Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor, producer, retired professional wrestler, and former American football and Canadian football player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) for eight years prior to pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $3.5 billion in North America and over $10.5 billion worldwide, making him one of the world's highest-grossing actors.

Johnson was a college football player for the University of Miami, with whom he won a national championship in 1991. He aspired to have a professional career in football and entered the 1995 NFL Draft, but went undrafted. He signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL), but was cut from the team in his first season. Shortly after, he began training as a professional wrestler.

In 1996, Johnson secured a contract with the WWF and was promoted as the first third-generation wrestler in WWF history, as he is the son of Rocky Johnson and grandson of Peter Maivia. He rose to prominence after developing the charismatic, boastful, trash-talking Rock gimmick. He won his first WWF Championship in 1998, becoming the promotion's very first African-American world champion. This win helped usher in the Attitude Era, an industry boom period in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2004, he left the WWE to pursue an acting career. He returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013, and made sporadic appearances until retiring in 2019. Considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers and biggest wrestling draws of all time, Johnson headlined the most-bought professional wrestling pay-per-view event ever (WrestleMania XXVIII) and was featured among the most watched episodes of WWE's two flagship television shows (Raw and SmackDown). He is a 10-time world champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time Tag Team Champion, the 2000 Royal Rumble winner, and WWE's sixth Triple Crown champion.

Johnson's first leading film role was in The Scorpion King (2002). He has since starred in many successful films, including The Game Plan (2007), Tooth Fairy (2010), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), Hercules (2014), San Andreas (2015), Central Intelligence (2016), Moana (2016), Rampage (2018), and Skyscraper (2018). His role as Luke Hobbs in the Fast & Furious franchise, beginning with Fast Five (2011), helped it become one of the highest-grossing film franchises. Johnson also stars in the Jumanji franchise, appearing in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) with a third film currently in development.

Johnson stars as himself, with other actors playing younger versions of him, in the NBC series Young Rock since February 2021. Johnson produced and starred in the HBO series Ballers (2015–2019), which ran for five seasons and was ranked as HBO's most-watched comedy in six years. He has also attained success as a television host, first on Saturday Night Live. In 2000, he released the autobiography The Rock Says, a New York Times bestseller. In 2012, he founded the production company Seven Bucks Productions, which has produced several films and other entertainment projects. Consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid actors, Johnson made the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list in 2016 and 2019, and is the co-owner of the American football league, the XFL.