Jean Claude Van Damme

The most famous Belgian after Tintin was born on October 18, 1960 in Sint-Agatha Bercher. The son of a flower merchant, Jean Claude Camille François Van Varenberg – the artist’s endless real name – discovered his great passion, karate, since he was very young. He began taking classes at the same time that he was also practicing ballet. At the age of 19 he won the title of European karate champion, his greatest professional achievement. All the money he earned as a karateka he invested in starting a gym in Brussels.

But the boy had been told that he had to exploit his physique in the movies, so in the early 80s he went to Hollywood determined to succeed, like so many young people, and like most of them ended up working as a pizza delivery man. .

His dreams were only fueled by the fact that he occasionally landed small roles, in titles such as Monaco Forever -where he was a gay karateka-, the Santa Barbara series -where he played a stripper-, The Wildest Among All or Missing in Action . They gave him a little more room in Never Back Down, Never Give Up , where he was a Russian wrestler who made life miserable for the lead, a young Bruce Lee fan . The ghost of this mythical character appears to him to instruct him and to be able to face Van Damme. His success led to two sequels: No Retreat, No Surrender 2 (1988) and No Retreat, No Surrender 3., although unfortunately Van Damme was no longer appearing.

Apparently, he was then hired by one of the great directors of action cinema, John McTiernan , who offered him the opportunity of a lifetime: to suit up as the alien protagonist of Predator . But because the suit was uncomfortable and he wasn’t going to be in the credits, Van Damme complained all the time, so he was fired, replaced by Kevin Peter Hall .

Since no one was betting much on him, Van Damme had an idea. Someone told him that Menahem Golam used to go to his restaurant a lot, a film producer who had brought forward great classics of ‘slapping’ cinema, such as Cobra, the strong arm of the law , Masters of the Universe , and the sagas of Missing in Action . and The American Warrior , essential for fans of the genre. Neither short nor lazy, Van Damme appeared at the venue to give him a brief demonstration of martial arts live. Intimidated by the presence of a guy who had come looking for him to show him how good he kicked, Golam ended up giving him his card, possibly to let him have dinner.

For Golam’s company, the mythical Cannon, Van Damme starred in Bloody Contact , and later shot similar titles that were all the rage in video stores: Kickboxer and Lionheart, the fighter . The arguments are interchangeable, since in all of them Jean-Claude Van Damme appears at a martial arts tournament attended by the best fighters in the world. In the end he confronts the guy who has paralyzed his brother or done similar evil.

He also tried his hand at science fiction with Cyborg , which according to its makers was a cross between Terminator and Aliens, but which was rather an immense sleaze in which Van Damme spent the film kicking to protect a half woman. machine. Because Van Damme was convinced that he was a terrific actor, he agreed to do the most difficult yet, playing two roles in Double Whammy .

At the beginning of the 90s, and against all odds, real directors wanting to try to make entertaining films, turned to Van Damme for their films. Roland Emmerich paired him with another ‘acting giant’, Dolph Lundgren , in Universal Soldier , which was a proper show, in the style of the German filmmaker’s other films. John Woo , a prestigious Hong Kong director, hired him for his Hollywood debut, Human Target , produced by Sam Raimi . And the very veteran Peter Hyams ( Atmosphere Zero ) put him in charge of Timecop, one of time travel and action that worked quite well.

Around that time, Van Damme also shot a modern version of Deep Roots titled No Escape (Win or Die) , opposite Rosanna Arquette , and starred in Street Fighter. The last battle , adaptation of a very popular video game (if these last words appear in the synopsis of the film, avoid watching the film). Ringo Lam directed him in Risky and Replicant . Life smiled so much on Jean-Claude that he even appeared as a guest on Friends , like the greatest, and he dared to make his directorial debut with The Quest: In Search of the Lost City, which against all odds, was a correct adventure tape.

But Van Damme did not know how to assimilate the success, and ended up becoming addicted to heroin, after which he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It became very difficult for the directors to work with him, and he appeared several times on the news completely drunk, confronting the police.

In the sentimental life, Van Damme was doing like in the movies, that is, horribly wrong. Mr. Musculitos has been married five times, two of them to the same woman, Gladys Portugues, his current partner, an actress who has appeared in titles such as It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive .

After spending practically the entire 21st century in by-products that were released in video stores when they were still available, Van Damme lent himself to playing himself in JCVD ​​, an imaginative film by Mabrouk El Mechri , where he even delivered a monologue about the mistakes made in his life.

Unfortunately, Van Damme does not seem capable of redirecting his career. He made the mistake of saying no to Sylvester Stallone , who wanted to recruit him for The Expendables , a tribute to action movie stars. Apparently, he prefers to continue starring in his current spinoffs.