Don’t cross Bianca Van Damme.
With her wide-set eyes and pouty lips, she looks like pinup perfection…and then she leaps into a perfect roundhouse kick.
“I want to show little girls and little boys that you can be physical and feminine. That you can cross your legs at the dinner table and then kick ass in a nice, feminine way,” says the 25-year-old West Village resident. “Kind of like how my father brought martial arts to the mainstream for my generation — I want to continue that legacy.”
It’s a bold statement for the actress and film producer.
After all, she spent her childhood telling her dad, Jean-Claude Van Damme, a k a “the Muscles from Brussels,” and mom, bodybuilding champion Gladys Portugues, that she “hated” martial arts.
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
Jean-Claude burned his way into pop-culture consciousness in martial-arts action movies like “Bloodsport,” “Kickboxer” and “Street Fighter,” providing a comfortable life for Bianca and her brother Kristopher, now 28.
“My parents let us do our own thing. When I was young, my mom pushed me into martial arts for self-discipline. I was 7 and like, ‘I can’t stand it,’ ” Bianca recalls. “I stuck with ballet and [ice] skating.”
Bianca’s certainly inherited his skills. Just like Jean Claude, she can do crazy flying kicks and spins and even a balancing split that mimics his infamous 2013 Volvo commercial.
One big sign that things are better between the two Van Dammes?
Bianca’s now using her dad’s stage name professionally, even as she’s signed on to make some films without him. And now that she’s finally embraced the family business of martial arts, daughter and father bond through competitiveness.
“I’ll agree to meet up with him and then I’ll be like, ‘Ugh, why am I here?’ I’m a perfectionist, and so is he, so he’ll always give me little critiques on my form,” she says. “He’ll be all like, ‘Look how high my kick is!’ And I’m like, ‘Dad, you can’t be serious — I’m obviously better than you!’ ”
