Johnson, Dwayne “The Rock” (1972-…), is a popular American actor and former professional wrestler. Johnson gained fame wrestling under the nickname “The Rock” in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment). He later became internationally famous as an actor in motion pictures, starring largely in action films. The muscular Johnson often plays brawny characters that can be by turns intimidating and likable.
Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California. His father was the Canadian professional wrestler Rocky Johnson, and his grandfather was the Samoan wrestler Peter Maivia. The family moved frequently as Dwayne was growing up because of his father’s career. Dwayne played football for the University of Miami and graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree. He briefly played for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League before leaving to pursue a career in wrestling.
Johnson began wrestling in the WWF in 1996 under the name Rocky Maivia. Soon after, he began using the nickname “The Rock.” He became one of the most famous wrestlers in the organization. Johnson’s matches served as main attractions at large wrestling events, such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam. Johnson co-wrote the memoir The Rock Says… (2000) with Joe Layden.
Johnson began his motion-picture acting career with a minor role in the adventure film The Mummy Returns (2001) and a starring role in the related fantasy film The Scorpion King (2002). He has starred in many other action films, including The Rundown (2003), Walking Tall (2004), Doom (2005), and Skyscraper (2018). Johnson has appeared in several of the automotive action films in the “Fast & Furious” series, beginning with Fast Five (2011). His other notable movies include the disaster film San Andreas (2015); the family comedies The Game Plan (2007) and Tooth Fairy (2010); and the adventure comedies Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).
Johnson has provided his voice for video games and animations. For example, he voiced the character Maui in the animated movie Moana (2016). From 2015 to 2019, Johnson starred in the television series “Ballers,” about the lives of professional football players.
In 2020, Johnson was part of a group of investors that bought the XFL football league. The league had filed for bankruptcy earlier that year. In late 2023, the XFL and the United States Football League merged to form the United Football League (UFL).
