Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Van Damme is a Belgian actor and martial artist known for action films of the 1980s and 90s, particularly those featuring his flexible kicks and splits.

His name sometimes appears as shorthand for a certain type of muscular, accented action star: He thinks he's Jean-Claude Van Damme or something.

Belgian

Brussels

Belgian capital

chocolate · Bruges · Ghent · Waterloo · accent · European · immigrant · hometown · expatriate

physique

muscles

Contractile body tissue

definition · biceps · abs · shirtless · training · athletic · dancer · ballet · flexibility · splits

martial-arts

kickboxing

Martial art combining punches, leg strikes

sparring · tournament · fighter · champion · training · discipline · technique · roundhouse · spinning kick · flexibility

persona

autobiography

Self-penned life narrative

interviews · ego · comeback · memes · aware · meta · underdog · resilience · redemption

action

splits

Divides into parts

one-liners · villain · showdown · revenge · sequel · direct-to-video · comeback

Categories
Opposites
physicality and action cinema

Jean-Claude Van DammeWoody Allen

Philip Seymour Hoffman · Michael Cera · Jesse Eisenberg · Steve Buscemi · Danny DeVito

martial arts film persona

Jean-Claude Van DammeBruce Lee

Jackie Chan · Jet Li · Ip Man

acting style and critical reception

Jean-Claude Van DammeDaniel Day-Lewis

Meryl Streep · Anthony Hopkins · Laurence Olivier · Marlon Brando · Cate Blanchett

Family

Claude, dammed, damming, damned

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated PG