Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor.

Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in martial arts classes at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd-dan black belt in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions.

Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, on 18 October 1960, in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, the son of Eliana and Eugène Van Varenberg, who was an accountant and florist.

His father is from Brussels and bilingual, and his mother is Flemish (Dutch-speaking).

Van Damme was brought up Roman Catholic.

His paternal grandmother was Jewish.

He began martial arts at the age of ten, enrolled by his father in a Shōtōkan karate school.

His styles consist of Shōtōkan Karate and Kickboxing.

From 1976 to 1980, he compiled a record of 44 victories and four defeats in tournament and non-tournament semi-contact matches.

Van Damme had a 1977 victory over Teugels.

Teugels was coming off an impressive showing at the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations World Championships four months earlier, and was favored by some to win this match.

According to reports, and Patrick Teugels' own interview (with photos), Teugels lost to Van Damme by TKO in the 1st round.

Teugels was kicked in the nose and was unable to continue as a result.

He began his full-contact career in 1977, when Claude Goetz promoted the first ever full-contact karate tournament in Belgium.

From 1977 to 1982, he compiled a record of 18 victories (18 knockouts) and one defeat.

He was a member of the Belgium Karate Team when it won the European Karate Championship on 26 December 1979 at La Coupe François Persoons Karate Tournament in Brussels.

He placed second at the Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials).

At the three-day tournament, he defeated 25 opponents before losing in the finals to teammate Angelo Spataro.

In 1979, he had an uncredited role in André Delvaux's Woman Between Wolf and Dog, a Belgian-French drama film starring Marie-Christine Barrault, and Rutger Hauer.

On 8 March 1980, in Brussels, Belgium, he competed against his former teammate Patrick Teugels at the Forest National Arena on the undercard of the Dan Macaruso-Dominique Valera Professional Karate Association Light-Heavyweight World Championship bout.

Prior to this match, Teugels had defeated Van Damme twice by decision, including a match for the Belgium Lightweight Championship.

In 1980, he caught the attention of Professional Karate Magazine publisher and editor Mike Anderson and multiple European champion Geert Lemmens.

Both men tabbed Van Damme as an upcoming prospect.

With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did odd jobs and worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).

He became a popular action film star and followed up with commercially successful films such as Cyborg (1989), Kickboxer (1989), Lionheart (1990), Death Warrant (1990), Double Impact (1991), Universal Soldier (1992), Nowhere to Run (1993), Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), Street Fighter (1994), Sudden Death (1995), The Quest (1996), which marked his directorial debut, and Maximum Risk (1996).

After a decline in popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he returned to prominence with the critically acclaimed crime drama JCVD (2008).

His big return to the action genre was in The Expendables 2 (2012), in which he starred as the villain, opposite Sylvester Stallone.

From thereon, he continued starring in action films and doing extensive voice work.

Regarded as an icon of action and martial arts cinema, his films have grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making him one of the most successful action stars of all time.

Outside acting, Van Damme has publicly supported various conservationist causes and animal rights organisations.

In a 2013 interview, Van Damme called this fight his most memorable match.

He eventually earned his black belt in karate at 18, and earned the rank of 2nd-dan black belt.

He started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title.

At the age of 16, he took up ballet, which he studied for five years.

According to Van Damme, ballet "is an art, but it's also one of the most difficult sports. If you can survive a ballet workout, you can survive a workout in any other sport."

Later he took up both Taekwondo and Muay Thai.

At the age of 12, Van Damme joined the Centre National de Karaté (National Center of Karate) under the guidance of Claude Goetz in Belgium.

Van Damme trained for four years and he earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team; he later trained in full-contact karate and kickboxing with Dominique Valera.

According to Van Damme, "it was tough growing up. I was kind of geeky, and physically I was not gifted".

At the age of 15, he started his competitive karate career in Belgium.