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Series of articles on DivX DivX DivX, Inc. Dr. DivX DivX Plus HD Stage6

DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. (formerly DivXNetworks, Inc., later purchased by Sonic Solutions and currently part of the Rovi Corporation formerly known as Macrovision), including the DivX Codec which became popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.

There are two DivX codecs; the regular MPEG-4 Part 2 DivX codec and the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC DivX Plus HD codec. It is one of several codecs commonly associated with "ripping", whereby audio and video multimedia are transferred to a hard disk and transcoded.

History[link]

The "DivX" brand is distinct from "DIVX" that was a former video rental system developed by Circuit City Stores which required special discs and players to function.^[1] The winking emoticon in the early "DivX ;-)" codec name was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the DIVX system. Although not created by them, the DivX company adopted the name of the popular DivX ;-) codec. The company dropped the smiley and released DivX 4.0, which was actually the first DivX version, trademarking the word, DivX.^[2][3]

DivX ;-) (not DivX) 3.11 Alpha and later 3.xx versions refers to a hacked version of the Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 3 video codec (not to be mistaken with MPEG-4 Part 3) from Windows Media Tools 4 codecs.^[4][5] The video codec, which was actually not MPEG-4 compliant, was extracted around 1998 by French hacker Jerome Rota (also known as Gej) at Montpellier. The Microsoft codec originally required that the compressed output be put in an ASF file. It was altered to allow other containers such as Audio Video Interleave (AVI).^[6] Rota hacked the Microsoft codec because newer versions of the Windows Media Player wouldn't play his video portfolio and résumé that were encoded with it. Instead of re-encoding his portfolio, Rota and German hacker Max Morice decided to reverse engineer the codec, which "took about a week".^[7]

In early 2000, Jordan Greenhall recruited Rota to form a company (originally called DivXNetworks, Inc., renamed to DivX, Inc. in 2005) to develop an MPEG-4 codec, from scratch, that would still be backward-compatible with the Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 3 format. This effort resulted first in the release of the "OpenDivX" codec and source code on 15 January 2001. OpenDivX was hosted as an open-source project on the Project Mayo web site hosted at projectmayo.com^[8] (the name comes from "mayonnaise", because, according to Rota, DivX and mayonnaise are both "French and very hard to make."^[7]). The company's internal developers and some external developers worked jointly on OpenDivX for the next several months, but the project eventually stagnated.

In early 2001, DivX employee "Sparky" wrote a new and improved version of the codec's encoding algorithm known as "encore2". This code was included in the OpenDivX public source repository for a brief time, but then was abruptly removed. The explanation from DivX at the time was that "the community really wants a Winamp, not a Linux." It was at this point that the project forked. That summer, Rota left the French Riviera and moved to San Diego "with nothing but a pack of cigarettes"^[9] where he and Greenhall founded what would eventually become DivX, Inc.^[7]

DivX took the encore2 code and developed it into DivX 4.0, initially released in July 2001. Other developers who had participated in OpenDivX took encore2 and started a new project—Xvid—that started with the same encoding core. DivX, Inc. has since continued to develop the DivX codec, releasing DivX 5.0 in March 2002. By the release of version 5.2.1 on 8 September 2004, the DivX codec was substantially feature-complete.^{[10][dead link]} Changes since then have tended to focus on speed, and encouraging wider hardware player support, while the company has also focused its time on the formats and next generation codecs.

As of February 2011, the DivX brand has been owned by Rovi Corporation, upon completion of its acquisition of Sonic Solutions.^[11]

DivX formats[link]

DivX Media Format (DMF)[link]

DivX 6 expanded the scope of DivX from including just a codec and a player by adding an optional media container format called "DivX Media Format" ("DMF")^[12] (with a .divx extension) that includes support for the following DVD-Video and VOB container like features. This media container format is used for the MPEG-4 Part 2 codec.

• DivX Media Format (DMF) features:
  • Interactive video menus
  • Multiple subtitles (XSUB)
  • Multiple audio tracks
  • Multiple video streams (for special features like bonus/extra content, just like on DVD-Video movies)
  • Chapter points
  • Other metadata (XTAG)
  • Multiple format
  • Partial backwards compatibility with AVI

This new "DivX Media Format" also came with a "DivX Ultra Certified" profile, and all "Ultra" certified players must support all "DivX Media Format" features. While video encoded with the DivX codec is an MPEG-4 video stream, the DivX Media Format is analogous to media container formats such as Apple's QuickTime. In much the same way that media formats such as DVD specify MPEG-2 video as a part of their specification, the DivX Media Format specifies MPEG-4-compatible video as a part of its specification. However, despite the use of the ".divx" extension, this format is an extension to the AVI file format. The methods of including multiple audio and even subtitle tracks involve storing the data in RIFF headers and other such AVI hacks which have been known for quite a while, such that even VirtualDubMod supports them. DivX, Inc. did this on purpose to keep at least partial backwards compatibility with AVI, so that players that do not support the new features available to the .divx container format (like interactive menus, chapter points and XSUB subtitles) can at least play that primary video stream (usually the main movie if the DMF file contains multiple video streams like special features like bonus materials). Of course, the DivX codec and tools like Dr. DivX still support the traditional method of creating standard AVI files.

DivX Plus HD[link]

DivX Plus HD is a marketing name for a file type using the standard Matroska media container format (.mkv), rather than the proprietary DivX Media Format. DivX Plus HD files contain an H.264 video bitstream, AAC surround sound audio, and a number of XML-based attachments defining chapters, subtitles and meta data.^[13] This media container format is used for the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec.

DivX profiles[link]

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (October 2010)

DivX has defined profiles which are subsets of MPEG-4/AVI and H.264/Matroska standards. Because the grouping is a specific subset of what is in the standards, there are certification processes for each of the profiles that device manufacturers must follow. Hence all DivX certified devices bearing a DivX logo will adhere to one of the profiles outlined in the table below as would any tools that support the DivX profiles.^[14][15]

DivX Video on Demand[link]

DivX Video on Demand (DivX VOD) is DivX's version of digital rights management (DRM), which allows content owners to control distribution in an effort to thwart piracy. DivX, Inc. has received format approval from major Hollywood studios including Sony, Paramount and Lionsgate, which has allowed content retailers to sell protected videos that will play on current and previous generations of DivX certified devices.^[19]

DivX software[link]

DivX Plus for Windows[link]

DivX Plus for Windows is a suite of software for Microsoft Windows that contains the DivX Codec, a standalone media player, a video converter and media player Plug-in for web browsers.^[20] It was released on 16 March 2010.^[21]

DivX Plus for Windows is a successor of DivX suite of software. The latest version of this suite, DivX 7, was released 6 January 2009, which added H.264 video, AAC audio and Matroska container support.^[22]

DivX Plus Player[link]

DivX Plus Player (version 8) is a standalone media player.^[23] This player is a successor to DivX Player (versions 6 and 7) and Playa (version 5), made by the Project Mayo team that later became DivX, Inc.^{[citation needed]}

DivX Plus Player also features DivX to Go as an additional panel on the right side of the interface with four buttons targeting consumer electronic devices. When a user drags a video file onto one of the icons, a transfer wizard is invoked, which walks the user through the steps needed to convert and transfer a video file that's compatible with their DivX Certified device, via USB or optical disc.

DivX Plus Player also features a media library as well as a set of Digital Rights Management features that help authorize purchased commercial content for the consumer's computer and his DivX Certified devices.^[23]

Supported formats[link]

DivX Plus Player supports the following media formats:^[23]

Legend

DivX Plus Converter[link]

The DivX Plus Converter (version 8) introduced a dramatically changed interface from its predecessor. The former had a small round interface that allowed for little more than selecting the type of output and displayed the number of videos in the queue. The DivX Plus Converter interface contains a large window that exposes each video that has been added in a row with drop-down options for quality, size, audio, subtitles and more. Another notable change is while both the previous and DivX Plus versions have 15-day trials, the DivX Plus Converter still allows users to create DivX Plus HD files for free after the trial is complete.^[24]

DivX Plus Converter can convert AVI files (.avi), MP4 files (.mp4), QuickTime Video files (.mov), Windows Media Video files (.wmv), AVCHD video files (.mts and .m2ts) and RMVB files (.rmvb) to DivX Plus HD format (.mkv files). When a DivX Pro license is purchased, it can also convert video files to DivX Media Format (.divx files). In addition with the purchase of an "MPEG-2/DVD Plug-in", the input support range of DivX Plus Converter will be extended to support MPEG video, MPEG-2 video, DVD Video and Video CD.^[24]

DivX Plus Codec Pack[link]

The DivX Plus Codec Pack is an upgrade to the former DivX Community Codec, which enables system-wide playback of MPEG-4 ASP and H.264 video (DivX Plus files). This pack includes a free H.264 decoder with optional DXVA hardware acceleration that can be activated in the control panel.^[25]

DivX Plus Web Player[link]

DivX Plus Web Player (formerly known as DivX Web Player and DivX Browser Plug-In) is a web browser plug-in for playing embedded video on web pages. Web Player supports playing DivX (.divx), AVI (.avi), Matroska (.mkv), MP4 (.mp4) and QuickTime (.mov) video formats on Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari.^[26][27] It also supports multiple audio tracks and muxed UTF-8 subtitles and is able to save video files locally upon completing of full-length buffer.^[28]

On September 2, 2010, a public beta of the Web Player, called DivX HiQ, introduced the following features in the DivX Plus Web Player for Windows:^[29]

• Support for replacing the playing embedded web video with DivX HiQ instead of the Adobe Flash Player on video portals like YouTube and DailyMotion^[30]
• Support for H.264 video in MP4 or QuickTime Video files
• A plug-in that parses HTML5 <video> tag for the web browser, thus enabling it to play .divx, .avi, .mkv, .mp4 or .mov video embedded in this manner with DivX Web Player
• Hardware accelerated video decoding of H.264 bitstreams

On February 10, 2011, The DivX HiQ Beta experiment is over, and will be uninstalled from any computer system in the latest release of the DivX Plus Web Player.^[31]

On December 15, 2011, DivX released the new DivX Web Player 2.2.^{[citation needed]} New release information for this version is unknown, and not yet published.

DivX 7 for Mac[link]

DivX Player for Mac[link]

DivX Player for Mac, first introduced with DivX 6.5 on the 25 May 2006, is a standalone player that plays DivX encoded files and DivX Media Format features such as subtitles, multiple audio tracks, and DivX VOD content. The DivX Player for Mac also can play DivX Plus HD compatible files — namely .mkv files encoded with H.264 video and AAC audio. Unlike the DivX 7 and DivX Plus (version 8) Windows counterparts, DivX Player for Mac does not include a burn engine or a utility for moving videos to USB. Starting with DivX 7.3, it can now play MP4 and MOV files, and now has HTML5 support. The player has since been updated to 8.2.2.

Features[link]

• Bundled playback of MPEG-4 ASP video with MP3 audio (.divx/.avi) and DivX Plus files (Matroska with H.264 video and AAC audio)
• Mouse gestures to control video
• Media manager via a video library window
• Play any QuickTime supported file
• Play video as desktop background
• Manage certified DivX devices to enable playback of purchased/protected content
• Playback of purchased/protected video content

DivX Converter for Mac[link]

DivX Converter for Mac has remained virtually unchanged since DivX 6 for Mac, which is most apparent in its small and round interface and lack of ability to generate DivX Plus HD files.

DivX Plus Web Player for Mac[link]

As of DivX Plus Web Player version 2.0.2, DivX Plus Web Player for Mac has feature parity with the DivX Plus Web Player for Windows.

DivX Author[link]

DivX Author is a licensed version of Pegasys TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 with DivX Authoring without the DVD output capability. DVD Author 3 is already superseded by TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 and Pegasys has ceased development since 2008. Even though it's obsolete, DivX is still selling it on their web site.

Community applications[link]

Dr. DivX OSS[link]

Dr. DivX OSS 2 for Windows

Dr. DivX is an application created by DivX, Inc. that is capable of transcoding many video formats to DivX encoded video. The original closed source Dr. DivX terminated at version 1.06 for DivX 5.21, that was the last version of DivX capable of running under Windows 9x/Me. An open source version has been made, which supports DivX 6. Dr. DivX offers greatly expanded features over the free DivX Converter application, that was bundled with the codec from version 6 onwards.^[32] Dr. Divx is not compatible with DivX Plus HD.

DivX H.264 encoder[link]

DivX has released a command line interface (CLI) for the divx264 encoder used in the DivX Plus Converter as beta, free for non-commercial use.^[33]

DivX AAC encoder[link]

To complement the CLI divx264 encoder released on DivX Labs, DivX has also released a DivX AAC encoder CLI as a Windows beta binary.^[33]

DivX MKV Mux[link]

The DivXMKVMux is a free Windows CLI available through DivX Labs with documentation on the DivX Developer Portal; DivX describes the release as a reference mux to demonstrate DivX Plus MKV extensions like World Fonts and Smooth FF/RW.^[34]

Hardware support[link]

DivX, Inc. markets a certification program to consumer electronics and IC manufacturers for the purpose of guaranteed compatibility and playback of video files that fall within DivX profiles. Devices that have been DivX certified usually brandish one of the following marks:^[35]

• DivX Certified
• DivX Certified for HD 720p and 1080p
• DivX Certified for DivX Plus HD
• DivX Connected
• DivX Certified for DivX Ultra

DivX certified devices have included DVD players, car stereos, mobile phones, televisions, Blu-ray players, and even alarm clocks.^[36]

Aside from verifying proper decoding of files conforming to the DivX profiles the certification also confirms the device can play back DivX Video on Demand content, which includes Hollywood content that can be purchased from Internet retailers.^[37]

Gaming system compatibility[link]

On 4 December 2007, native MPEG-4 ASP playback support was added to the Xbox 360,^{[38][dead link]} allowing it to play video encoded with DivX and other MPEG-4 ASP codecs.^[39]

On 17 December 2007, firmware upgrade 2.10 was released for the Sony PlayStation 3, which included official DivX Certification. Firmware version 2.50 (released on 15 October 2008) included support for the DivX Video on Demand (DivX VOD) service, and firmware version 2.60 (released on 20 January 2009) included official DivX Certification and updated Profile support to version 3.11.^[40]

With introduction of DivX to Go in the DivX Plus Player for Windows, a PlayStation 3 icon is readily available on the interface, which will invoke a transfer wizard for freely converting and copying video files via USB or optical disc.^[41] The output from DivX to Go's PlayStation 3 preset is also playable on the Xbox 360.

Competitors[link]

The main competitors of DivX Inc. in the proprietary commercial software market are Microsoft corporation, Google Inc. and Apple Inc. Microsoft develops Windows Media Video codec (an implementation of VC-1 used on Blu-ray Discs) as well as Windows Media Player, a video player and Microsoft Expression Encoder, a video converter. Google Inc. develops WebM, a royalty-free video file format chiefly used for online video. Apple Inc. also develops QuickTime, a suite of software that can encode, decode and play digital video (including H.264–compliant video).

Additionally, all software products that create (encode) MPEG-4–compatible digital video also compete with DivX. One of these products that can produce MPEG-4–compliant digital video is Xvid, a free and open source codec that offers comparable quality. Both DivX Codec and Xvid are compliant with MPEG-4 Part 2 (MPEG-4 ASP); however, the most commonly used DivX encoding profile (Home Theater)^[42] does not employ the same MPEG-4 ASP features enabled in the most commonly used Xvid encoding profile (home).^[43] In a series of subjective quality tests at Doom9.org between 2003 and 2005, the DivX encoder was beaten by the Xvid encoder every year.^[44] Similar tests were not undertaken for newer versions.

Another notable codec is libavcodec, a free software library that can create and play digital video formats that comply with MPEG-4 Part 2 and MPEG-4 Part 10. This library is now part of ffdshow, which can be used for playback with most Windows video players and video converters.

References[link]

External links[link]

• DivX Labs Community DivX website, with betas and ongoing projects
• DivX resources at the Open Directory Project

Jean-Claude Van Damme
Van Damme at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (1960-10-18) 18 October 1960 (age 51) Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium
Other names	The Muscles from Brussels, JCVD, Van Damage
Nationality	Belgian
Height	1.76 metres (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	80 kg (180 lb) (currently)[2] 73 kg (160 lb) (fighting weight)
Division	Middleweight
Style	Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Shotokan Karate
Fighting out of	Brussels, Belgium
Team	Team Goetz
Trainer	Claude Goetz Dominique Valera
Rank	black belt in Shotokan
Years active	1976–1982 (martial arts), 1984–present (acting)
Kickboxing record
Total	19
Wins	18
By knockout	18
Losses	1
Amateur career
Total	48
Wins	44
Losses	4
Other information
Occupation	Actor, martial artist, director
Spouse	Maria Rodriguez (m. 1980–1984) «start: (1980)–end+1: (1985)»"Marriage: Maria Rodriguez to Jean-Claude Van Damme" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme) Cynthia Derderian (m. 1985–1986) «start: (1985)–end+1: (1987)»"Marriage: Cynthia Derderian to Jean-Claude Van Damme" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme) Darcy LaPier (m. 1994–1997) «start: (1994)–end+1: (1998)»"Marriage: Darcy LaPier to Jean-Claude Van Damme" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme) Gladys Portugues (m. 1987–1992) «start: (1987)–end+1: (1993)»"Marriage: Gladys Portugues to Jean-Claude Van Damme" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme)and (1999–present)
Children	Kristopher Van Varenberg Bianca Bree Nicholas Van Varenberg

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (born 18 October 1960), professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme,^[3] is a Belgian martial artist, actor, and director^[4] best known for his martial arts action films.^[5] The most successful of these films include Bloodsport (1988), Kickboxer (1989), Universal Soldier (1992), Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), Sudden Death (1995) and JCVD (2008).^[6] He is known as "The Muscles from Brussels".

After studying martial arts intensively from the age of ten, Van Damme achieved national success in Belgium as a martial artist and bodybuilder, earning the "Mr. Belgium" bodybuilding title.^[7] He emigrated to the United States in 1982 to pursue a career in film, and achieved success with Bloodsport (1988), based on a story written by Frank Dux. He attained subsequent box office success with Timecop (1994), which was his highest grossing film with over $100 million, until 2011's Kung Fu Panda 2, which grossed over $665 million.

Early life[link]

Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, the son of Eliana and Eugène Van Varenberg, who was an accountant.^[8][9] He began martial arts at the age of ten, enrolled by his father in a Shotokan karate school.^[10] His styles consist of kickboxing, Shotokan karate, Muay Thai and Taekwondo.^[11] He eventually earned his black belt in karate.^[12] He started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title.^[7]

Martial arts career[link]

Semi-contact karate career[link]

At the age of 11,^[13] Van Damme joined the Centre National De Karaté (National Center of Karate) under the guidance of Claude Goetz in Belgium. Van Damme trained for four years and he earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team; later training in full-contact karate and kickboxing by Dominique Valera.^[14]

In 1976, Jean-Claude is reported to have started his competitive career in Ingelmunster, Belgium, in a semi-contact match which was sanctioned by the European Karate Union. He defeated fellow Belgian Roland Vedani. The following year, Van Damme remained undefeated with victories over Maurice Devos, Andre LeMaire and fellow team-mate Patrick Teugels in non-tournament matches sanctioned by the World All-Styles Karate Organization. In his first tournament competition, Van Damme placed second at the Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials). Jean-Claude defeated 25 opponents in the three day tournament before losing in the finals to fellow team-mate Angelo Spataro.^[14]

In Europe, Jean-Claude was a member of the Belgium Team when it won the European Championship on 26 December 1979 at La Coupe Francois Persoons Karate Tournament in Brussels, Belgium. His team won the championship.^[14][15]

1980 Forest National match[link]

On 8 March 1980, in Brussels, Belgium, Van Damme competed against his one-time stablemate Patrick Teugels at the Forest National arena on the amateur undercard of the Dan Macaruso-Dominique Valera PKA Light-Heavyweight World Championship bout.^[14] Prior to this match, Teugels had defeated Van Damme at least twice by decision, including a match for the Belgium Lightweight Championship. Van Damme had a 1977 win over Teugels. Teugels was coming off this latter impressive showing at the WAKO World Championships four months earlier, and was favored by some to win this match. According to reports, and Patrick Teugels' own interview (with photos), Teugels lost by TKO in the 1st round. Teugels was kicked in the nose and was unable to continue due to that injury.^[14]

Kickboxing and full-contact karate career[link]

Van Damme's martial arts record consists mostly of light and semi-contact matches. However, from 1976 to 1982, Van Damme fought in 19 full-contact matches, and compiled a record of 18 wins, 18 knockouts and 1 defeat.^[16]

Van Damme had his first full-contact match against Toon Van Oostrum in Brussels, Belgium in 1976. The 16 year old Van Damme knocked out Oostrum in 46 seconds of the first round.

Jean-Claude's biggest victories were over the United Kingdom's Michael J. Heming-British and European Middleweight Karate Champion, the United States of America's Sherman Bergman, Turkey's Ajom Mahmud Uddin, and Belgium's Lenny Leikman.

Van Damme's only defeat was early in his career, when he lost to France's Etienne "Tuf" Aubry by 1st round disqualification. Van Damme accidentally kicked and knocked out Aubry when he was down. Aubry was unable to continue and was awarded a victory.

Jean-Claude was only knocked down once in his entire 8-year career. Facing Sherman Bergman, Van Damme was knocked to the canvas after absorbing a powerful left hook,^[17][18] and it was the only knock-down suffered by Van Damme in his fighting career. However, Van Damme got up, and with an axe-kick, knocked Bergman out in 56 seconds of the first round. This match was fought in Tampa, Florida.^[17][18]

Following a knockout victory over France's Georges Verlugels on a Professional Karate Association promotion in 1980(source:FightingArts.com), Van Damme caught the attention of Professional Karate Magazine publisher and editor Mike Anderson, and multiple European champion Geet Lemmens. Both men tabbed Van Damme as an upcoming prospect.^[19]

Jean-Claude Van Damme ended his full-contact career in 1982 following a knockout victory over India's Nedjad Gharbi.

Van Damme was scheduled to fight former boxing Olympic gold-medalist Somluck Kamsing in November 2011.^[20] Early reports have named Las Vegas, USA, Moscow, Russia and Macau, China, Thailand as locations for the bout but it now fight will take place in Dubai, Moscow^[21] or Grozny.^[22] At the prospect of being the first man over the age of 50 to kickbox professionally, Van Damme stated that "it's kind of dangerous, but life is short."^{[dead link][23]} The fight was postponed to May or June 2012.^[21]

Film career[link]

In 1982, Van Damme and childhood friend, Michel Qissi, moved to America in the hope of becoming action stars. They both were cast as extras in the film, Breakin'. Van Damme also had a non-speaking part as a Secret Service agent who carries a polio-crippled President Franklin Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy) out of a pool in the 1988 TV miniseries War and Remembrance. After a small part in Missing In Action, Van Damme was next cast in the film No Retreat, No Surrender, as the role of the villain, Ivan the Russian. Van Damme worked for director John McTiernan for the 1987 film Predator as an early (eventually abandoned) version of the titular alien, before being removed and replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.^[24] His breakout film was Bloodsport, based on the alleged true story of Frank Dux. Shot on a 1.5 million dollar budget, it became a U.S. box-office hit in the spring of 1988. He then starred in the smaller budgeted film Cyborg. His last role for 1989 was Kurt Sloane in the successful Kickboxer. In this film, his character fights to avenge his brother who has been paralyzed by a Thai kickboxing champion (Qissi).^[25]

Double Impact featured Van Damme in the dual role of Alex and Chad Wagner, two brothers fighting to avenge the deaths of their parents. This film reunited him with his former Bloodsport co-star, Bolo Yeung. He then starred opposite Dolph Lundgren in the action film Universal Soldier. While it grossed $36,299,898 in the U.S., it was an even bigger success overseas, making over $65 million, well over its modest $23 million budget, making it Van Damme's highest grossing film at the time. Van Damme followed Nowhere To Run and Hard Target with Timecop in 1994. The film was a huge success, grossing over $100 million worldwide. In the film, Van Damme played a time traveling cop, who tries to prevent the death of his wife. It remains his highest grossing film in a lead role to date.

After his role in the poorly received Street Fighter, his projects started to fail at the box office. The Quest (1996), which he directed; Maximum Risk (1996), Double Team (1997) and Knock Off (1998) were box-office flops. The 1999 film Universal Soldier: The Return, also a box-office flop, was Van Damme's last theatrically released film until 2008. In 2003, Van Damme employed his dancing training in the music video for Bob Sinclar's "Kiss My Eyes."

Van Damme returned to the mainstream with the limited theatrical release of the 2008 film JCVD, which received positive reviews. Time Magazine named Van Damme's performance in the film the second best of the year (after Heath Ledger's The Joker in The Dark Knight),^[26] having previously stated that Van Damme "deserves not a black belt, but an Oscar."^[27] Van Damme indicated while promoting the film, he experienced a period of homelessness "sleeping on the street and starving in L.A."^[28]

Van Damme reprised his role as Luc Deveraux in the 2009 film Universal Soldier: Regeneration. Subsequently he voiced "Master Croc" in the 2011 animated vilm Kung Fu Panda 2. Also in 2011, Van Damme participated in various commercials for Coors Light beer, in which he is located on a snow-covered mountain wearing a sleeveless denim jacket, and for washing powder "Dash".

He was offered a lead role in Sylvester Stallone's latest film The Expendables. Stallone called Van Damme personally to offer him the role, but Van Damme turned it down. He scheduled a series of film projects for 2011, including another Universal Soldier movie. On 30 June 2011, Van Damme confirmed his participation in The Expendables 2.^[29]

Van Damme's latest project is starring in an upcoming (2013) feature Welcome To The Jungle directed by Rob Meltzer, in a role as a workplace team building trainer opposite Adam Brody, Rob Huebel, Kristen Schaal, Megan Boone, and Dennis Haysbert.^[30]

Controversies[link]

Fight record[link]

In an interview on his website, Van Damme rival, Patrick Teugels states that Van Damme never fought at the 1979 WAKO World Championships in Tampa, Florida, and posts a Dutch-language Samurai magazine report on the tournament in which Van Damme (Van Varenberg) is not mentioned.^[31] On Van Damme's imdb page, as well as his official webpage, Van Damme makes no claims of having fought at the 1979 or 1980 WAKO World Championships. Van Damme's fight with Bergman in Tampa, Florida^[32] was always billed as a non-tournament match, and was not under the sanction of the WAKO World Championships and was not recorded as a championship bout.

At the same time, while Teugels takes credit for two victories over Van Damme (one for the Belgium light-contact Championship), records show that Van Damme defeated Teugels in at least two matches, including one at the Forest National arena in which Van Damme broke Teugels's nose.^[33] At the STAR System World Kickboxing Ratings^[14] website, event coverages and results are posted from France's Karate Magazine and from the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO) that show Van Damme was an active semi-contact fighter in Europe between 1978–1980, but that he never placed at the 1979 WAKO World Championships. Newspaper clippings do provide information that Van Damme fought in various tournaments from 1978-1980, but internet photos show that Van Damme competed from 1976-1982.

When Van Damme became an action film star a controversy arose because leading martial arts magazines could not find any fights listed for Jean-Claude Van Damme. Jean-Claude had competed under his birth name of Jean-Claude Van Varenberg. Van Damme's office supplied a list of four European karate trophies that he earned under his real name, Van Varenberg, between 1978 and 1981: the Hope Cup; the Cup of Antwerp; World Championship, WAKO; and the Gala International. Van Damme's lawyer, Martin Singer, made a public statement defending his client: "There are records to document his martial-arts acclaim. He's the one who does those splits on chairs. He doesn't have a stunt man do that."^[34]

Paul Maslak of the STAR System World Kickboxing Ratings, who was also the casting director who helped cast Van Damme in his first theatrical role, No Retreat No Surrender, and who was therefore always aware of Van Damme's legal name, researched Van Damme's competitive history and came up with documentation that showed most fights were in tournament karate and that there was no verifiable evidence Van Damme had ever competed as a professional kickboxer.^[14] The term "professional" fighter is open to debate, because many WAKO fighters in Europe were paid money to train.^[35]

Kadyrov event[link]

In October 2011, Van Damme, along with other celebrities including Hilary Swank, Vanessa-Mae and Seal attracted criticism from human rights groups for attending an event in Russian federal subject Chechnya's capital Grozny on the 35th birthday of Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov on October 5.^[36] Human rights groups, who had urged the celebrities to cancel their appearances because of abuses carried out under Kadyrov, criticised the celebrities for attending the event.^[37] Human Rights Watch released a statement which said, "Ramzan Kadyrov is linked to a litany of horrific human rights abuses. It's inappropriate for stars to get paid to party with him. It bolsters his image and legitimizes a brutal leader and his regime. And getting paid to be part of such a lavish show in Chechnya trivializes the suffering of countless victims of human rights abuses there."^[38][39][40]

Personal life[link]

At the age of 16 he took up ballet, which he studied for five years. According to Van Damme, ballet "is an art, but it's also one of the most difficult sports. If you can survive a ballet workout, you can survive a workout in any other sport."^[41] In the French-speaking world, Van Damme is well known for the picturesque aphorisms that he delivers on a wide range of topics (personal well-being, the environment, etc.) in a sort of Zen franglais.^[42]

Health and addiction[link]

Van Damme used to have a substance abuse issues that started during 1995.^[43] He entered a month-long rehabilitation program in 1996 but left it after only one week.^[43][44] In 1996, he spent up to $10,000 a week on cocaine.^[45] He is also reported to have experienced bipolar disorder. After the filming of the 1998 film Knock Off, Van Damme was diagnosed with rapid cycling bipolar disorder after becoming suicidal and started treatment on the mood stabilizer, sodium valproate. A turning point toward improvement of his health came from late 1997 onwards, after having finished divorce procedures.^[43]

Mortal Kombat[link]

The original video game Mortal Kombat was conceived as a fighting game based on the actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme.^[46] Creators Ed Boon and John Tobias originally had desired to author the game starring Van Damme himself. That fell through as Van Damme had a prior deal for another game under the auspices of the Sega Genesis platform. Ed Boon and John Tobias eventually decided to create Mortal Kombat featuring a character named Johnny Cage, who is modeled after Jean-Claude Van Damme, primarily from Van Damme's appearance and outfit in the martial arts film Bloodsport.^[47][48]

Filmography[link]