Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd-dan black belt in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. As a teenager, he won the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association in 1979 and the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978. With the desire of becoming an actor in Hollywood, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).
A banknote – also called a bill, paper money, or simply a note – is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commercial banks, which were legally required to redeem the notes for legal tender when presented to the chief cashier of the originating bank. These commercial banknotes only traded at face value in the market served by the issuing bank. Commercial banknotes have primarily been replaced by national banknotes issued by central banks or monetary authorities.
Operation Bernhard was an exercise by Nazi Germany to forge British bank notes. The initial plan was to drop the notes over Britain to bring about a collapse of the British economy during the Second World War. The first phase was run from early 1940 by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) under the title Unternehmen Andreas. The unit successfully duplicated the rag paper used by the British, produced near-identical engraving blocks and deduced the algorithm used to create the alpha-numeric serial code on each note. The unit closed in early 1942 after its head, Alfred Naujocks, fell out of favour with his superior officer, Reinhard Heydrich.
The Quest is a 1996 American martial arts adventure film starring and directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, in his directorial debut. It co-stars Roger Moore, James Remar and Janet Gunn. The plot, set in 1925, follows New York thief Chris Dubois who is sold into slavery by Lord Edgar Dobbs (Moore) and, after receiving Muay Thai training in Siam, enters an ancestral martial arts tournament in Tibet to earn back his freedom.
Wake of Death is a 2004 American action film directed by Philippe Martínez and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Ringo Lam was the original director, but he left the project after a few weeks of filming in Canada. After that, Lam was replaced by Cess Silvera who was fired after two weeks of filming in Cape Town, South Africa. The film was released to some countries' cinemas but direct to DVD in most places.
New York Undercover is an American police drama that aired on the Fox television network from September 8, 1994, to February 11, 1999. The series starred Malik Yoba as Detective J.C. Williams and Michael DeLorenzo as Detective Eddie Torres, two undercover detectives in New York City's Fourth Precinct who were assigned to investigate various crimes and gang-related cases. The cast also included Patti D'Arbanville-Quinn as their superior, Lt. Virginia Cooper, and Lauren Vélez, who joined the cast in the second season as Nina Moreno, fellow detective and love interest to Torres. New York Undercover was co-created and produced by Dick Wolf, and its storyline takes place in the same fictional universe as Wolf's NBC series Law & Order, its spin-offs, the Chicago and FBI series, and Homicide: Life on the Street.
3 Dev Adam is a 1973 Turkish superhero film, directed by T. Fikret Uçak and written by Doğan Tamer, based on characters created by Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Joe Simon and Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, featuring Aytekin Akkaya as Captain America and Yavuz Selekman as El Santo called to Istanbul on a special mission to stop the villainous Spider-Man and his criminal gang.
Until Death is a 2007 American vigilante action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed by Simon Fellows. It was released direct-to-DVD on April 24, 2007. Van Damme plays Anthony Stowe, a corrupt police detective addicted to heroin whom everybody hates. After being shot in a gunfight, he falls into a coma. Months later, he recovers and decides to use his second chance at life.
Legionnaire is a 1998 American drama war film directed by Peter MacDonald and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a 1920s boxer who wins a fight after having been hired by gangsters to lose it, then flees to join the French Foreign Legion. The cast includes Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Daniel Caltagirone, Nicholas Farrell and Steven Berkoff. The film was filmed in Tangier and Ouarzazate, Morocco.
Bullhead is a 2011 Belgian crime film written and directed by Michaël R. Roskam and starring Matthias Schoenaerts. The film is about the prohibited use of growth hormones on cattle by farmers with ties to organised crime "hormone mafia", and tells the story of Jacky Vanmarsenille, a young Limburgish farmer, who is approached by his veterinarian to make a deal with a West-Flemish beef trader. But the murder of a federal policeman, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky's past, set in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.
The Band of Honest Men is a 1956 black and white Italian comedy film. The film is known as Die Bande der Ehrlichen in West Germany, and Totó e as Notas Falsas in Portugal. It was filmed in Rome.
The Upper Hand is a 1966 French thriller film about gold smuggling based on the novel by Auguste Le Breton and starring Jean Gabin, George Raft and Gert Fröbe.
JCVD is a 2008 satirical black comedy crime drama film co-written and directed by Mabrouk el Mechri, and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a fictionalized version of himself: a down and out action star whose family and career are crumbling around him as he is caught in the middle of a post office heist in his hometown of Brussels, Belgium.
Swelter is a 2014 American action film written and directed by Keith Parmer and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lennie James, Catalina Sandino, Alfred Molina, Grant Bowler and Josh Henderson. James plays a sheriff in a small town who has a dark past that he can not remember, only to have to confront it when his ex-partners show up looking for stolen money they believe he has.
Le cave se rebiffe is a 1961 French comedy film directed by Gilles Grangier, written by Michel Audiard and starring Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier and Martine Carol. The film was retitled The Counterfeiters of Paris for English-speaking countries.
The Ardennes is a 2015 Belgian drama film directed by Robin Pront. It was screened in the Discovery section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. At the 6th Magritte Awards, it received the Magritte Award for Best Flemish Film. It was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
Dalida is a 2016 French biographical drama film about the life of singer and actress Dalida. It is written, directed and co-produced by Lisa Azuelos, and stars Sveva Alviti as Dalida.
The 5 yen note (5円券) was a denomination of Japanese yen in twelve different series from 1872 to 1955 for use in commerce. Only those from the "A series", which was issued from 1946 to 1955 are legal tender today.
Babli Bouncer is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar and starring Tamannaah Bhatia. Produced by Vineet Jain and Amrita Pandey under the banners Star Studios and Junglee Pictures, the film follows the journey of Babli, a street-smart woman who becomes a bouncer at a nightclub. It premiered on 23 September 2022 on Disney+ Hotstar.
AKA is a 2023 French action crime film directed by Morgan S. Dalibert, written by Morgan S. Dalibert and Alban Lenoir and starring Lenoir, Eric Cantona and Thibault de Montalembert. It is about an undercover agent tasked with infiltrating a crime gang that is connected to a Sudanese terrorist bombing suspect.
