How much is Jean-Claude Van Damme worth?
| Net Worth: | $45 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | October 18, 1960 |
| Country: | Belgium |
| Height: | 1.77 m |
About Jean-Claude Van Damme
Van Damme’s father enrolled him in martial arts lessons when he was 10 years old, and as a result, he competed in a number of events. He immigrated to the United States in 1982 with the goal of becoming an actor, where he performed odd jobs and on a number of movies until landing his big break as the star of the action movie Bloodsport (1988).
The son of Eliana and Eugène Van Varenberg, an accountant and florist, Van Damme was born in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium. His mother is Flemish, while his father is a bilingual native of Brussels (Dutch-speaking). Being raised as a Roman Catholic, Van Damme. The grandmother on his father’s side was Jewish.
At the age of 10, Van Damme started learning Shotokan karate, and Claude Goets awarded him his black belt in the discipline in 1978. In addition, he studied Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, and kickboxing. While competing on the European karate circuit with the Belgium Karate Team, Van Damme (then known as Jean Claude Van Vaerenbergh) won multiple tournaments, most notably in 1980 when he defeated Michael J. Heming for the Middleweight Championship of the European Karate Association.
In addition to martial arts, Van Damme was a bodybuilder who, at the age of 18, won the Mr. Belgium Bodybuilding title. At the age of 16, he also began studying ballet.
He ultimately turned 18 and received his black belt in karate. He began weightlifting to sculpt his figure, which eventually earned him the title of Mr. Belgium bodybuilder. He started studying ballet when he was 16 years old and continued for five years. Van Damme claims that ballet “is one of the most challenging sports and an art. If you can make it through a ballet class, you can make it through a workout in any other sport.” Later, he started doing Muay Thai and Taekwondo.
In 1981, Van Damme relocated to the US in order to pursue a career in acting. At the time, he was only fluent in French and Flemish. In 1984, Van Damme appeared in Breakin and Monaco Fever in his first bit parts. He then landed his most well-known early supporting part in Chuck Norris’ 1985 film No Retreat, No Surrender. His first leading role in a film, Bloodsport, came as a result in 1988. Following the release of Bloodsport, Van Damme established himself as a highly successful martial arts movie actor, appearing in movies like Cyborg, Kickboxer, Lionheart, Double Impact, Hard Target, and more. He is known for performing incredible splits and 360-degree jump turning kicks in his movies.
Van Damme rose to fame as an action movie actor and went on to star in Kickboxer (1990) and Cyborg (1989). Kickboxer had a $3 million budget yet made over $50 million in revenue. The Kickboxer movie series was launched by it. Despite returning as a different role in the reboot series, Van Damme did not appear in any of the movie’s four sequels.
In addition, he made appearances in the following films: Lionheart (1990), Death Warrant (1990), Double Impact (1991), Universal Soldier (1992), Nowhere to Run (1993), Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), Street Fighter (1994), Sudden Death (1995), The Quest (1996), and Maximum Risk (1996). Following a dip, Van Damme gained popularity again with the highly regarded crime drama JCVD (2008).
Van Damme continued to appear in action movies after that, including The Expendables 2 (2012), the Kung Fu Panda series (2011–2016), and the Kickboxer remake (2016–2018).
Eliana and Eugène Van Vaerenbergh were the parents of Van Damme at birth. His father had a flower store and worked as an accountant. Van Damme married four different ladies five times (see below). He wed Gladys Portugues in 1987, got divorced from her in 1992, and then got married again in 1999. His three children include one with Darcy LaPier and two with Portuguese women.
