Dwayne Douglas Johnson, known as ‘The Rock’ in the wrestling ring is a famous American professional wrestler turned actor. Johnson started his career as a football player in college, but later chose to pursue professional wrestling. Johnson, who is regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, gained fame as a World Wrestling Federation wrestler and won several championships including eight WWF/WWE Championships, two WCW/World Championships, two WWF Intercontinental Championships and five WWF Tag Team Championships.
Johnson debuted as a lead actor in the 2002 film ‘The Scorpion King’ and went on to appear in a series of successful films. He gained prominence for appearing in the ‘The Fast and the Furious’ films franchises, essaying the character of Luke Hobbs. Johnson was featured in Forbes’ 2013 list of Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities at no 25 and has continued to hold a position in the top 20 ever since. He was also named in the 2016 list of Time Magazine’s world’s 100 most influential people and in 2015 was named “Man of the Century” by Muscle & Fitness magazine.
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Early Life and Education
Johnson was born on May 2, 1972 in Hayward, California as the son of professional wrestler Rocky Johnson a.k.a Wayde Douglas Bowles and his wife Ata Maivia. Johnson’s maternal grandparents were wrestler Peter Maivia and his wife Lia Maivia, was a wrestling promoter. Johnson has Black Nova Scotian and Samoan ancestry. He has two siblings; a brother named Chris Bowles and a sister named Wanda Bowles and was raised in Auckland, New Zealand for a while, until his family relocated to USA.
Johnson studied at Richmond Road Primary School while in New Zealand and later attended President William McKinley High School, Honolulu, Hawaii. The family then moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where Johnson attended Freedom High School where he played football, ran track and wrestled. He received a full scholarship from University of Miami from where he graduated with a Bachelor of General Studies degree in physiology and criminology in 1995. Johnson played for the CFL team Calgary Stampeders.
Career Rise
Johnson embarked upon a career in wrestling in 1996 when he debuted at the WWF under the name Rocky Maivia and in 1997, won the WWF Intercontinental Championship defeating then champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley, known by his ring name Triple H at the Monday Night Raw. He then adopted the ring name ‘The Rock’ and established himself as one of the greatest wrestlers of his era, wrestling professionally from 1996-2004 during the course of which he won several titles including winning WWF/WWE Championship 8 times, WCW/World Championship twice, WWF Intercontinental Champion twice and Tag Team Championships 5 times. He started receiving offers to work in film and TV, appeared in a music video and served as a host on Saturday Night Live.
Johnson made his acting debut in 2001 playing Mathyus, The Scorpion King in ‘The Mummy Returns’ and in 2002, a spin-off movie ‘The Scorpion King’, based on his character. His next big role was as Joe Kingman in the 2007 film ‘The Game Plan’, which was a great commercial success despite receiving negative reviews from critics. His next big hit was the 2009 sci-fi film ‘Race to Witch Mountain’. Johnson was cast in the fifth film of the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, ‘Fast Five’ in 2011 where he essayed the role of Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs. The film became one of the biggest commercial successes of Johnson’s acting career. Johnson reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in the sixth, seventh and eighth instalment of the ‘Fast and Furious films; ‘Fast & Furious 6’, ‘Furious 7’ and The Fate of the Furious. Some of his other popular films include ‘Tooth Fairy’, ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’, ‘San Andreas’, ‘Moana’ and ‘Baywatch’.
Personal Life
Johnson met Dany Garcia while attending University of Miami where she was also a student. The couple dated for a while and married in May 1997. Together they have one child, a daughter named Simone Alexandra, born in August 2001. The couple divorced after ten years of togetherness in June 2007 but continue to remain friends.
The 1.96 meter tall Johnson then started a relationship with Lauren Hashian, daughter of drummer Sib Hashian who he met while filming ‘The Game Plan’ in 2006. Speculation was rife that Johnson left his wife for Hashian. The couple became parents to a daughter, Jasmine, in December 2015.
Dwayne Johnson – Net Worth
Johnson has an estimated net worth of approximately $125 Million
