Dwayne Johnson

Biography

Born in 1972, Dwayne Johnson grew up with a view of performance and theatrics. His father, Rocky Johnson, was a professional wrestler as Johnson grew up across America. In 1990, he attended the University of Miami, where he played college football and even was a part of a national championship-winning team. Unfortunately, injuries sidelined any prospect of a career in the NFL. 

After graduating, Johnson followed in his father's footsteps and tried his hand at professional wrestling, debuting in the then-WWF in 1996. He adopted the persona of The Rock a year later and proceeded to become one of the most well-known names in wrestling, winning numerous championships on his path to being one of the more decorated wrestlers in WWE history. 

But wrestling was just the beginning. Johnson made his acting debut on an episode of "That '70s Show" (Fox 1998-2006), where he played his father. His theatrical acting debut was in the Brendan Fraser-starring "The Mummy Returns" (2001) where he played The Scorpion King, later spun off into "The Scorpion King" (2002) the next year. 

His early film roles were primarily action-oriented ones in films such as the comedy "The Rundown" (2003) and the video game-based "Doom" (2006). Over the next few years, Johnson shed "The Rock" moniker and kept appearing in a slew of other movies, including Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" (2006), "The Game Plan" (2007), and the Will Ferrell comedy "The Other Guys" (2010). 

It wasn't until his turn as Luke Hobbs in "Fast Five" (2011) that Johnson began to turn the corner from wrestler turned actor to legitimate Hollywood superstar. The years after his introduction to the world of Fast & Furious were packed, with roles in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" (2013) and "Pain & Gain" (2013). 

He also reprised the Hobbs role in "Fast & Furious 6" (2013), "Furious 7" (2015), and "Fate of the Furious" (2017). In between those roles, Johnson starred alongside Kevin Hart in "Central Intelligence" (2016) and voiced Maui in Disney's "Moana" (2016). He even headlined a TV show "Ballers" (HBO 2015-19). 

In 2017, Johnson starred alongside Hart again in "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" (2017) as well as its sequel "Jumanji: The Next Level" (2019). Two more Johnson-starring movies debuted in 2018: the video game-based "Rampage" (2018) and the action movie "Skyscraper" (2018). 

His character of Luke Hobbs joined forces with Jason Statham in the Fast & Furious spinoff "Hobbs & Shaw" (2019). He was next set to star alongside Emily Blunt in the Disney theme park-inspired "Jungle Cruise" (2020). Johnson was cast as Black Adam of DC Comics back in 2014, but the film lingered in development as the DC Extended Universe changed over the years.