Dwayne Johnson Biography

Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born on the 2nd of May in Hayward, California. His father, Rocky Johnson was a professional wrestler and his mother, Ata, was the daughter of professional wrestler Peter Maivia. Belonging to long line up of Professional wrestlers, it might seem that his career path was already chosen for him, but that wasn’t the case. Both his parents are of different races so he was brought up in both the cultures. His father was Black Nova Scotian and his mother was Samoan. He even briefly stayed in New Zealand with his mother’s family, but later moved back to America.

Finally, In America his family settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. . Although, Dwayne travelled with his father a lot, moving from city to city for matches, in high school he found out that he was very good at football. He attended the Freedom High School that had a very competitive football scene. He excelled at it, and was also part of the wrestling, and track and field team. But it was football where Dwayne was exceptionally good. In fact, he was even given a full three-year scholarship to Miami University. He played for the national team, but was later sidelined because of an injury that eventually ended his career. He finished college and joined the Canadian Football League, but his injuries were a little too serious. Dwayne was kept on the sidelines, and soon he moved back to America.

Not disheartened, Dwayne decided to join the family business of professional wrestling. His father was not very happy at first, but later relented and decided to train Dwayne himself. After receiving some intense training from his father and Pat Patterson, Dwayne joined the Jerry Lawler’s United States Wrestling Association, and wrestled under the name of Flex Cavana. He did well there, and even won the World Tag Team Championship. So, naturally, the next step was World Wrestling Federation that now is called World Wrestling Entertainment.

Dwayne made his debut under the name of Rocky Maivia which was a combination of both names of his father and grandfather. He later took on the name ‘The Rock’ and had a few trademark styles like raising of a single eyebrow, and the quip “if you smell what the Rock is cooking.” He also had two finishing moves; the Rock Bottom and the People’s Elbow. It was in WWE that he achieved his most fame and became one of the most decorated professional wrestlers of all time. Throughout his career, his character turned heel and face many times. These terms mean to become a fan favorite or a fan hated by your actions and the storyline given to you. Over the years, he was involved in many memorable bouts and won the Heavy Weight Championship many times. His in-ring rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin is one of the most popular rivalries and won many fans for WWE.

Dwayne retired in 2004 completely, when he had his last match against the team of Evolution, since then, he made several appearances in WWE but never in a match. He still continues his association with WWE; he even inducted his own father into the Hall of Fame.

During the height of his popularity as a wrestler, Dwayne hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live. That episode also had a few other wrestlers. The episode was hit, and after this many offers from Hollywood started pouring in for Dwayne. He appeared in many hit TV shows, and even appeared in the documentary on wrestling called Beyond the Mat (1999). He finally made his big screen debut in The Mummy Returns as the character of Scorpion King. The producers were impressed by him and gave him his first lead in the spin-off film The Scorpion King. The film was a hit and now Dwayne was ready to switch his career full-time.

He became one of the few wrestlers who have managed to make a full-time career in acting. Because action was his forte, he acted mostly in action films. In The Rundown (2003), he played a bounty hunter tracking down Sean William Scott in the jungles of Amazon. He also landed the lead in the adaptation of the famous video game Doom (2005). He got back to his love for football, when he played a convict in the prison-football drama Gridiron Gang (2006). But the film was a flop. He now tried his hand at comedy by doing The Game Plan (2007). He played a self-obsessed footballer, whose life is turned around after he finds a girl at his door-step claiming to be his daughter. His next was also a comedy Get Smart (2008) where he played Agent 23. Get Smart was big hit, and gave his career a push that was required after the disappointing Gridiron Gang.

Dwayne also had a few successful stints of hosting awards functions. He has shown a liking for doing movies with a lot of Computer Graphics; Race to Witch Mountain (2009) was a moderate hit but had a lot of CGI. But he has gone back to the action genre in his last release Faster. The film is about a man seeking revenge for his brother’s murder.