Who is The Rock

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Dwayne Douglas Johnson is an actor and former professional wrestler known as The Rock. Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972 in Hayward, California), also known by his stage name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. He has starred in such motion pictures as Be Cool, The Mummy Returns, The Rundown The Scorpion King, Walking Tall, and others. Johnson first gained mainstream fame as a standout in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). His heritage is Samoan on his mother’s side, African-American on his father’s side. His maternal grandfather, Chief Peter Maivia, also was a professional wrestler. Before becoming The Rock, he was known as Rocky Maivia, an homage to his father, Rocky Johnson, and his maternal grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia. Since his entry into acting, Johnson continues to be known simply as The Rock.

Early life

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Upbringing in Hawaii Johnson was born into a family of diverse backgrounds and heritage. His father was the professional wrestler Rocky Johnson, a former WWF Tag Team Champion. Johnson’s mother Lia Maivia belonged to a royal lineage of Hawaii and Samoa (such Polynesian lineages are interconnected across the Pacific societies). Johnson’s maternal grandfather retained the royal title of Ali?i and was highly respected especially as an elder among Native Hawaiians and Samoans. Peter Maivia was also a professional wrestler, known especially for the tattoos (of great cultural significance) that covered the lower half of his body. In keeping with this tradition, Johnson has also received such tattoos, the most prominent covering his left shoulder and upper chest.     Johnson spent his childhood living near his maternal grandfather and grandmother in Honolulu. He attended local public schools including Washington Intermediate School and President William McKinley High School, both near Ala Moana and Waikiki.

High school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

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As he entered 11th grade, Johnson’s father’s job required his relocation to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the state’s rugged Lehigh Valley region. For Johnson, the Lehigh Valley proved a huge cultural shift from what he had known and seen in the San Francisco Bay Area in his early youth. But Johnson welcomed the change and assimilated quickly in the new area. In Bethlehem, Johnson began to cultivate an intense athleticism, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He began playing football at Bethlehem’s Freedom High School, a member of what was then known as the East Penn Conference (recently renamed the Lehigh Valley Conference). The conference was–and continues to be–one of the highest quality high school football conferences in the United States, producing a considerable amount of high-level Division I collegiate and NFL football talent.  Known for its blue collar ruggedness, the Lehigh Valley proved a hand-in-glove match for Johnson, who fit in well with the area’s street toughness. That toughness carried to his football play, where Johnson began, for the first time, to face high quality players and began to excel amidst the area’s extraordinary athletic competitiveness. He would later credit the high level of athletic competitiveness he encountered in the Lehigh Valley with building the foundation for his life-long passion for winning and embracing challenge. In addition to playing football at Freedom High School, he also was a member of the high school’s track and field team.

Johnson has said one his most enduring athletic memories was his participation on the Freedom High School football team when they beat cross-town rival Liberty High School in his senior year, saying: “I can still remember holding that trophy up in the air and running a lap with it. We had an awful year my senior year, but as long as we beat Liberty, nothing else mattered”.

At the University of Miami

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Johnson received collegiate football scholarship offers from several universities and settled on the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, one of the top football programs in the nation. While the University of Miami football program did not openly recruit Johnson, he entered try-outs as a “walk on” for the program and made the team, playing defensive tackle. In 1991, he was part of the Miami Hurricanes’ National Championship team. After an injury kept him sidelined, Johnson was placed by Warren Sapp, who went on to be drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is now with the Oakland Raiders. Sapp is considered to be one of the greatest defensive tackles in the NFL.

While a student at the University of Miami, Johnson met his future wife Dany Garcia, who also was a University of Miami student at the time. Garcia, who graduated from the University of Miami in 1992, is the founder of a Miami-based wealth management firm. The two have remained close to their alma mater, giving a $2 million donation in 2006. Additionally, Dany is a member of the University of Miami’s Board of Trustees.

Johnson graduated from the University of Miami in 1995 with dual degrees in criminology and physiology.

Wrestling Career

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World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
Along with his father and grandfather, several members of Johnson’s family are current and former professional wrestlers, including his uncles, the Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika Anoai), and cousins such as former WWF Champion Yokozuna and former WWF Tag Team Champion Rikishi, current wrestler Umaga (formerly known as Jamal). When he declared his intention to join the family business, his father, the elder Johnson resisted, but agreed to train his son himself, warning him that he would not go easy on him. With help from former WWE executive and veteran wrestler Pat Patterson, Johnson secured a tryout with the WWF. Impressed by his talent and charisma, he was signed to a WWF deal after a short stint for “seasoning” in Jerry Lawler’s USWA, where he wrestled under the ring names of Flex Kavana and Pidlaoan Rock. When he was a young lad he looked up to the likes of Cole Caldwell.

Johnson first wrestled in the WWF as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather’s ring names. The WWF played up his connection to his father and grandfather, calling him the first third-generation superstar to wrestle for the company. Johnson was first portrayed as a clean-cut babyface, and gained early success, winning the prestigious Intercontinental Championship after only three months. He was the first Intercontinental champion of Samoan descent. However, wrestling had changed since Hulk Hogan’s heyday in the mid 80s, and fans quickly grew sick of the two-dimensional good guy character, thanks in part to the exploded popularity of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Despite often being loudly booed and jeered with chants of “Die Rocky Die!” and “Rocky Sucks” from the crowd, Johnson was forced to go to the ring and smile, as if the crowd was cheering (like they were “supposed to”). After returning from an injury, Johnson was allowed to turn heel and joined the Nation of Domination (wrestling’s version of the Nation of Islam), spewing venom at the fans for turning on him, influenced by Johnson’s real-life feelings toward the WWF audience. Now allowed to be more or less himself (Johnson has often said in interviews that The Rock is merely Dwayne Johnson with “the volume turned way up”), Rocky Maivia became The Rock.

Rocky Maivia now known as The Rock was a cocky and charismatic bully, eventually driving out the Nation’s leader Faarooq. At WrestleMania XIV, Gennifer Flowers was made a special guest interviewer, interviewing The Rock. The Rock was posed a question about how he would conduct affairs as the President of the United States. He responded by stating to her that the title “Ruler” would sound better than “President” and he would transform the White House into a Palatial Palace.

The Rock became wildly popular, establishing several much-quoted catchphrases including “If ya smell what The Rock is cookin’”, “Layeth the Smacketh down”, “Take that (object) shine it up real nice, turn that sum-bitch sideways, and stick it straight up your candy ass!”, “It doesn’t matter what you think!” (immediately after asking for the intervewier’s opinion), “Know your role, and shut your mouth!”, “Don’t give me all that monkey crap!, “Who is this roody pooh”, “, “Jabroni” and “Just bring it!” (After which titles #2 through #4 of the five Sony PlayStation SmackDown! video games have been subtitled (WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, and WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth). In essence, it was a reversal of his Rocky Maivia character, where he was cheered instead of being booed as he was “supposed to be”. The Rock also became famous for referring to himself in the third person, starting many sentences with “The Rock says…”, “Finally…The Rock has come back to..(city name)”, and occasionally following up statements with “… or so The Rock has heard.”

Johnson’s popularity as The Rock propelled him to the WWF Championship at the 1998 Survivor Series at age 26. At the time, he was the youngest WWF Champion in history (Randy Orton later became the youngest at 24), turning heel again and siding with Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon as the crown jewel of their “Corporation” stable. The Rock began to feud with Mankind over the WWF Championship in which the title changed back and forth between the two, first during the main event of the January 4, 1999 episode of RAW, when Mankind pinned The Rock with the help of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The Rock once again captured the WWF Title in a bloody “I Quit” match at the 1999 Royal Rumble that saw The Rock hit Mankind in the head with a chair seventeen times, knocking him unconscious and using a tape recording of Mankind saying “I quit” to trick the referee. This latest reign didn’t last for long, however, because in a match that counter-programmed the Super Bowl halftime show on January 31, 1999, Mankind pinned The Rock using a forklift in a Empty Arena Match which saw the competitors use everything from bags of popcorn to fruit to punish each other. This feud lasted until the February 15, 1999 edition of RAW, where The Rock regained the WWF Title in a Ladder Match after The Big Show chokeslammed Mankind off a ladder.

With Mankind out of the way, The Rock had to defend his World Wrestling Federation Championship at WrestleMania XV, against Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock lost the WWF Title to Austin at that event, and continued his feud with Austin until May 1999. WWF fans began to cheer The Rock despite being a bad guy, due to his comedic interviews and segments which mocked wrestlers and announcers. Johnson eventually made his second face turn after he betrayed Vince McMahon and established a feud with the, then heel, Undertaker and the Corporate Ministry, and would sometimes find himself fighting alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin. His feud with the Undertaker ended with a defeat at the King of the Ring.

The Rock, now a face, feuded with “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn over the summer of 1999, including an infamous “Kiss My Ass” match at that year’s SummerSlam. In the fall, the Rock found himself in several WWF Championship opportunities, both in singles and tag. He teamed with now former enemy Mankind to create the “Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection” and won the WWF Tag Team Titles. Aside from the championships, the team was regarded as one of the most entertaining teams in recent memory, where Mankind would imitate The Rock, while The Rock would mostly ignore Mankind. The team was also involved in a segment which occurred on RAW called “This Is Your Life”, in which Mankind brought out people from The Rock’s past, such as his high school girlfriend and gym teacher. The segment is to this day the single highest rated segment in terms of viewership in RAW history. As a singles competitor, The Rock participated in a six-pack challenge match at WWF Unforgiven 1999.

In January 2000, The Rock entered in the WWF’s annual Royal Rumble match and lasted until he and the Big Show were the final two men. In a scripted move, the Big Show was going to seemingly dump the Rock over the top rope in a running powerslam-like position, and when they got to the apron, the Rock reversed it on the Show, sending the Show to the outside floor and then coming back up with the rest of his body. Those watching the event on PPV did not see The Rock’s feet hit the floor. The Big Show attempted to prove to the audience and to others, like Triple H, that the Rock’s feet, not his, touched the mat first. He did manage to prove it, by providing video footage showing that he was the rightful winner. The decision that The Rock had won the Rumble match could not be reversed, so a number one contendership match at No Way Out 2000 was held, which saw the Big Show come out on top after Shane McMahon interfered, knocking The Rock in the head with a steel chair as he attempted to finish off his opponent with the Rock Bottom. The Rock later defeated The Big Show on March 13, 2000 to regain the right to face the WWF Champion at WrestleMania 2000.

The Rock, The Big Show, Mick Foley and Triple H competed in a fatal four-way elimination match for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 2000. Each competitor had a McMahon in their corner–for Triple H, his on-screen wife (and off-screen then girlfriend) Stephanie McMahon; for Mick Foley, the matriarch Linda McMahon; for The Rock, Vince McMahon; and in Big Show’s corner, Shane McMahon. Triple H retained the title when Vince turned on The Rock, giving him two vicious chair shots, allowing Triple H to pin The Rock for the three-count. A month later at WWE Backlash, The Rock captured the WWF Championship from Triple H after Stone Cold Steve Austin made a brief return and intervened on The Rock’s behalf.

Over the next couple of months The Rock feuded with Triple H over the Championship, having several classic matches, such as an Iron Man match against The Game at WWF Judgment Day 2000, which starred Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee and saw the return of The Undertaker, The Rock would lose the title as a result of Undertaker’s interference attacking Triple H. The following night on Raw, The Rock would get his revenge, and along with The Undertaker, took out the entire McMahon-Helmsley regime. Rock would later win the WWF Championship again at King of The Ring 2000 against Triple H in a Tag Team matching pitting himself, Kane, and Undertaker versus Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Triple H. The Rock would go on to defend the Championship against Superstars such as Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Triple H, Kane, The Undertaker, and Shane McMahon.

The Rock later lost the WWF Championship to Kurt Angle at WWF No Mercy in October 2000. During this time, he feuded with Rikishi (after he made accusations that The Rock called him to run over Steve Austin in November 1999) and defeated him at that year’s Survivor Series. He also participated in the 6 Man Hell in a Cell match at that year’s Armageddon event for the WWF Championship, in which he was unsuccessful. It is also notable that The Rock was the only man Italic textnotItalic textto climb to the top of the cell in this match.

In 2001, The Rock feuded with Kurt Angle over the WWF Championship, and the feud was settled at No Way Out. In a battle that saw The Rock kick out of the Olympic Slam and Kurt kicking out of the Rock Bottom and The People’s Elbow (at different times), The Rock finally came out on top, delivering a second Rock Bottom to regain the WWF Championship. Afterwards, The Rock feuded with the Royal Rumble winner Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock went into WrestleMania X-Seven as the WWF Champion, but was defeated again by Austin with the help of Vince McMahon. After losing to Austin in a rematch on the following night’s RAW, he went on hiatus to film the movie “The Scorpion King” after a kayfabe suspension from Mr. McMahon. The Rock would return in July 2001 and would decide which side of the WWF/Alliance wars he would align himself with. After Vince McMahon, on the WWF side, urged the Rock to “give the people what they want,” the Rock delivered a Rock Bottom to Vince. The Rock seemed to have joined the Alliance, and smiled, shaking Shane McMahon’s hand, but quickly drew him in for a Rock Bottom. At Summerslam 2001, The Rock defeated Booker T to win the WCW Championship. He would later lose the WCW title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy of the same year, only to win it back a few weeks later on RAW. The Rock was also involved in a match at Survivor Series which saw him defeat Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Classic Survivor Series match to end The Alliance once and for all. The Rock closed out the year losing the WCW Championship to Chris Jericho at Vengeance, who would go on later to become the first WWF Undisputed Champion.

As 2002 came along, Vince McMahon introduced the nWo, and The Rock began a feud with Hollywood Hulk Hogan, which ended with a victory at WrestleMania X8. This match, one of the most memorable matches of all time pitting “Icon vs. Icon”, saw the Toronto fans audibly cheer for Hogan, who was the heel, after every move (including heelish moves like “the back rake of doom”). The fans also clearly booed The Rock, the supposed face in the match, despite the WWF’s best efforts to make Hogan a despicable character before the match. On July 21,2002, The Rock would win his record-breaking seventh and final WWE Championship. He defeated Kurt Angle and The Undertaker in a classic match at Vengeance, after he hit a Rock Bottom on Kurt Angle. He would lose it to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam after only a month long of reign.

The Rock’s last heel turn began on SmackDown! in February 2003, where he publicly criticized Hulk Hogan. Their WrestleMania X8 rematch at No Way Out ended with The Rock claiming victory again, with assistance from Vince McMahon and Sylvain Grenier. It is widely speculated that this heel turn was due to The Rock’s growing Hollywood stardom, giving the appearance of having “sold out” his wrestling roots.

The Rock later drafted himself to RAW and started a feud with The Hurricane and other babyfaces. He also had a comical gimmick, where he played the guitar and sang songs mocking the host city for the event, which culminated in a “Rock concert” which took place during the main event of the March 24, 2003 edition of RAW, where The Rock mocked host city Sacramento because of the Sacramento Kings’ inability to beat the Los Angeles Lakers, the city The Rock now thought of as home. He sings, “Well, I’ll be sure to come back when the Lakers beat the Kings in May!” The Rock would also tease Canada in a song as well, saying “Canadians have no class… that’s why they can kiss the People’s Ass” (basically referring to the fact that they booed him at WrestleMania X8, despite being the “good guy”).

When Steve Austin returned, they once again feuded, with the Rock defeating Austin at WrestleMania XIX; this was the first time the Rock defeated Austin at WrestleMania, and Austin’s last major appearance in a wrestling role. The Rock then had a feud with former WCW star Bill Goldberg, losing at Backlash in this match The Rock was cheered and Goldberg was booed. After that, The Rock turned face once more by betraying Chris Jericho and Christian. This was specifically when Christian (who was the WWE Intercontinental Champion at the time) labelled himself as the New People’s champion (based around the fact that Christian was labelled by The Rock as his “favorite wrestler”. This would eventually lead to Christian labelling his fans as “his peeps”). The Rock, with the help of then RAW star and then babyface, Booker T defeated Chris Jericho and Christian, and even did his version of the “spinaroonie”.

At WrestleMania XX, The Rock had possibly his last match ever with WWE. In March of 2004, Mick Foley was facing seemingly overwhelming odds against Ric Flair, Batista, and Randy Orton, the stable collectively known as Evolution. The Rock returned to aid his old friend and the match was made for WMXX to feature Mick & the Rock against Flair, Batista and Orton. Evolution emerged victorious after Orton nailed Foley with an RKO and scored the pinfall. The Rock would later participate in numerous antics over the summer of 2004 with the Diva Search contestants, Randy Orton, and Eugene.

In interviews conducted in 2005, Johnson revealed that his contract with World Wrestling Entertainment expired at the end of 2004. He also stated that he is able to continue using his stage name The Rock as part of a dual-ownership agreement with . Pro Wrestling Insider has since reported that Johnson and Chairman Vince McMahon are back on good terms, and he will continue to appear sporadically for the company, as he did after becoming a successful actor. Announcer Jim Ross’ Happy Birthday announcement to The Rock on Raw’s May 2 broadcast seemed to confirm this, as Ross stated that The Rock is looking forward to future appearances in . It is unknown whether Johnson has signed a new contract, however it is extremely unlikely that he will ever return to wrestling full-time.

On March 29, 2008, The Rock inducted his father, Rocky Johnson, and his grandfather, Peter Maivia into the WWE Hall of Fame. During his induction speech he roasted WWE superstars such as John Cena, Santino Marella, Chris Jericho, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin.

In September 2009, Johnson appeared at a World Xtreme Wrestling show in order to support the debut of Sarona Snuka (daughter of longtime friend and mentor Jimmy Snuka, later known as “Tamina”) in professional wrestling.[110] On October 2, 2009, on the 10th anniversary of SmackDown, The Rock made a special appearance in a pre-recorded video.

Return to WWE and feud with John Cena (2011–present)

On the February 14, 2011 episode of Raw, The Rock was revealed as the Host of WrestleMania XXVII, appearing live on Raw for the first time in almost seven years. During a lengthy promo that ran 20 minutes over the usual Raw end time, The Rock addressed the fans, Michael Cole, The Miz, and John Cena, calling him a “big fat bowl of Fruity Pebbles”, as a response of a shoot interview Cena did on The Rock a couple of years ago .

After numerous via satellite appearances, The Rock made a live appearance on Raw to confront Cena, whom he had been feuding with through social networking. At the beginning of The Rock’s live promo, he again made fun of Cena’s accessories, calling him a “homeless power ranger” and “Vanilla Ice”. After an exchange of words with Cena, The Miz and Alex Riley appeared and attacked The Rock. The Rock fended off Miz and Riley, but Cena then blindsided The Rock with the Attitude Adjustment on The Rock in retaliation to their feud.

At WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, The Rock opened the show by cutting a “promo”. After numerous backstage segments that aired on camera, The Rock appeared during the main event between Cena and The Miz to restart the match that ended in a draw, making it a No Disqualifications match. However, in response to the Attitude Adjustment that Cena performed on The Rock on Raw, The Rock hit Cena with his finisher, the Rock Bottom, this allowed The Miz to pin and retain his title. However, Rock then nailed The Miz with The People’s Elbow right after The Miz retained his title.

The next night on Raw, The Rock and Cena had a confrontation, after Cena called out The Rock and challenged him to a match which he accepted for WrestleMania XXVIII on April 1, 2012. The two of them then came together to fend off an attack by The Corre (which at that time comprised of Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel and Ezekiel Jackson).The Rock made an appearance live on Raw in his hometown of Miami on May 2, 2011 to celebrate his 39th birthday.On the same night John Cena stated that he would keep the WWE Championship until WrestleMania XXVIII so that their match would be for the WWE championship.

Acting Career

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After Johnson’s first role in The Mummy Returns, he reprised his role as The Scorpion King in the 2002 movie of the same name. The movie was generally panned by critics, but was a box-office success, taking in more than $90 million. His five million dollar paycheck for The Scorpion King earned The Rock a listing in the Guinness Book of Records for the highest salary for an actor reciving top billing for the first time. His next role was in The Rundown, a formulaic action/comedy which earned generally favorable reviews from critics initially skeptical of the grappler-turned-actor, but was less financially successful. In 2004, The Rock starred in a remake of Walking Tall, as war hero-turned-sheriff Chris Vaughn (loosely based on Buford Pusser, the real-life inspiration for the original), who returns to the town where he grew up and rids it of corruption with his trusty two-by-four.

In 2005, The Rock will see more exposure on the big screen as he starred alongside John Travolta and Uma Thurman in Be Cool (where he was Punk’d by Ashton Kutcher’s crew members for blowing his trailer up into pieces, while shooting the movie), the sequel to Get Shorty, and will star in Spy Hunter, a movie based on the popular video game. He has been approached to play the role of Duke Nukem in a live action Duke Nukem movie, and will star in a movie based on the popular Doom video game series, which recently finished filming. Johnson will also star in the live-action movie adaptation of the Cartoon Network series Johnny Bravo.

In March 2005, The Rock made an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien. During the interview, Johnson made a remark about his character in Be Cool, the film he was promoting, bringing up the many similarities between himself and the character, mentioning that like his character, he started out a young, struggling actor. He was not as clear as he could have been, and that weekend, VH1’s Best Week Ever jumped to the conclusion that Johnson had just come out of the closet.

One of The Rock’s most anticipated personal projects is the role of Kamehameha, the warrior chief that united the Hawaiian Islands and governed them as the Kingdom of Hawaii. A former Honolulu resident, The Rock developed an admiration for the king who became known as the Napoleon of the Pacific for his skills in warcraft and diplomacy. The Rock signed to create the movie with Columbia Pictures. Its preliminary title will be King Kamehameha was supposed to began the first stages of production in Hawaii in 2003.

Johnson was featured in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest salary as an actor in his first starring role, receiving US$5.5 million. He appeared at the 80th Academy Awards on February 24, 2008 as a presenter for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. He was nominated for Favorite Movie Actor at the 2008 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for his role in The Game Plan, but lost out to Johnny Depp, who won for his performance in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. He then had a supporting role in the Steve Carell action comedy Get Smart.

On March 20, 2009, Johnson appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Johnson hosted the 2009 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards on March 28. Johnson also appeared on the Wizards of Waverly Place episode “Art Teacher” as part of his stint with The Walt Disney Company. Johnson has made various guest appearances on Saturday Night Live, reviving his character of The Rock Obama, a parody of The Hulk… “When you make Barack Obama angry, he turns into The Rock Obama.”

Back in features, he starred in the mildly successful “Race to Witch Mountain” (2009), a reimaging of the 1975 family film, “Escape to Witch Mountain.” For the animated “Planet 51″ (2009), he voiced Capt. Chuck Baker, a human space explorer who lands on a strange planet inhabited by little green people all-too-eager to turn him into a permanent museum exhibit.

In 2010, Johnson headlined the family comedy Tooth Fairy. Johnson also made an uncredited cameo in the 2010 film Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? as a handsome psychiatrist who asks out the recently widowed Patricia Agnew (Janet Jackson). He had a brief appearance in the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg film The Other Guys as an action seeking detective along with Samuel L. Jackson. He made his return to action films after a string of family films and supporting roles with Faster.

In 2011, Johnson appeared in the fourth sequel in The Fast and the Furious film series, Fast Five, as Luke Hobbs, a Diplomatic Security Service agent assigned to hunt down the series’ protagonists, played by Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Johnson was cast in the role after Diesel had read comments and feedback from fans, one of whom wanted to see Diesel and Johnson in a movie together. Additionally, Johnson, a fan of the franchise, had wanted to work with Universal again after they had given him his first film roles. Critics and audiences alike considered Johnson’s involvement a welcome addition to the franchise and plans are to have him return for future installments. The film grossed at over $86 million its opening weekend, making it the best opening for a ‘Fast & Furious’ film, the biggest opening for an April release, and Johnson’s best opening weekend

On April 29, 2011, it was announced that Johnson has signed on to star and produce a biopic based on the life and career of country musician, Charley Pride.

Personal Life

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Dwayne Johnson married Dany Garcia on May 3, 1997.  But separated in June of 2007. He and Garcia have a daughter together, Simone Alexandra, who was born August 14, 2001 in Davie, Florida. The Rock and Dany originally met when both were students at the University of Miami.  In June 2007 Dany and Dwayne announced their separation in a statement to PEOPLE magazine. Dany is Cuban; and CEO of a wealth management firm.

Johnson’s autobiography co-written with Joe Layden, The Rock Says…, was released in 2000, debuting at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list, and remaining on the list for several weeks.

Tanoai Reed (born February 10, 1974) is a Hollywood stunt man.

Reed was born in Honolulu, Hawaii of Samoan and Norwegian descent. He is the cousin and stand-in double of pro wrestler turned actor, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Johnson is good friends with actor and former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, X-Men’s Wolverine star, Hugh Jackman,and a close friend of Michael Clarke Duncan.

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