Dwayne Douglas Johnson, commonly known as The Rock, is an American actor, producer, and former professional wrestler. He was born on May 2, 1972. He was crucial to the growth and success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) during the Attitude Era, a period of industry boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He is recognised as one of the best professional wrestlers of all time. Johnson spent eight years as a professional wrestler for the WWF before turning to acting. He is one of the highest-grossing and highest-paid performers in the world thanks to his films, which have earned over $3.5 billion in North America and over $10.5 billion globally.
He joined the 1991 national championship squad after receiving an athletic scholarship to play football at the University of Miami, but he was primarily a reserve player. He had dreams of playing professional football, but he was passed over for the 1995 NFL draught. He temporarily joined with the Calgary Stampeders until they released him after his first season. Rocky Johnson, Johnson's father, helped him get a contract with the WWF in 1996. Johnson immediately gained international notoriety because to his gimmick as a flamboyant trash talker. After leaving the WWE in 2004, Johnson came back in 2011 to work on a part-time basis until 2013, then made occasional appearances until his retirement in 2019.
Early Life
The father of Johnson was a Black Nova Scotian with some Irish blood. He has a Samoan mother. In 1983, his father and Tony Atlas were the first black tag team to win a WWE championship. His mother is Peter Maivia's adoptive child, a former professional wrestler. One of the first female pro wrestling promoters, Lia Johnson took over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling when her husband passed away in 1982 and controlled it until 1988. Johnson is a non-blood cousin of the Anoa'i wrestling clan via his maternal grandfather Maivia. He honoured his father and grandfather with WWE Hall of Fame inductions in 2008.
Prior to relocating to Hamden, Connecticut, Johnson attended Montclaire Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina, followed by Shepherd Glen Elementary School and Hamden Middle School. Prior to attending Freedom High School in Bethlehem Township in the Lehigh Valley, where he received his diploma in 1990, he attended President William McKinley High School in Honolulu, Glencliff High School and McGavock High School in Nashville, and finally President William McKinley High School in Honolulu. Johnson initially struggled and became involved in a fight-and-crime environment at Freedom High School. He had been arrested several times by the time he was 17 for fighting, stealing, and cheque fraud. He had also served a two-week suspension for fighting. Later, the neighbourhood newspaper described him as "a troubled teenager with a history of run-ins with police." However, Johnson's athletic talent was seen by Freedom High School football coach Jody Cwik, who invited him to join the squad where he played defensive tackle. The encounter signalled the start of Johnson's personal metamorphosis. My way of thinking started to shift. With regard to his time playing high school football, he has recently remarked, "That's when I started thinking about objectives and what I wanted to accomplish.
Career
Football
Johnson continued to play defensive tackle at the University of Miami just like he had in high school. In 1991, while he was a freshman, he played quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes football team, which went on to win the national title.
Wrestling
Johnson started his professional wrestling career the next year, in 1996, after Calgary cut him. Johnson participated in multiple WWF tryout bouts in 1996 thanks to seasoned veteran Pat Patterson. Johnson, who first competed in fights under his own name, defeated The Brooklyn Brawler in a house event on March 10[62] but fell short against Chris Candido and Owen Hart. After competing as Flex Kavana for Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association and won the tag team championship twice with teammate Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson secured a deal with the World Wrestling Federation.
Acting
Through his success in wrestling and his work ethic, Johnson broke into Hollywood and the movie business. He became become one of Hollywood's highest-paid and most successful actors during the course of his performing career. He started acting on television when he was wrestling. He played his father in an episode of That '70s Show called "That Wrestling Show" in 1999, which served as his debut performance on television. He made an appearance in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tsunkatse" almost a year later as an extraterrestrial wrestler who competed against Seven of Nine. The WWE continued to market "The Rock" items and to prominently promote him in the opening montages of their television programmes even after Johnson left the business.
Private Life
Dany Garcia, a fellow University of Miami student, and Johnson initially crossed paths in the early 1990s. They tied the knot on May 3, 1997. She is a producer, an entrepreneur, and an IFBB professional bodybuilder. Simone was born to them on August 14, 2001. Johnson and Garcia declared their amicable separation on June 1, 2007, and their divorce was finalised in May 2008. The first fourth-generation WWE wrestler, Simone Johnson, was revealed to be training at the WWE Performance Centre by the company in February 2020. Johnson stated on May 16 that she had secured a deal with WWE and that her ring name will be Ava Raine starting in May 2022. Since then, she has made appearances on the NXT brand.