Jean Claude Van Damme Trivia
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Birth name: Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg
Date of birth: 18 October 1960
Place of birth: Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium
Nickname: Muscles from Brussels
Credited As: Jean-Claude Vandam, J. Claude van Damme
Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
Marriage history: Gladys Portugues (25 June 1999 – present), Darcy LaPier (3 February 1994 – November 1997) (divorced) 1 child, Gladys Portugues (1986 – 1992) (divorced) 2 children, Cynthia Derderian (1985 – 1985) (divorced), Maria Rodriguez (1978 – 1984) (divorced)
- His fight scenes are so intense that he won’t film them in the U.S. for fear of being sued.
- Thrilling one and all with his 360-degree ultimate leaping & super flying karate kicks.
- In 1989, he was sued for “wilfully” gouging the eye of an extra in a swordfight while filming Cyborg (1989).
- Won a court case filed against him by martial arts legend Frank Dux, who claimed he collaborated with Van Damme on his 1996 directorial debut The Quest (1996/I), only for Van Damme to deny him any share of the profits. His evidence was lost in an earthquake. Coincidentally, Van Damme played Dux in his debut Bloodsport (1988).
- Former European Professional Karate Association middleweight champion.
- On July 10, 2000, Van Damme was sentenced to a 90 day anti-drunk-driving class, $1,2000 fine, 3 years probation and a 90 day revocation of his license after pleading no contest in Beverly Hills for a September 23, 1999 DUI arrest.
- Once said he learned to speak English by watching the cartoon “The Flintstones” (1960).
- In Jesse Ventura’s book, he mentions Van Damme as having played Predator (1987) monster until he was fired and replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.
- Studied classical ballet for five years
- Speaks Flemish, English, French, Spanish and German.
- In his late teens he opened a Gym called California Fitness Center.
- Was student of Dominique Valera.
- Was a European Middle Weight Champion in Karate in his late teens.
- Likes classical music and his favorite composer is Beethoven.
- He became a European Karate Champion in 1979 and went to USA to win the World Championship. He didn’t win. Few months later he had a rematch with the opponent he lost against in World Championship and he won in less than 2 minutes.
- Can lift 166 kg on a bench.
- Have own production company Long Road Productions (also known as 777 Films Corp).
- Was the original choice to play the title character in Predator (1987).
- Related to Screenwriter Adam Burnett through marriage.
- Former sparring partner of Chuck Norris in the early 80s.
- Children: Kristopher (b. 1987) and Bianca (b. 1990) with Gladys Portugues; son Nicholas (b. 1995) with ‘Darcy La Pier’ .
- He was the inspiration for the character “Johnny Cage” from Mortal Kombat. One of “Johnny Cage’s” special moves was where he did the splits and punched his oppenent in the groin, as seen when Van Damme’s character, Frank Dux, punches his large sumo opponent in Bloodsport (1988).
- Under mounds of make-up, he was going to play the title alien villain in “Predator,” having even been on set for the shoot, but was replaced by Kevin Peter Hall (who, incidentally, was a foot and a half taller than Van Damme) when director John McTiernan and producer Joel Silver decided to go in a different direction.
- As the original choice to play the role of the alien hunter itself in the movie ‘Predator’, he hit a few personal snags. For starters, he was not happy with the fact that his face would not be shown on camera, and that he would be having an uncredited special fx role. He was also not fond of the original monster suit…he frequently passed out due to heat exhaustion. Because he complained so much and was very uncooperative, he was fired from the film. When Stan Winston’s Predator design came in, Kevin Peter Hall was chosen to play the title role and filled it perfectly. Supposedly, Van Damme has no regrets on backing out of the Predator project.
- Recently purchased an apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- Knocked out Strauss in 18 seconds in 1978.
- In 1979 knocked-out Leibman in one round.
- Often states Charlie Chaplin as the first great “action star”.
- Adopted ‘Van Damme’ to his name from one of his friend’s father name considering it’s punchy, short, and clear than his original name ‘Van Veren Berg’.
- Van Damme reprised his role as Luc Devereaux in the 2010 film Universal Soldier: Regeneration.
- Van Damme will make a return to fighting and is scheduled to fight former boxing Olympic gold-medalist Somluck Kamsing in October 2010, in Macau. The winner of that match will face current world champion Jeffrey “The Squasher” Sun. At the prospect of being the first man over the age of 50 to fight professionally in Macau, Jean-Claude Van Damme stated that “it’s kind of dangerous, but life is short.”
- Van Damme was offered a lead role in Sylvester Stallone’s latest film The Expendables 2010. Stallone called Van Damme personally to offer him the role, but Van Damme turned it down, citing that he “doesn’t want his career going down that route.”
