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Jean Claude Van
Damme
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Actor.
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b. Oct. 18, 1960, Brussels,
Belgium.
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Former karate champion who, like
predecessors Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris,
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stars in action pictures
highlighting his martial-arts skills.
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He has bounced around the various
subcategories of the
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chop-socky genre, working in a sci-fi
vehicle
*1989's Cyborg a spy thriller *1988's
Black Eagle and a gladiator-for-hire drama *1991's Lionheart
.
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His thick-as-Heinz accent, wooden
line readings, and noticeable lack of humor and irony mark
him
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as one of the
World's Worst Actors-he played twins in Double Impact (1991) and was
twice as unconvincing as usual-but this handsome
performer tries hard and, unlike fellow horrible
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actor/martial-arts star Steven
Seagal, projects a certain modesty that could almost be mistaken for Gallic
charm.
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Recent credits include Universal
Soldier (1992), Nowhere to Run a cameo in Last Action Hero John
Woo's
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American debut
picture Hard Target
(all 1993), and Timecop
(1994).
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Photograph of Jean Claude van
Damme, D'arcy Rice and Chad McQueen with
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the Police Chief of Daytona Beach
by John Robert Rowlands
