Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Younger Dwayne Johnson with his father, Rocky Johnson (African Canadian) and his mother Ata Maivia Johnson (Samoan)


Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and semi-retired professional wrestler, known for his time in WWE.[2][6][7]

Johnson was a college football player for the University of Miami, winning a national championship on the 1991 Miami Hurricanes football team. He later played for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League, and was cut two months into the 1995 season.[8][9][10] This led him to become a professional wrestler like his grandfather, Peter Maivia, and his father, Rocky Johnson. Originally billed as "Rocky Maivia", he gained mainstream fame as "The Rock" in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1996 to 2004, and was the first third-generation wrestler in the company's history. He returned to wrestling part-time for WWE from 2011 to 2013.

Johnson is widely considered one of the all-time greatest professional wrestlers.[11][12] He had seventeen championship reigns in WWE, including ten as world champion, winning the WWF/E Championship eight times and the WCW/World Championship twice. He won the WWF Intercontinental Championship twice and the World Tag Team Championship five times. He is the sixth WWF/E Triple Crown Champion, and won the 2000 Royal Rumble.

Johnson's autobiography The Rock Says... (co-written with Joe Layden) was published in 2000. It debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list and remained on the list for several weeks.[13] Johnson's first leading film role was in The Scorpion King in 2002. For this role, he was paid US$5.5 million, a world record for an actor in his first starring role.[14] He has since appeared in several films, including The Rundown, Be Cool, Walking Tall, Gridiron Gang, The Game Plan, Get Smart, Race to Witch Mountain, Planet 51, Tooth Fairy, Doom, The Other Guys, Faster, Fast Five, and Fast & Furious 6.

Johnson was born in Hayward, California, the son of Ata Johnson (née Maivia) and professional wrestler Rocky Johnson.[7] His maternal grandfather, "High Chief" Peter Maivia, was also a wrestler. His maternal grandmother, Lia Maivia, was one of wrestling's few female professional promoters, taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982, until 1988.[15][16] His father is of Black Nova Scotian (Canadian) origin, and his mother is of Samoan heritage.[17][18] Johnson briefly lived in Auckland, New Zealand, with his mother's family.[19][19] He attended Richmond Road Primary School, before returning to the United States with his parents.[19]

Source: Wikipedia