Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a bona fide Hollywood legend. After beginning his career as a college football player before injury forced him into the ring, and, by chance, onto the big screen, he is now the world's highest-paid actor. And
to celebrate the 47-year-old's nuptials, we've compiled a list of what you need to know about Hollywood's top guy!
[post_page_title]The Early Years[/post_page_title]
Dwayne Johnson was born in May 1972 in Hayward, California. However, by the time he was old enough to attend elementary school, Johnson spent the majority of his formative years living in Honolulu, Hawaii. Where he would marry the love of his life years decades later...
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[post_page_title]Dwayne's Father[/post_page_title]
Rock came from greatness. Dwayne's father is
Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson, who earned legendary status in the ring because he was one-half of
the first African-American tag-team champions.
His grandfather, Peter Maivia, also found success as a wrestler, and he was one of the first
Samoan wrestlers. But contrary to what was in his blood, at first, Dwayne chose a different sporting path.
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[post_page_title]Before Wrestling There Was Football[/post_page_title]
By the time Dwayne had graduated from high school, he knew that he wanted to take sports more seriously and while at college, he played for the
Miami Hurricanes.
This eventually culminated in him becoming a part of the
1991 national championship team, giving him a collective 39 games and 77 tackles to his name.
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[post_page_title]His First Wife[/post_page_title]
But playing football wasn't the only significant life event to happen to Dwayne at college, it's also where he met his first wife and mother of his oldest child, Dany Garcia. They were together for a decade, and despite their split, remain on good terms.
"Since our divorce, we've become pretty good at working together, and we are also raising our beautiful daughter, Simone," Johnson said.
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[post_page_title]The End Of Dwayne's First Dream[/post_page_title]
Although Dwayne had a promising start as a footballer and could have very well gone on to become an NFL start, he was forced to quit the sport after a number of injuries. "The dreams I had, they're dashed," he recalled. "There is no more football. My relationship was crushed. That was my absolute worst time."
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[post_page_title]Rocky Maivia[/post_page_title]
Then, fate stepped in, and Dwayne's attention finally turned to the family sport - wrestling. He began his career, like many, in WWE's minor leagues.
Once he'd honed his craft, he made his on-screen debut at the 1996
Survivor Series. He combined his father and grandfather's names to initially fight under the name
"Rocky Miavia."
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[post_page_title]The Greatest Ever?[/post_page_title]
The Rock wasn't just an incredibly talented wrestler, he also made history just by entering the ring in the first place. Dwayne was the first third-generation wrestler in WWE's history, and even though he's now retired, many still consider him to be the greatest wrestler to ever enter the ring.
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[post_page_title]His Signature Moves[/post_page_title]
Dwayne made his mark on the ring in more ways than one and actually came up with moves of his own including the 'The People's Elbow' and 'The Rock Bottom.'
All of which ultimately resulted in the Rock winning the WWE heavyweight title eight times and the tag team titles six times.
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[post_page_title]He Proved Himself On SNL[/post_page_title]
By this point, the Rock was a hit in the ring, and it wasn't just the sporting world who took notice, Hollywood did too and invited him for a stint on SNL. He smashed it too, and the ratings went through the roof. Dwayne had shown the world that he wasn't just a talented wrestler, he was a talented actor too.
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[post_page_title]The Mummy Returns[/post_page_title]
This resulted in Dwayne bagging his first professional acting gig in the 2001 movie The Mummy Returns, where he played the villainous ruler, the Scorpion King.
Dwayne was paid $5.5 million for the role, which was the most any actor had ever been paid for a debut, and he went onto reprise his role as the Scorpion King in a sequel of the same name.
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[post_page_title]His Big Break[/post_page_title]
However, even though Dwayne's role as the Scorpion King came with a big paycheque, it wasn't for another two years that people, generally speaking, accepted him as an actor.
This happened with 2003's The Rundown.
"The Rock has a flair for action and comedy," Rolling Stone wrote. "He's a real movie star."
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[post_page_title]The New Schwarzenegger?![/post_page_title]
Prior to Dwayne's early foray into the world of acting, the world's best-known action hero was arguably
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and even then, people thought he might just rival Arny."Whether The Rock will rival Schwarzenegger's long run as an action hero is hard to say," Ebert wrote. "But on the basis of 'The Rundown,' he has a good chance."
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[post_page_title]The Rock No More[/post_page_title]
When Dwayne's acting career took off, he realized that he was going to have to be known by his given name and not The Rock.
"'The Rock' was a name, a character I created in TV," he said. "When I made the transition into film, I knew eventually I was going to be billed as my given name."
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[post_page_title]His Acting Range[/post_page_title]
As Dwayne appeared in more movies, he showed the world that he had real range as an actor, such as when he starred in comedies like The Other Guys. "I felt there were bigger and better opportunities," Johnson said. "I also felt there was franchise potential, hopefully multiple franchises in every genre - whether drama or comedy or action-comedy."
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[post_page_title]But It Wasn't All Sunshine And Roses[/post_page_title]
At the MTV Movie
&
TV Awards,
the wrestler-turned-movie star was honored with the Generation Award. The 47-year-old stunned the crowd as he recounted his rather demoralizing experience during his early days in Hollywood. When Johnson started out, he says was repeatedly told he would have to change certain aspects about himself if he wanted to make it.
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[post_page_title]They Didn't Know What To Do With Him[/post_page_title]
"When I first got to Hollywood, Hollywood - they didn’t know what the hell to do with me," he told the audience. "I was this half-black, half-Samoan, 6 foot 4, 275-pound wrestler.
I was told at that time, you’ve gotta be a certain way," he revealed. "You've gotta drop some weight, you've gotta be somebody different."
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[post_page_title]Hollywood's Terrible Suggestions[/post_page_title]
"You've gotta stop working out, stop doing the things that I love, you've gotta stop calling yourself 'The Rock'. For years, I actually bought into it because you think, ‘Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do.' And I was miserable doing that, so I made a choice. The choice was, I wasn't going to conform to Hollywood; Hollywood was going to conform to me."
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[post_page_title]He Is A First Class Dad Too[/post_page_title]
As we all know, this worked out and now Dwayne enjoys not only the spoils of being one of the world's most successful actors but fatherhood. After comfortably making the transition from greatest wrestler in the world (don't @ me) to the most bankable movie star in the world, it turns out that The Rock is a better dad than you too.
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[post_page_title]The Baby Rock[/post_page_title]
He already has a 17-year-old daughter with ex-wife Dany Garcia, but since shackin' up with Lauren Hashian, he's come up with two more Baby Rocks for us to coo over. Baby Tiana Gia was only born in 2018, but she's already getting on handsomely with her daddy, and this conversation they had is a pretty good example of that.
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[post_page_title]Morning Convos[/post_page_title]
"Morning convos!" Hashian captioned a post on social media, which shows The Rock and Tiana chitter-chattering away, with the tot getting to know her daddy in a deep, intellectual way.
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[post_page_title]The Highest-Paid Actor[/post_page_title]
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson continues to come across as one of the nicest stars in Hollywood. After making the transition from WWE legend to a star of the silver screen, he's now the highest-paid actor in the world, according to Forbes.
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But unlike many people who make it big, the 46-year-old has not forgotten his roots, and he has shared his many millions with his nearest and dearest. Dwayne then revealed that a few weeks ago, he'd offered to buy his dad a new home anywhere he wanted to live - an offer which he says left the 74-year-old "speechless".
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[post_page_title]A Present For His Dad[/post_page_title]
And now that the WWE Hall of Famer is about to start looking at properties, he said to his son, "I'm so excited and I'm so nervous," Dwayne revealed. He explained that his father was "an old school tough guy" and that he'd never heard him talk in such an emotional way before.
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[post_page_title]Rocky Beat His A*s[/post_page_title]
He captioned the emotional clip with the following message: "He's a weathered soul and like all weathered souls, there's often a harsh storied path that got them there. Well for my pops that path started at 13yrs old when his mom kicked him out of his house on Christmas day and forced him to live on the streets (very true and f***ed up story) so his reality of compassion and love was forged thru pain and toughness."
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[post_page_title]How The Rock Was Raised[/post_page_title]
"He raised me with that tough physical love and used to beat my ass in the gyms and on wrestling mats. I hated it then as a little boy, but grateful for it today as a man. It's shaped my DNA and helped inform how I raise my own babies (minus the ass kickings;) but always instilling the value of hard work and discipline."
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[post_page_title]The Rock's Second Marriage[/post_page_title]
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tied the knot with his longtime partner, Lauren Hashian, on August 18, 2019.
The 47-year-old actor took to Instagram to share the news, and also posted several pictures from the special day. "We do. August 18th, 2019. Hawaii."
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[post_page_title]The Well Wishes[/post_page_title]
The pair, who have been together since 2007, have two daughters together; three-year-old Jasmine, and 15-month-old Tiana.
The comments section was inundated with well-wishes from The Rock's fans. "Congratulations, you two!!! ❤️ I’m so happy for you!" wrote one social media user, while another added, "The rock gave her a rock."
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[post_page_title]The Wedding Was Postponed[/post_page_title]
Johnson and Hashian were due to marry in the spring of 2018, but postponed the event when Hashian fell pregnant with their second child. Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine at the time, the retired professional wrestler said that his partner didn't want to have a "big belly" in her wedding photographs.
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[post_page_title]Mama Wanna Look Good[/post_page_title]
"Then we got pregnant. And Mama don't wanna take wedding pictures with a big belly – Mama wanna look good," he joked to the publication. Johnson said that they weren't "exactly" trying to conceive again, but had been "talking about it" prior to the fact.
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[post_page_title]Another Strong Girl[/post_page_title]
Speaking about the birth of his youngest child, Tiana, (he also has an 18-year-old daughter from his previous marriage to Dany Garcia) The Rock said he was "blessed and proud to bring another strong girl into this world."
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"I was raised and surrounded by strong, loving women all my life, but after participating in baby Tia’s delivery, it’s hard to express the new level of love, respect and admiration I have for and all mamas and women out there," he continued.
