Once an awkward, skinny, ballet student who quit school at the age of seventeen – now is a top-notch action actor. That doesn’t sound like a promising start, but he became highly successful building a gymnasium business called The California Gym in Brussels, Belgium.
Small for his age (now only 5’8”), Jean-Claude Van Varenburg, attended Karate classes, boosting his self-esteem, which eventually lead to weightlifting. After two years of ballet classes, he was good enough to be invited to join the Paris Opera as a dancer but, he quit to focus on the martial art of Karate.
It was the movie Ben-Hur and Charleston Heston at a young age that gave him the acting fever. At nineteen his body building paid off when he won the title of Mr. Belgium. He became known as "The Muscles from Brussels". Try to obtain a good acting name Jean-Claude Van Varenburg, changed it to Frank Cujo, then later changed it to what his most widely known as Jean-Claude Van Damme.
One of his first films (in French) was Monaco Forever (1984). Not a good beginning either. He played a gay kick boxer, but of course he kicked the bad guy only. Later in Hong Kong he searched for a film career with little success.
Arriving in Hollywood 1982, Jean-Claude Van Damme, he faced the language barrier of English, knowing only French and Flemish. He conquered that barrier (still having that accent) he managed to work as a carpet layer, taxi driver, delivered pizza, became a bouncer, a limo driver, and also a Karate teacher.
He got his break in film in 1987 when he did a scissors kick over producer Menaham Golan’s head sitting in a Beverly Hills restaurant, a risk that got the man’s attention. This lead to his first major film Bloodsport (1987), from there the titles are notable: Black Eagle (1988), Cyborg (1989), Kickboxer (1989), Lionheart (1990), and Death Warrant (1990). He is probably best noted for Double Impact (1997) and Timecop (1994) which are a couple of my personal favorites.
He has had television appearances such as Santa Barbara as a malestripper and on the hit show Friends as himself. As for his personal life, well girls, he’s on his fourth marriage and has a total of three children: Kristopher, Bianca, from his marriage to his second wife, and Nicholas is from his marriage to his fourth wife Darcy LaPier.
Small for his age (now only 5’8”), Jean-Claude Van Varenburg, attended Karate classes, boosting his self-esteem, which eventually lead to weightlifting. After two years of ballet classes, he was good enough to be invited to join the Paris Opera as a dancer but, he quit to focus on the martial art of Karate.
It was the movie Ben-Hur and Charleston Heston at a young age that gave him the acting fever. At nineteen his body building paid off when he won the title of Mr. Belgium. He became known as "The Muscles from Brussels". Try to obtain a good acting name Jean-Claude Van Varenburg, changed it to Frank Cujo, then later changed it to what his most widely known as Jean-Claude Van Damme.
One of his first films (in French) was Monaco Forever (1984). Not a good beginning either. He played a gay kick boxer, but of course he kicked the bad guy only. Later in Hong Kong he searched for a film career with little success.
Arriving in Hollywood 1982, Jean-Claude Van Damme, he faced the language barrier of English, knowing only French and Flemish. He conquered that barrier (still having that accent) he managed to work as a carpet layer, taxi driver, delivered pizza, became a bouncer, a limo driver, and also a Karate teacher.
He got his break in film in 1987 when he did a scissors kick over producer Menaham Golan’s head sitting in a Beverly Hills restaurant, a risk that got the man’s attention. This lead to his first major film Bloodsport (1987), from there the titles are notable: Black Eagle (1988), Cyborg (1989), Kickboxer (1989), Lionheart (1990), and Death Warrant (1990). He is probably best noted for Double Impact (1997) and Timecop (1994) which are a couple of my personal favorites.
He has had television appearances such as Santa Barbara as a malestripper and on the hit show Friends as himself. As for his personal life, well girls, he’s on his fourth marriage and has a total of three children: Kristopher, Bianca, from his marriage to his second wife, and Nicholas is from his marriage to his fourth wife Darcy LaPier.
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