Article: Van Damme stays `sensitive' as tough guy in movies

NEW YORK Sometimes fondly known as "Muscles From Brussels," karate master Jean-Claude Van Damme is an action-movie hero with a soft side.

The former Belgian middleweight karate champ, who has starred as tough guys in "Cyborg," "Kickboxer" and "Death Warrant," calls himself "a romantic, sensitive person in an envelope of muscles."

Van Damme said the actors he especially admires - Christopher Walken, Marlon Brando, the late Montgomery Clift, "all those good guys" - shared a certain sensitivity.

"What I admire is being strong physically, but with something behind it - knowing there's nothing wrong with being sensitive," said the star of the current hit "Lionheart," now in its second week ...

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