Dwayne Johnson is an American-Canadian actor, producer, investor, and retired professional wrestler. Known by his wrestling name, “The Rock,” Johnson has eight years of experience under his belt competing in the ring for the World Wrestling Federation. After retiring from the sport, he chose to make the difficult transition into Hollywood films, and eventually worked his way into regularly starring in blockbuster hits. Johnson’s films have grossed over $3 billion in North America, and over $10 billion globally. These numbers officially cemented his name into Hollywood royalty, making him one of the most successful and highest grossing box office actors of all time.

Beginnings

Johnson was born on May 2, 1972 in Hayward, California. His father was also a professional wrestler who went by the name of Rocky Johnson. His family moved around a lot when he was a child, and he found himself attending a variety of different schools across the United States and in Europe. As a child, he often got in trouble with authority and eventually the law, stemming from fighting, theft, and check fraud. During this time, he also developed an interest in sports, joining his school’s football, track and field, and wrestling teams. He even won a football scholarship to the University of Miami, but soon left the sport due to injuries he was not able to withstand. This eventually led Johnson to join his father’s field of professional wrestling. After playing in a few smaller wrestling organizations, he signed on to join the World Wrestling Federation when he was just 24 years old. He proved himself to be a worthy wrestler in a rather short amount of time, and under the ring name, “The Rock,” he eventually won the Survivor Series against fellow wrestler Mankind, earning him his first WWF Championship. “The Rock” went on to win many championships in his professional wrestling career. Johnson is still regarded as one of the all time greatest wrestlers, as well as one of the top draws in wrestling history.

Johnson also pursued a few small acting parts while still wrestling. Some of the shows he appeared in include “That 70s Show” and “Star Trek: Voyager.” It wasn’t until he starred in the film, “Scorpion King” that he started to get noticed as a serious actor. He went on to star in a long list of critically acclaimed blockbuster films since then, including, “Jumanji,” “Hobbs and Shaw,” “Baywatch,” “San Andreas,” and “Central Intelligence.”

Current Endeavors

Johnson is currently set to film and produce a variety of new films, including “Red Notice” with Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, the DC comics film “Black Adam,” and “Jungle Cruise” with Emily Blunt. He will be producing and starring in “The King” and a sequel to “Big Trouble in Little China,” and has been confirmed producer on a new film called, “Janson Directive” starring fellow wrestler-turned-actor John Cena.

Aside from acting and film, Johnson is also engaged in a number of other ventures. He has partnered with fitness apparel brand Under Armour to release his own signature items called “Project Rock.” These items include a gym bag, T-shirt, alarm clock, sneakers, headphones and other apparel. Johnson also has a YouTube show that he’s working on with Internet personality Lily Singh. The show began in 2016, and welcomes a variety of famous Internet personalities on each episode. In addition, the actor is launching his own bodybuilding show called “Athleticon,” which will debut October 9-11, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Work Ethic

Johnson has reached the pinnacle of both acting and wrestling, and it’s often questioned as to how he was able to achieve so much in his lifetime. Johnson has stated on many occasions that it was his father who instilled a hard work ethic in him since a young age. Rocky Johnson allowed his son to train with him while preparing for wrestling matches, and this gave the boy an early start in achieving the required fitness necessary to compete in sports.

Johnson has also stated that there is no real formula to his success . However, the movie star does adhere to certain guidelines that he has come to find true throughout the years. This includes being consistently hard working, persistent, aggressively competitive, humble, unique, and always having an overall purpose and goal to anything worth pursuing in life. In addition, he has learned that from many failures in life, whether it was bad roles he was cast in or his floundering football career, that one should always learn from their mistakes and grow. This type of commitment to excellence is what lead him to become a world renowned movie star.

In terms of his movie career, the actor had done so well because he always showcases a dedication to any project he is working on. He throws himself into it 100%, and tries to learn from people around him about how to better himself. The actor wakes up every morning at 4am, whether on set or off, and works a tough seventeen hour day, which begins with a daily exercise routine. Since Johnson does not have the traditional background in acting, he pushes himself in his strongest areas. This is why he often takes on physically challenging action roles and softer comedic roles. He fits this persona and is able to showcase it better than a Oscar worthy dramatic performance.

The actor also takes time to engage fully with his audiences, realizing that they are the main component to his success. He takes an extra effort to promote his films and meet with fans. This is also the reason he has 131 million Instagram followers.