Robert Van Damme | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Van Damme in 2006 | |
| Born | Robert Kovařík |
| Known for | Gay pornography actor,ice hockey player |
Robert Kovařík, known professionally asRobert Van Damme, is a Czech gaypornographic film actor, director, and producer, and formerice hockey player. After making his pornography debut in 2003, he became an exclusive model withHot House Entertainment in 2005 and founded his owngay pornography studio, RVD Films, in 2009. In 2014, Kovařík was sentenced by a Czech court to nine years in prison on charges arising from a series ofarmed robberies he was found guilty of committing in the country in 1999 and 2000.
Kovařík was born inCzechoslovakia. In the 1990s he was anice hockey player forLHK Jestřábi Prostějov, and later played forMBK Vyškov [cz].[1]
Kovařík was charged by Czech authorities with leading a group that committed two armed robberies inProstějov in 1999 and 2000. He remained in police custody for two years, the maximum length under Czech law a suspect can be detained without guilt being proven, before being released.[2] In 2003 he departed the Czech Republic for the United States, and was subsequentlysentenced in absentia to ten years in prison for robbery and theft of amounts exceeding 5 millionKč.[1] Kovařík has contended that he was a participant in amotor vehicle theft ring, but has denied any role in leading robberies.[1]
While living in California, Kovařík was scouted by the Americangay pornography studio Blue Blake Productions, and made his debut as a gay pornographic actor under the stage name "Robert Van Damme" in 2003. Van Damme gained popularity as agay-for-pay "power top" performer,[3] making his feature-length debut in theMustang Studios filmThe Hunted in 2005[3] and signing an exclusive contract withHot House Entertainment that same year.[4]
A Czech court issued an arrest warrant for Kovařík in 2006.[5] In February 2009, Kovařík co-founded with his then-wife the gay pornography studio RVD Films. It released its first film,Robert Van Damme's Private Party, in March of that year;[3] the film was also Kovařík's directorial debut.[6] That same year, he was inducted into theGrabby Awards Hall of Fame[7] and won Best New Director at theHard Choice Awards.[8] In 2010, RVD Films began distributing its films through thevideo on demand website GayMovies.com.[9]
On May 21, 2010, Kovařík was arrested in Los Angeles and detained byU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[3] His deportation was authorized by theU.S. State Department in March 2013,[1] and he was extradited to the Czech Republic in May that year.[10] His retrial began in September 2013 at the Regional Court ofBrno[11] and concluded in March 2014, with a court panel sentencing him to nine years in prison.[12]
