In the early 1980s, Belgian martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme arrived in America with dreams of stardom. Possessing a finely-honed physique, thanks to years of training in (among other things) karate, kickboxing, and ballet, he was ambitious and brimming with self-belief.

The acting bug bit Van Damme while he was still in his teens: he played “a bad guy with all the knives” in the 1984 French gangster movie Rue Barbare and, determined to further his goal of becoming an actor, hopped on a plane to Los Angeles. His first few years in America were, however, tough. He slept in a rental car for two weeks, and made money money by teaching aerobics and martial arts, delivering pizzas, and working as a doorman at a restaurant belonging to Chuck Norris.

After months of English lessons and auditions, and even placing pictures of himself under the windscreen wipers of film producers, Van Damme got a small but important break. He and his friend Michel Qissi – a fellow martial artist who’d emigrated from Belgium with the same dreams of stardom – were given bit-parts in the hip-hop culture movie Breakin’. It wasn’t much, but Van Damme finally had an American film credit under his belt – and what’s more, Breakin’ gave the young would-be star his first brush with Cannon Films, a company that would, more than any other, one day make him famous.

Until then, Van Damme managed to land another film role, this time in the 1986 martial arts flick No Retreat, No Surrender. He played Ivan Kraschinsky, a Russian kickboxing expert who’s ultimately felled by Jason Stillwell’s young hero. It was compared unfavourably to films like Rocky and The Karate Kid by critics, but to Van Damme, it was another small but vital step towards the fame he craved.