Born and Raised in Brussels, Belgium on October 18th, 1960, Claude Van Varenberg (adopting the name “Van Damme” from an early mentor) was a self-admitted “skinny, sensitive kid who loved classical music and painting,” among other childhood studies.
At the urging of his father, he began early instruction in ballet and karate–foreshadowing a career that would later capitalize on the intertwined nature of both. Invited to join the Paris Opera as a dancer, the young Van Damme instead chose to focus on karate and body-building, quitting school to operate his very own successful fitness center, The California Gym in Brussels.





"For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer" - Arnold