Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, is a professional wrestler and actor from the United States. He was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California.
Johnson came from a long line of wrestlers. Peter "High Chief" Maivia, his grandpa on his mother's side, was a prominent figure in the business world in the 1960s and 1970s. Rocky Johnson Sr., known as "Soulman," wrestled and boxed on the American regional circuit and sparred with George Foreman in 1974 as Foreman trained for "the Rumble in the Jungle" against Muhammad Ali. Still, young Johnson was at first more interested in playing football than yoga. He was a football star at University of Miami in 1991 and had a stellar high school career (Bachelor of General Studies, 1995). His time in the Canadian Football League was cut short due to injuries, so he tried his hand at wrestling instead.
Johnson made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1996 under the moniker Rocky Maivia, an homage to his father and grandfather. He was blessed with a unique combination of stature, speed, and agility as well as great microphone abilities. After only a few months of promotion as a "face" (fan favourite), Johnson won the WWF Intercontinental championship. However, the push back from fans caused the Rocky Maivia character to be pushed to the background in favour of the Rock, an unrepentant "heel" ("bad guy"). The shift ultimately boosted the show's ratings. In 1998, The Rock won his first of many world championships after engaging in a series of high-profile feuds with the WWF's best talents.
Johnson's bold charisma from his ringside monologues translated well to the big screen, and his breakthrough role in The Mummy Returns (2001) marked a turning point in his career. Johnson wasn't the only pro wrestler Hollywood tried to recruit, but he had the greatest success. His subsequent works include 2002's The Scorpion King and 2005's The Rundown, all sequels to 1999's "The Mummy Returns" (2003). In 2004, he decided to give up boxing and focus on acting instead.
In his later films, Johnson starred in a variety of testosterone-fueled action movies, such as G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), Pain & Gain (2013), and four installments of The Fast and the Furious franchise: Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), and The Fate of the Furious (2016). (2017). The Game Plan (2007), Tooth Fairy (2010), and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) are just a few more family comedies in which he had a role (2012). Upon casting for Hercules, Johnson was given the role of the Greek hero (2014). In San Andreas (2015), he portrayed a firefighter who must deal with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, and in Central Intelligence (2016), he co-starred alongside Kevin Hart.
In Disney's animated feature Moana (2016), Johnson voiced a demigod. In 2017, he starred in the comedic Baywatch film adaptation of the TV series about lifeguards and the fantasy adventure Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, based on the novel by Chris Van Allsburg. Skyscraper, an action film in which Johnson starred the following year, follows a father who risks his life by climbing to the top of a burning skyscraper to rescue his children. He then starred in the 2019 spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw and the 2019 sequel Jumanji: The Next Level. With Emily Blunt, he headlined the 2021 action comedy Jungle Cruise, which was inspired by a real-life theme park ride. In the same year, he also had an appearance in Red Notice as an FBI profiler on the trail of art thieves.
Johnson made multiple guest-starring TV appearances. The Hero, a reality show he presented in 2013, was followed by Ballers, a comedy about a former football player who becomes a financial counsellor to other sports players, which he starred in from 2015 to 2019. Johnson then produced and presided over the reality competition series The Titan Games (2019-). His life was the basis for the comedy series Young Rock (2021-), in which he made a subsequent appearance.
The feud between Johnson and WWE superstar John Cena, which culminated in a main event battle at WrestleMania XXVIII in April 2012, began in 2011 when Johnson returned to the ring for the first time in seven years. As a result of his participation, WrestleMania XXVIII became the highest-grossing pay-per-view telecast in WWE history, bringing in over 1.3 million orders and $67 million in global sales. While Johnson did win his ninth professional wrestling title in January 2013, he promptly lost it to John Cena in another highly publicised match just three months later.