Jean-Claude Van Damme, also known as JCVD, is a Belgian actor and retired martial artist who has a net worth of $30 million. There was a period of time in the late ’80s and early ’90s when Jean-Claude Van Damme was the MAN. He was everywhere – in popular action films, at awards ceremonies, on talk shows, and featured on entertainment news programs around the world. The “Muscles from Brussels” was a bonafide superstar. Jean-Claude Van Damme began practicing martial arts when he was ten years old and won multiple honors throughout his teens and twenties, culminating in winning the bodybuilding title “Mr. Belgium.”
By the time he was 21, Jean-Claude was operating a highly profitable gym in Brussels, making $15,000 per month. Despite his success, he decided to sell the gym and move to the United States to pursue an acting career. When he arrived in the U.S. in 1982, he spoke very little English and had just $3,000 to his name. For the first few years, he worked as a bouncer and limo driver. He eventually found some acting success with bit parts and background roles in movies.
In 1988, he scored a major box office hit with “Bloodsport.” For the next few years, he released a string of popular action films, including, “Cyborg,” “Kickboxer,” “Double Impact,” “Universal Soldier,” “Nowhere to Run,” “Hard Target,” and the massively successful, “Timecop.” Unfortunately, like many stars before him, he started to fall apart under the influence of drugs. His substance abuse, combined with previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder, briefly derailed his career. By 1998, his projects were being released straight-to-video only, and he had gone from “on top of the world” to “under a rock.” However, he eventually made a full comeback and is once again a popular star and celebrity.
Van Damme earned a paltry $25,000 in 1988 for the movie that made him a star, “Bloodsport.” He then earned around $75,000 each for the movies “Black Eagle,” “Kickboxer,” and “Death Warrant.” His salary started to jump in the early 1990s when he made $600,000 for 1991’s “Double Impact.” The following year, he made $1.5 million for “Universal Soldier.” He made $3.5 million for 1993’s “Hard Target” and $5 million for 1994’s “Timecop.” That same year, Van Damme earned a career-high $8 million for “Street Fighter.” In 1995, he earned $5 million for “Sudden Death.”
During that period, from 1991 to roughly 1995, Van Damme earned around $40 million in base salaries before taxes. That’s the same as around $70 million in today’s dollars.
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Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg was born on October 18, 1960, in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium. He began practicing martial arts at age ten when his father enrolled him in a Shotokan Karate school. This heavily influenced his fighting style, which consists of Shotokan Karate and kickboxing. Eventually, at age eighteen, he earned his black belt in karate. Jean-Claude later took up practicing Taekwondo and Muay Thai and also took up ballet when he was sixteen, studying it for five years.
Van Damme joined the Centre National de Karaté (National Center of Karate) when he was twelve, and there, he trained for four years and earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team. His competitive karate career began in Belgium at age fifteen. From 1976 to 1980, he compiled a total of 44 victories and four defeats in tournament and non-tournament semi-contact matches. He was also a member of the Belgian Karate Team when it won the European Karate Championship in December 1979. He moved on and began his full-contact career in 1977, recording 18 victories and one defeat before retiring from competition in 1982.
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In 1982, at the age of 22, Jean-Claude moved to America with a friend from home to pursue a career in Hollywood after launching a chain of private gyms in his home country. In 1984, he had bit parts in the movies “Monaco Forever” and “Breakin’.” In “Breakin’,” he was a background dancer in the following scene:
The movie that launched him into the stratosphere as an action star was 1988’s “Bloodsport.” Filmed in Hong Kong on a $1.5 million budget, “Bloodsport” went on to earn $50 million at the U.S. box office alone.
He subsequently enjoyed starring roles in films like “Kickboxer” (1989), which was produced by Cannon Films. After the success of his films, Van Damme joined The Cannon Group’s lineup of action stars alongside famous names like Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, Sho Kosugi, and Michael Dudikoff. His other successful films include “Death Warrant” (1990), “Lionheart” (1990), and “Double Impact” (1991), in which he played the dual role of twins Alex and Chad Wagner. His 1992 film “Universal Soldier” was one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, directed by Roland Emmerich. It earned a total of $102 million worldwide, against its relatively modest budget of $23 million.
Jean-Claude landed a three-film deal with Columbia Pictures, which reportedly paid him $3.5 million. His first film from the deal was “Nowhere to Run” (1993) opposite Rosanna Arquette. He went on to star in several films for Universal, like “Hard Target” (1993), “Street Fighter” (1994), “Timecop” (1994), and “Sudden Death” (1995). He returned to Columbia with “Maximum Risk” (1996) and “Double Team” (1997). In “Double Team,” which was directed by Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, Van Damme co-starred alongside NBA star Dennis Rodman. The film was Van Damme’s first big box office bomb, and his 1998 project “Knock Off” also bombed. Another notable project of his is the 2008 Belgian crime drama “JCVD.” In it, Van Damme plays a semi-fictionalized version of himself.
Outside of acting in films, Van Damme has been involved in a number of other acting and film-related projects over the years. He guest-starred on the television show “Friends” in the two-part episode “The One After the Superbowl.” He directed the film “The Quest” in 1996 and co-starred in it with Roger Moore. He also directed, edited, produced, wrote, and starred in the 2014 film “Full Love.” During his 40-year film career, Jean-Claude Van Damme has appeared in more than 50 films, including the international box office hit “The Expendables” series. Although he is a highly acclaimed actor, he has only won a few awards, including a Bollywood Movie Award for International Action Super Star in 2004 and a Macau International Film Festival Golden Lotus Award in 2014.
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In the mid-1990s, Van Damme had a very expensive cocaine habit and had to enter a drug rehab program. At the time, he was spending $10,000 per week on cocaine. He was also eventually diagnosed as having rapid cycling bipolar disorder. He has been married five times to four different women and has three children.
In 2012, Van Damme paid $6 million, which was $125,000 over the asking price, for a brand new spec mansion in Marina Del Rey, California. The six-bedroom, eight-bathroom house features eight fireplaces, a billiard room, a home gym, an elevator, a rooftop garden, and a spa. There are also fire pits, waterfalls, and a bike path. He sold this house to rapper Ice Cube in 2016 for $7.25 million.
Today Jean-Claude lives primarily in Hong Kong, where he owns an apartment on the 75th floor of a luxury building.
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