Dwayne Johnson is an American actor, former professional wrestler, and comedian.
Dwayne Johnson, the son of Ata Johnson and professional wrestler "Soulman" Rocky Johnson, was born in Hayward, California. He spent 10th grade at President William McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. As he entered 11th grade, Johnson's father's job required his relocation to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the state's Lehigh Valley region. He began playing football at Bethlehem's Freedom High School in the highly competitive Lehigh Valley Conference. In addition to playing football at Freedom High School, he also was a member of the high school's track and field and wrestling teams.
Johnson was heavily recruited by many Division I collegiate programs but ultimately accepted a full scholarship from the University of Miami to play defensive tackle. In 1991, he was part of the Miami Hurricanes' national championship team. Johnson continued his football career in 1995, joining the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League after being passed over by the NFL, but he was cut two months into the season.
Johnson has two nephews who play football. Kaluka Maiava played football at USC and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2009, while Kaluka's brother Kai Maiava currently plays at UCLA.
He gained mainstream fame as a wrestler in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), originally known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), from 1996 to 2004, and was the first third-generation superstar in that wrestling company's history. Johnson was quickly given a push in WWE, first as "Rocky Maivia", and then as "The Rock", a member of the Nation of Domination. In 2000, Johnson made his literary debut by publishing his autobiography, "The Rock Says". It debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list and remained on the list for several weeks.
The success of Johnson's in-ring character allowed him to cross over into mainstream popularity, and he appeared on Wyclef Jean's 2000 single "It Doesn't Matter" and the accompanying video. That same year, he hosted Saturday Night Live. Fellow wrestlers Triple H, The Big Show, and Mick Foley appeared on the show. According to Johnson, it was due to the success of that episode that he began receiving offers from Hollywood studios.
Johnson filmed guest roles on Star Trek: Voyager and That '70s Show, where he played his father, Rocky Johnson. His motion picture debut was a brief appearance as The Scorpion King in the opening sequence of The Mummy Returns.
Johnson married Dany Garcia on May 3, 1997, a day after his 25th birthday. His best man at the wedding was fellow wrestler and long-time family friend Tonga Fifita, better known as Haku. Johnson and his wife have a daughter, Simone Alexandra, born August 14, 2001. On June 1, 2007, Johnson and Garcia announced that they would be splitting up after 10 years of marriage. They indicated that their parting was amicable and that they would spend the rest of their lives together as best friends.
Johnson is good friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and X-Men star, Hugh Jackman. Michael Clarke Duncan and Johnson are also very close.