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Me and my friends have debated this for a long time now and can not come to a definate conclusion. Who is a worse actor, Steven Segal or Van Damm?

Me and my friends have debated this for a long time now and can not come to a definate conclusion. Who is a worse actor, Steven Segal or Van Damm?
An actor is only as good as his script-writer, director, camera man, special effects coordinator, set designer, costume and makeup artist, and producer make him.
(Did I forget anyone?)

Steven Segal. He has that "I'm a martial artsy actor, and I'm white, but I'm trying to look vaguely asian somehow" expression.

An actor is only as good as his script-writer, director, camera man, special effects coordinator, set designer, costume and makeup artist, and producer make him.
(Did I forget anyone?)

Bollocks. Steven Seagal is a ham, and no director, script writer, etc. can change that. Even the best of them can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. Jean-Claude Van Damme is the same. I personally dislike Steven, because he tries to put a hit on anyone who questions his lies about having been a government spook.

An actor is only as good as his script-writer, director, camera man, special effects coordinator, set designer, costume and makeup artist, and producer make him.
(Did I forget anyone?)
Maybe a bad actor.
However Tim Roth or Gary Oldman are good actors period. NO help required, Gary Oldman could read a cereal box and make it sound good.
Van Damme is worse.
As far as Seagal goes, he just cant act.
At least however Seagal is a real and respected Martial artist.
Van Damme is a ballerina with a Bowflex.
Seagal wasnt a spook, he was a security consultant.
It is documented that he handled Security for the Shah of Iran on a visit to the States many years ago.
As far as bad a$$ for uncle sam?
No, dont think so.

Steven Seagal is obviously the coolest actor today, a 7. dan aikido genius, only feebleminded fools can't realize that! Van Damn however is a Belgian wimp, no offence to Belgium though, that's a nice country.

they are both terrible but JCvD has the excuse that over his whole career, he has only filmed about 3 scenes not coked out of his brain. Seagal as far as I am aware has been sober most of the time so his ham acting is inexcusable.

(having said that - when i was about 10, i did really like universal soldier, kick boxer and the first under siege - i guess taste takles time to acquire)

i thought they were the same person

I dislike Steven Segal more as an actor, but is he a worse actor? What ticks me off about Segal is the movies he does, in which his inability to act turns what would otherwise be a good movie into crap, he takes roles which demand acting ability. Van Damm however makes better movies, because so few of his roles require him to act, but although better overall (because his crappy acting doesn't ruin them) they would be worse than Segal movies if anyone but Segal were in them - they are pretty cheesy movies. Really I cannot decide, I don't think you can have negative acting ability but they seem to be tied for zero.


As for Oldman, spot on Erin. He has never failed to amaze me with his roles.

steven segal has hilarious fight scenes, but he is a lame actor

As for Oldman, spot on Erin. He has never failed to amaze me with his roles.
Not to Hijack,
He is my favorite actor, as you said he amazes me.
He should be afforded the credit given to a James Dean, or a Marlon Brando.
He is in a class all his own.
The best Actor of this Generation.

They're both crap. But can Van Damm kill people by turning their head to the side?

I just love how Segal breaks people's limbs and the cheesey movies he makes. Also he is a wife-beater to boot!!

Well, Jean-Claude Van Damme has had a couple ok movies. Tim Cop wasn't too bad. But at least Seagal really is a bad ass as far as martial arts go where Van Damme is a gymnist at best.

What about Sylvester Stallone? Surely he deserves to be up (down) there with them!

What about Sylvester Stallone? Surely he deserves to be up (down) there with them!

Actually, in recent years, Stallone has impressed me. He's grown quite a bit as an actor.

Currently, as far as action movies go, the newest and most interesting actor is 'The Rock'. My jury is still out on him. He seems good, if a bit one-dimensional.

What about Sylvester Stallone? Surely he deserves to be up (down) there with them!No. Stallone is actually a very good actor who got typecast and wound up playing a single role repeatedly. If you knew how far the Rambo/Rocky role is from Stallone you'd realize how good an actor he is, for instance he wrote Rocky, taught in Switzerland (can you say avoid Viet Nam - not to loud he might sue you), is an oil painter and so on. While not one of the great actors he is certainly a good actor.

Who is Worse, Steven Segal or Jean Claude Van Damm?

I am going to have to say Jean Claude Van Damm. As cheesy as Steven Segal may be, he is the real thing. Jean Claude Van Damm is nothing but an acrobat. He doesn't even have a real art. Segal is an actual 4th degree black belt in Akito and a former CIA special op. So, I'm not crazy about either ones' movies, but I can respect Segal.

I am going to have to say Jean Claude Van Damm. As cheesy as Steven Segal may be, he is the real thing. Jean Claude Van Damm is nothing but an acrobat. He doesn't even have a real art. Segal is an actual 4th degree black belt in Akito and a former CIA special op. So, I'm not crazy about either ones' movies, but I can respect Segal.You do realize that Van Damme was the European Karate Champion, and came close to winning the World title?

Segal is an actual 4th degree black belt in Akito and a former CIA special op. So, I'm not crazy about either ones' movies, but I can respect Segal.
Segal's only a former CIA op in his own mind. Wasn't there links between him and the Mafia a few years back? I vaguely remember reading he owed them a lot over gambling and their financing of some of his movies.
I think the Rock is the best action movie actor out right now. But then he did have a lot of experience acting in the WWF for years.
I used to think Vin Diesel was awful but I've improved my opinion since 'Riddick' which was cool.
Stallone? "Lock up" has to be one of the worst and ost contrived piece of action crap ever. Except possibly the one he made about the arm wrestling. Or Rambo III. Or any of the Rocky sequels.

Seagal is NOT a former CIA spook. He's never been in the employ of any US government agency. He likes to lead people to believe that he was, but believe it, he's full of bullshit.

http://www.american-buddha.com/SPY.seagal.htm

He's also completely mental.

Oh well, I was just going on what he said about 10 years ago on "The Arsenio Hall Show" at the end of the day, I don't really care, they both can't act.

The problem with Claude is they cast him to play an American when one look will tell you that he isn't.

Segal however doesn't have that excuse.

Ok, I'll grant you that 'Copland' showed Stallone can act a bit, but I just remembered another one that surely, no-one can argue with:
Chuck Norris!
Now there's a man who really can't act. He has two facial expressions. A kinda of constipated look that's meant to show pained grief and one of confused boredom for everything else.

Ok, I'll grant you that 'Copland' showed Stallone can act a bit, but I just remembered another one that surely, no-one can argue with:
Chuck Norris!
Now there's a man who really can't act. He has two facial expressions. A kinda of constipated look that's meant to show pained grief and one of confused boredom for everything else.
Have you seen him in that dodgeball movie? Yeah, he sucked there too.

What about Sylvester Stallone? Surely he deserves to be up (down) there with them!

No way! Sly is great! First Blood was great, as was the original Rocky, though I'll admit the sequels of each tended to get worse (except for Rocky IV, with Dolph Lundgren as the Russian - "I fight for me!"). Also, in Copland, he really acted well.
On the original point, I think Mr. Seagal has only had one halfway decent film, Under Siege, and he wasn't the best thing about it (Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, Erika Eleniak?, THAT'S a good film!). As for Mr. Van Damme, both Cyborg and Timecop were pretty cool, so I say Seagal is worse then Van Damme, though I reckon Chuck Norris wins the all-time bad action movie hero award as well.

I wanna see Van Damme frontal nude :)

I wanna see Van Damme frontal nude :)
I don't know if you've noticed, but he has pretty small hands. ;)

we are talknig about them being hacks.

we are not talknig about what they look like nude, stay on topic

Actually, Although Van Damme can't act, I'm a fan.
You should see his interviews in french. That guy is an artist.

http://www4.tz-technologie.com/

in english it means something like :

"The peanuts, that's soft and salted, that's strong and soft, like a woman. The peanuts are the perpetual motion made possible for the man."

"When really you have the confidence, you become confident"

"In truth, the truth is there is no truth"

"You don't need a flash when you take a picture of a rabbit who already has red eyes"

"I'm fascinated by the air. If you could take it out of the sky, all the birds would fall... And the planes also ... and at the same time you can't touch the air ... it exists and it doesn't exist ... it feeds the man while not hungry ... c'est magique (originaly, he says it in english "it's magic")... air is beautiful and at the same time you can't see it .. it's soft and you can't touch it ... air is a little like the brain"

"According to the statistics, there is one out of 5 people who is mad. If there are 4 people around you and if they are sane, it's not good."

"you look at your inside and you become "au courant de ton propre corps" (he says "aware of your own body" in english)."

And that's just one of the thousands things he can say in an interview.
I think he beats even Bush, hands down.

They're both horrible actors. If I *had* to pick the worst, I would say Van Damme, because at least Seagal can speak English (which is the language their movies are filmed in).

As martial artists, Seagal wins hands down. Van Damme isn't really even a martial artist, he's a dancer or a gymnast. Seagal can actually kick ass.

They're both horrible actors. If I *had* to pick the worst, I would say Van Damme, because at least Seagal can speak English (which is the language their movies are filmed in).

As martial artists, Seagal wins hands down. Van Damme isn't really even a martial artist, he's a dancer or a gymnast. Seagal can actually kick ass.
Sorry but wrong. Van Damme was the European Kick Boxing champion and came close to winning the World Champ. Segal apparently never competed. He only trained to get his belt.
I think in order of bad acting (from worst to best): Norris, Segal, Van Damme

Oh well, I was just going on what he said about 10 years ago on "The Arsenio Hall Show" at the end of the day, I don't really care, they both can't act.


Wow you and like 5 other viewers! That show was so rank!

See, this really is the ultimate question. It always ends up being 50/50. But I do have to agree with you on Chuck Norris; I have never even watched his show for more than a couple of minutes and it is bad.

Sorry but wrong. Van Damme was the European Kick Boxing champion and came close to winning the World Champ. Are you sure it was kcik -boxing, I was pretty sure it was Karate?

I read in one of my martial art mags(it was either Kung Fu or Karate mag) that the international karate Federation stated Van Damme had no status with them what so ever as a europeon Karate champion.
As for acting, they're both bad but at least Segal is a real artist.He supposedly trained in Japan for 5 years. They both have big egos too.I'd like to see Norris fight Segal.
Anyone know if Dolph Lundgren ever won any titles?
Peace