Jean Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg, professionally known as Jean Van Damme is a Belgium actor, martial artist, filmmaker and, fight choreographer.
Van Damme was born on October 18, 1960, in Sint-Agatha-Berchen, Belgium, and is 1.77m tall. He is married with 3 children named, Bianca Bree, Kristopher Van Varenberg, and Nicholas Van Varenberg.
Claude was born and raised in Brussels, Belgium. At the age of 10, he was enrolled in the martial art class at Shotokan Karate School by his Father. He also took ballet lessons for 5 years at the age of 16.
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Career
He had the desire to become an author, which made him move to the United States in 1982, where he did several odd jobs and also worked on several films.
In 1988, Van Damme had his breakthrough and got a lead role in the martial arts film titled “Bloodsport’.
At the age of 12, he joined the Centre National de Karaté under the guidance of Claude Goetz in Belgium and trained for four years. Van Damme later earned a spot on the Belgium Karate team after his training.
At the age of 15, Claude Van Damme started his competitive karaoke career in Belgium. Claude had 44 victories and 4 defeats in tournaments and non-tournament semi-contest matches from 1978 to 1980.
Jean Claude Van Damme placed second in the Challenger of Coupe de Espoirs Karate Tournament.
During his early years in Belgium, Van Damme sold flowers in restaurants and got loans to open his gym in other to save enough money before moving to the United States to pursue his dream career.
In 1984, Claude worked in the stunt team in the Norris action film title, “Missing in Action”, which was released by Cannon Films.
Awards and Nominations
From 1988 to 2014, Jean Claude Van Damme has won 3 awards and has been nominated 7 times for other awards.