After a full-contact career that consisted of 18 victories, he caught the eye of Hollywood casting directors after small roles in the TV series War and Remembrance and the film, No Surrender, No Retreat.Īfter being fired as the original Predator, replaced by the late Kevin Peter Hall, he broke out in the low budget movie Bloodsport. While he also studied both taekwondo and muay thai, his style is generally a combination of karate and kickboxing. At 16 he took up ballet to improve his overall physique and balance. He also took up body building to improve his physique, which led to him earning a Mr Belgium bodybuilding title. At age 12, Van Damme training for the national karate team, and by age 15 began a competitive career in semi-contact karate, with an impressive 44 wins to his name. He began his training in Shotokan karate at the age of ten and earned his black belt at the age of 18. It’s hardly surprising that Jean-Claude Van Damme has serious martial arts skills. He has studied the martial art of Hwa Rang Do for six years under Tae-joon Lee, the son of the art's founder, and he credits the discipline he has found under Lee as inspiration for turning his life around. However, appearances in Sin City, The Wrestler (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award), The Expendables, and Iron Man 2 have seen his career have a degree of resurgence. Having retired from boxing in 1994, Rourke returned to acting but struggled in mainstream Hollywood.
Rourke was undefeated in eight fights, with six wins (four by knockout) and two draws. He had become more famous for his personal life and his acting decisions, and by his own account had “had no respect for an actor".ĭespite being too old for many boxing promoters to take seriously, his professional record was surprisingly solid.
Rourke surprised many when he quit acting in 1989 and became a professional boxer. It was for the Charles Bukowski biopic, Barfly, that he received the most critical acclaim.
Having trained as a boxer as a youth, Mickey Rourke turned his attention to acting and became one of the more recognised faces of the 1980s with performances in movies such as Diner, Rumble Fish, and 9 ½ Weeks.
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