting | Self | 2024-11-10 | |
Darkness of Man | Russell Hatch | 2024-05-07 | |
Jean-Claude Van Damme, coup sur coup | Self - Portait Subject & Interviewee (archive) | 2023-03-17 | |
Albert Pyun: King of Cult Movies | Self | 2023-11-26 | |
Minions: The Rise of Gru | Jean Clawed (voice) | 2022-06-29 | |
Halloween Ends | (archive footage) (uncredited) | 2022-10-12 | |
Le Dernier Mercenaire | Richard Brumére | 2021-07-30 | |
Haters | Jean-Claude Van Damme | 2021-12-03 | |
Monsieur Jean-Claude | (uncredited) | 2021-07-15 | |
JCVD's Day Out | JCVD | 2020-03-27 | |
In Search of the Last Action Heroes | 2019-09-01 | ||
The Making of Double Impact, Parts 1 & 2 | 2019-05-28 | ||
We Die Young | Daniel | 2019-05-09 | |
Kickboxer: Retaliation | Master Durand | 2018-01-26 | |
Lukas | Lukas | 2018-08-22 | |
Black Water | Wheeler | 2018-05-18 | |
Kill 'em All | Philip | 2017-06-06 | |
Kickboxer: Vengeance | Master Durand | 2016-07-14 | |
Kung Fu Panda 3 | Master Croc (voice) | 2016-01-23 | |
Pound of Flesh | Deacon | 2015-05-07 | |
煎饼侠 | Jean-Claude Van Damme | 2015-07-17 | |
Swelter | Stillman | 2014-04-20 | |
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films | Gibson Rickenbacker (archive footage) (uncredited) | 2014-10-06 | |
The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films | Self | 2014-10-22 | |
Welcome to the Jungle | Storm | 2013-04-27 | |
Days of Reckoning: The Making of Universal Soldier 4 | Self | 2013-01-22 | |
Enemies Closer | Xander | 2013-12-04 | |
The Expendables 2 | Jean Vilain | 2012-08-08 | |
Dragon Eyes | Tiano | 2012-05-10 | |
Ржевский против Наполеона | Himself | 2012-01-25 | |
U.F.O. | George | 2012-12-15 | |
6 Bullets | Samson Gaul | 2012-09-11 | |
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning | Luc Deveraux | 2012-10-04 | |
Kung Fu Panda 2 | Master Croc (voice) | 2011-05-25 | |
Beur sur la ville | Colonel Merot | 2011-10-11 | |
Assassination Games | Vincent Brazil | 2011-07-28 | |
Full Love | Frenchy | 2010-05-13 | |
Universal Soldier: Regeneration | Luc Deveraux | 2009-10-01 | |
JCVD | J.C.V.D. | 2008-06-04 | |
The Shepherd: Border Patrol | Jack Robideaux | 2008-03-04 | |
Until Death | Anthony Stowe | 2007-01-19 | |
Sınav | Charles | 2006-10-20 | |
Second in Command | Cmdr. Samuel 'Sam' Keenan | 2006-05-02 | |
The Hard Corps | Phillippe Sauvage | 2005-07-29 | |
Wake of Death | Ben Archer | 2004-12-28 | |
Universal Soldier: A Tale of Two Titans | Himself | 2004-10-19 | |
Narco | Jean-Claude Van Damme fantasmé par Lenny | 2004-12-01 | |
Guns, Genes & Fighting Machines: The Making of 'Universal Soldier' | Himself | 2004-10-19 | |
Dans la peau de Jean-Claude Van Damme | 2003-05-07 | ||
In Hell | Kyle LeBlanc | 2003-11-24 | |
Derailed | Jacques Kristoff | 2002-05-19 | |
All the Love You Cannes! | Self | 2002-05-16 | |
Replicant | Replicant / Garrotte | 2001-05-11 | |
The Order | Rudy Cafmeyer | 2001-05-05 | |
Universal Soldier: The Return | Luc Devereux | 1999-08-05 | |
Inferno | Eddie Lomax | 1999-09-25 | |
Knock Off | Marcus Ray | 1998-09-04 | |
Legionnaire | Alain Lefevre | 1998-12-03 | |
Double Team | Jack Quinn | 1997-04-04 | |
The Quest | Christopher Dubois | 1996-04-19 | |
Maximum Risk | Alain Moreau / Mikhail Suverov | 1996-09-13 | |
Sudden Death | Darren Francis Thomas McCord | 1995-10-27 | |
Top Fighter | (archive footage) | 1995-06-15 | |
Timecop | Max Walker | 1994-09-15 | |
Street Fighter | Colonel William Guile | 1994-12-23 | |
Hard Target | Chance Boudreaux | 1993-04-27 | |
Nowhere to Run | Sam Gillen | 1993-01-15 | |
Last Action Hero | Jean-Claude Van Damme (uncredited) | 1993-06-18 | |
Universal Soldier | Luc Deveraux / GR44 | 1992-07-10 | |
Double Impact | Alex / Chad Wagner | 1991-07-31 | |
Death Warrant | Louis Burke | 1990-09-14 | |
The Best of the Martial Arts Films | Self (archive footage) | 1990-01-01 | |
Lionheart | Leon Gaultier | 1990-06-07 | |
Cyborg | Gibson Rickenbacker | 1989-04-07 | |
Kickboxer | Kurt Sloane | 1989-04-20 | |
Black Eagle | Andrei | 1988-05-01 | |
Bloodsport | Frank Dux | 1988-02-26 | |
No Retreat, No Surrender | Ivan Kraschinsky "The Russian" | 1986-05-02 | |
Missing in Action | Soldier (uncredited) | 1984-11-16 | |
Breakin' | Spectator in First Dance Sequence (uncredited) | 1984-05-04 | |
Monaco Forever | Gay Karate Man | 1984-01-01 | |
Rue Barbare | Extra in Police Arrival Sequence (uncredited) | 1984-01-04 | |
Een vrouw tussen hond en wolf | Movie Goer / Man in Garden (uncredited) | 1979-06-04 | |
What's My Name? | |||
Le Jardinier | Léo | ||
Silent Kill |