Dwayne Johnson

**Dwayne Douglas Johnson** (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name T**he Rock**, is an American-Canadian actor, producer, businessman, retired professional wrestler, and former American football and Canadian football player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) for eight years prior to pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $3.5 billion in North America and over $10.5 billion worldwide, making him one of the world's highest-grossing actors. He currently has a contract to perform for RCW.

Johnson was a college football player for the University of Miami, with whom he won a national championship in 1991. He aspired to a professional career in football and entered the 1995 NFL Draft, but went undrafted. He signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL), but was cut from the team in his first season. Shortly after, he began training as a professional wrestler.

In 1996, Johnson secured a contract with the WWF and was promoted as the first third-generation wrestler in WWF history, as he is the son of Rocky Johnson and grandson of Peter Maivia. He rose to prominence after developing the charismatic, boastful, trash-talking Rock persona. He won his first WWF Championship in 1998 and helped usher in the Attitude Era, an industry boom period in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2004, he left the WWE to pursue an acting career. He returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013, and made sporadic appearances until retiring in 2019.

Considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers and biggest wrestling draws of all time, Johnson headlined the most-bought professional wrestling pay-per-view event ever (WrestleMania XXVIII) and was featured among the most watched episodes of WWE's two flagship television shows (*Raw* and *SmackDown*). He is a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time tag team champion, a 10-time world champion, a Royal Rumble match winner, and WWE's sixth Triple Crown champion.

Johnson's first leading film role was in *The Scorpion King* (2002). He has since starred in many successful films, including *The Game Plan* (2007), *Tooth Fairy* (2010), *Journey 2: The Mysterious Island* (2012), *G.I. Joe: Retaliation* (2013), *Hercules* (2014), *San Andreas* (2015), *Central Intelligence*, *Moana* (both 2016), *Rampage*, and *Skyscraper* (both 2018). His role as Luke Hobbs in *Fast & Furious*, beginning with *Fast Five* (2011), helped it become one of the highest-grossing film franchises. Johnson also stars in the *Jumanji* franchise, appearing in *Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle* (2017) and *Jumanji: The Next Level* (2019).

Johnson produced and starred in the HBO series *Ballers* (2015–2019), which ran for five seasons and was ranked as HBO's most-watched comedy in six years. He has also attained success as a television host. In 2000, he released the autobiography *The Rock Says,* a *New York Times* bestseller. In 2012, he founded the production company Seven Bucks Productions, which has produced several films and other entertainment projects. Consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid actors, Johnson made the *Time* 100 Most Influential People in the World list in 2016 and 2019, and is the co-owner of the American football league, the XFL.