Jean-Claude Van Damme

He married Maria Rodriguez in 1980 and divorced her four years later.

In 1985, he married Cynthia Derderian and split with her the following year.

He married Gladys Portuges in 1987 and split with her in 1992.

Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg was born to Eugene Van Varenberg and Eliana in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium.

He was a very skinny child and took to Shotokan karate when he was just 11-years-old, to build muscle in his body. He was taken under the wing of Claude Goetz at the Centre National De Karate.

He also took up ballet and weight-lifting as a teenager. When he was just 15 or 16 years old, he took part in competitive karate and won the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association and received the title of ‘Mr. Belgium’ in a body-building competition.

He started his own gym in Brussels and netted some modeling work, but was charmed with the idea of becoming a film star. He briefly worked as a bouncer at a night club during this time.

He participated in a number of tournaments and semi-contact matches and signed his first professional full-contact career in karate in 1977. From 1977 to 1982, he compiled a whopping record of 18 victories and only 1 defeat, where he was knocked down by Sherman Bergman.

After fleetingly attempting to get a break in the booming martial arts movie industry in Hong Kong, he moved to Los Angeles, in 1982 to pursue his Hollywood dreams.

He was cast as an extra in the film, ‘Breakin’ along with his childhood friend, Michel Qissi. In 1986, he was seen as Ivan Krushensky in the film, ‘No Retreat, No Surrender’.

The year 1987 would prove to be one of the most successful years for the actor, earning him a breakthrough in Hollywood. His dream of combining martial arts and acting finally realized with the character of ‘Frank Dux’ in the movie, ‘Bloodsport’.

‘Bloodsport’, released in 1988, is considered one of Van Damme’s most critically acclaimed films. A martial arts film, Van Damme reenacted the role of real life martial artist, ‘Frank Dux’ and was lauded for his performance in the movie. The film became a box-office success, earning $11.8 million in the US alone, despite its low budget of $1.1 million. The movie became extremely successful and spawned three sequels; ‘Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite’, ‘Bloodsport III’ and ‘Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite’.

In 1994, he starred in ‘Timecop’, a sci-fi thriller film, which is considered one of his best films till date. One of his highest-grossing films, the movie went on to earn $103,646,581 worldwide and critics also praised his acting skills in the movie.