The purpose of this highly motivating article is to enlighten you about some vital inspiring facts you probably don’t know about the two famous global movie legends: Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.
Their astounding global success as superstar movie actors in the competitive Hollywood movie industry will inspire you to never give up your positive aspiration inspite of any tough challenge or trials you may encounter in life on your way to the top of the ladder in any profession or industry.
If you are going through a challenging time in your life or it seems as if all hope is lost, don't give up. Hold on tenaciously to your positive aspiration. When you do so without giving up in despair, you will certainly become victorious at the end of the challenging situation.
Let us analyze first the inspiring case study of Jean-Claude Van Damme and then round up with the inspiring case study of Dolph Lundgren.
Vital Inspiring Facts You Don’t Know About Jean-Claude Van Damme.
He is a Belgian professional martial artist, superstar movie actor, fight choreographer, filmmaker and director best known for his martial arts action films.
His full name is Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg but he is professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD). He is popularly Nicknamed as 'The Muscles from Brussels.'
As a Belgian, Jean-Claude Van Damme was born on October 18, 1960 and raised in Brussels, Belgium.
Due to the fact that he has contributed immensely in helping to popularize martial arts in action films, he is widely regarded as one of the most iconic martial arts action stars of all time.
At the age of Ten years, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate school. From there, he went on to develop his astounding fighting skills, both in Shotokan karate and kickboxing. He also studied ballet.
He was a member of the Belgium Karate Team when it won the European Karate Championship on December 26, 1979.
As a former professional martial artist, his Division was Middleweight while his style was Karate, Kickboxing, Muay Thai and Taekwondo. He was fighting out of Brussels, Belgium in Team Goetz under his Trainers: Claude Goetz and Dominique Valera.
His professional rank was 2nd Dan Black Belt in Shotokan Karate. His Kickboxing total record was 19 with 18 Wins by knockout and 1 Loss. His active years in martial arts was between 1976–1982. His professional total record was 48 with 44 Wins and 4 Losses.
He had a positive acting aspiration and actualized it effectively from 1979 till present. Therefore, with the desire of becoming a successful Hollywood actor, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did odd jobs and worked on several films, until he got his breakthrough success as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).
He became a popular action film star and followed up with Cyborg (1989), Kickboxer (1989), 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), Maximum Risk (1996), etc.
He is not deterred by any challenge or trials of life. Hence, after a temporary decline, he returned to acting prominence with the critically acclaimed drama JCVD (2008).
Consequently, he continued starring in more action films and playing supporting roles in The Expendables 2 (2012), the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2011–2016), the Kickboxer reboot film series (2016–2018), Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), etc.
The astounding global movie success and super-stardom of Jean-Claude Van Damme is an inspiration to all his numerous fans globally. Therefore, to excel in your chosen career, remain consistent and never give up your positive aspiration despite any challenge you may experience. Remain humble, focused, positive minded and determined always.
Vital Inspiring Facts You Don’t Know About Dolph Lundgren.
He is a Swedish superstar movie actor, filmmaker and professional martial artist. His full name is Dolph Hans Lundgren but he is professionally known as Dolph Lundgren. He was born on November 3, 1957 in Stockholm, Sweden.
His father was a parliamentary Economist and Electrical Engineer. Hence, Dolph also had flair for academics before venturing fully into acting.
For his tertiary education, he received a Bachelor's Degree (B.Sc.) in Chemical Engineering from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden in the early 1980s and a Master's Degree (M.Sc.) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney in 1982.
As Fulbright scholar, he received a Fulbright scholarship to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1983 and moved to Boston, USA. He also attended Washington State University.
Apart from academics, he also had positive aspiration to become a successful Hollywood actor. Therefore, due to his flair for acting, he studied acting at the Warren Robertson Theatre Workshop.
After venturing into acting, he moved to New York City and began acting, where, after a short stint as a model and bouncer at the Manhattan nightclub: The Limelight, he got a small debut role as a KGB henchman in the James Bond film: A View To A Kill.
His breakthrough success as an actor in Hollywood movie industry came in 1985, when he starred as boxing opponent to Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in Rocky IV as the imposing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, he has starred in more than 80 films, most of them in the action genre.
Due to his impressive acting performance in Rocky IV film, he received an award: Marshall Trophy, best actor at Napierville Cinema Festival in 1985.
After starring in Rocky IV, Lundgren portrayed He-Man in the 1987 science fantasy film Masters of the Universe, Lt. Nikolai Petrovitch Rachenko in Red Scorpion (1988) and Frank Castle in the 1989 film The Punisher.
Throughout the 1990s he starred in films such as I Come in Peace (1990), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), Universal Soldier film series (1992, 2009, 2012), Joshua Tree (1993), Men of War (1994), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Silent Trigger (1996) and Blackjack (1998).
In 2004 he directed his first film, The Defender and subsequently directed The Mechanik (2005), Missionary Man (2007), Command Performance (2009), Icarus (2010), Castle Falls (2021) and Wanted Man (2023), also starring in all of them.
After a long spell performing in direct-to-video films since 1995, he returned to Hollywood in 2010 with the role of Gunner Jensen in The Expendables, alongside Sylvester Stallone and an all-action star cast.
He reprised his role in The Expendables 2 (2012) and The Expendables 3 (2014). Also in 2014, he co-starred in Skin Trade, an action thriller he co-wrote and produced.
He reprised his role of Ivan Drago in Creed II (2018). He starred in Aquaman (2018), playing the father of Mera. He also had a recurring role in the fifth season of Arrow as Bratva leader Konstantin Kovar, the main antagonist of the season's flashback storyline.
Apart from his astounding Hollywood acting career, he was also formerly a professional martial artist. He holds the rank of 4th Dan black belt in Kyokushin karate.
As a skillful kickboxing champion, he represented Sweden in heavyweight martial arts championships. He was European heavyweight karate champion between 1980-81 and Australian heavyweight karate champion in 1982. He was also a non-competing team leader for U.S. modern pentathlon team at summer Olympics, 1996.
Dolph Lundgren is very versatile in his acting career. He is an actor, film producer, director and writer. He has been active in acting since 1979 till present.
Additionally, before becoming a famous Hollywood superstar movie actor, he had worked in the past as a bouncer, bodyguard, model and instructor in hand-to-hand combat. When he was still based in Sweden, he also served in the Swedish Military Service.
All his cumulative working experience, martial arts dexterity, persistence, determination and versatility contributed immensely to his awesome success as a global movie legend. That is why he remains as a source of inspiration for his numerous fans globally.
In conclusion, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren struggled initially on the way to the top in their acting career until their remarkable breakthrough success in the Hollywood movie industry.
Their joint legendary performances in the evergreen blockbuster Action/Science fiction movie: Universal Soldier (1992), can never be forgotten by action movie enthusiasts globally.
Hence, just like these two global movie legends, ensure that you remain always hardworking and persistent in your chosen career. You will remain successful if you don't give up your remarkable attitude.
You must be logged in to post a comment.