It is difficult to find a second movie star like The Rock – Dwayne Johnson, who has escaped the image of a “muscular” wrestler to become a real actor in the Hollywood film world.

On The Rock Dwayne Johnson’s birthday (May 2), let’s  look back at ELLE Man’s  life with his dark childhood and transformation to glory.

The Rock’s wrestling bloodline and “dark” childhood

The Rock Dwayne Johnson spent most of his childhood in small apartments in California and New Zealand. Wrestling is something that is in his blood. Because his father, Rocky Johnson, was the first African-American wrestling champion, while Dwayne’s grandfather, Chief Peter Maivia, was the first Samoan to participate in the American wrestling industry.

Portrait of wrestler Rocky Johnson – The Rock’s father.
Photo: trend-chaser.com
When Johnson was 14 years old, the family moved to Honolulu to make it more convenient for his father to participate in WWF wrestling matches. Here, Dwayne’s father was successful with The Ring – the wrestling team joined by him and his friend Tony Atlas, becoming the first group of people of color to win championship belts like “The Soul Patrol”. At that time, the family’s finances were secure. However, after a series of financial crises, Johnson’s family economy reached “bottom”.

Interview with The Hollywood Reporter: ” We try to live on only $120 a week. One day we came home to find the door locked and an eviction notice taped to it. My mother started screaming, crying and collapsing. She kept asking ‘Where will we stay? What we will do?'”

Ultimately, the family’s financial bankruptcy forced Dwayne Johnson down a “dark” path when he was just a teenager. “ In the Waikiki area there are a few high-end stores like Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Armani, jewelry stores,”  he said. “There are a lot of wealthy tourists who come to shop in Waikiki. We will target their money, jewelry and clothes and then sell them for the best possible price. “

Teenager Dwayne Johnson.
Photo: trend-chaser.com
Therefore, during his childhood, the police station was one of Dwayne Johnson’s familiar places. But thanks to that, he realized that in this world there is one of the few things he can control without having to depend on finances, which is his body.

He once shared: “I thought: What can I control with these hands? The only thing I can do is train and build my body. Because the successful men I know are the ones who know how to build their bodies.”

Fateful meeting and “rugby” dream

When Johnson was 16 years old, he was 6’4 (1m93) tall and weighed 225lbs (102kg) and enrolled at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, where he found the first teacher who brought him to the rugby path.

Teenager Dwayne Johnson’s rebellion created this fateful encounter. During a school day, instead of using the student restroom, teenager Johnson boldly walked into the teacher’s restroom.

“A teacher walked in,”  Johnson recalls. “His name is Jody Cwik. He told me, ‘Hey, you can’t come in here.’ I paused, looked at him and replied, “Okay, I’ll come out when it’s done!” And I keep washing my hands. He just watched quietly, not saying a word.” It was at that moment that Dwayne’s life connected with Cwik’s. That night, he decided to find teacher Cwik to apologize for his arrogant attitude during the day.

“He shook my hand. I’ll never forget that handshake and him saying, ‘I want you to do something for me. I want you to go out and play rugby for me.’ And I went out, and I played rugby for Jody Cwik. He is my coach and a second father. “

The Rock’s “burning” youth rugby dream
Photo: trend-chaser.com
When talking about Cwik, The Rock expressed his absolute respect. “I love that man. I will never forget his influence in my life. Our relationship was forged through the empathy he had for a rebellious child who had been treated rudely and disrespectfully.”

As Johnson quickly developed in his rugby career as a defender. His life also began to improve. “My thought process started to change. That’s when I started thinking about my goals and what I wanted to achieve.”

Photo: trend-chaser.com
After graduating from high school, Johnson received a scholarship to play football at the University of Miami. But here, a big problem in The Rock’s college football career began with the appearance of Warren Sapp – a famous rugby player. Dwayne Johnson was gradually pushed to the bench and his appearances became less and less. Johnson graduated from Miami in 1995 with a Bachelor of Criminological Studies, but the young man wasn’t ready to give up on his dream of playing football. He eventually joined the Calgary Stampede as a reserve defenseman but was fired two months before the end of the season.

“My dreams were defeated again ,” he once revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. “At that time, for me, without rugby, my future was crushed. It was the worst moment of my life.”

“The Rock” and the king of the American wrestling village

Not easily surrendering to difficulties, Dwayne Johnson has turned back to physical training. Once again The Rock walked through another pile of rubble and rebuilt his life. And he realized that what made him special had been flowing through his veins for a long time. That’s the wrestler!

Johnson first appeared in the WWF in 1996, fighting under the name, a portmanteau of his father’s and grandfather’s nicknames, “Rocky Maivia”. And as fate would have it, the first opponent he had to fight was Brooklyn Brawler – who was also his father’s first opponent.

The name “The Rock” has built his own wrestling empire…
Photo: wwe.com

…with a record 17 WWF/E Championship titles.
Photo: wwe.com
Success quickly came to Rocky Maiva when he defeated and won the championship from Triple H on Monday Night Raw. However, the “excruciating” competition schedule caused a knee injury for Johnson. After his injury, he became a member of “Nation of Domination” along with Faarooq, D’Lo Brown and Kama. And from then on, Dwayne Johnson’s third person was born, Rocky Maivia is now “The Rock”.

During his wrestling career, The Rock has won the WWF/E Championship 7 times, more than the old record of Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart. He is considered one of the most famous wrestlers in history. However, deep down, Johnson wanted something more: a chance to become a Hollywood star.

A great transformation into the film capital of Hollywood

Although, it is not uncommon for American wrestlers to “encroach” on cinema. But in the end, they still returned to the delicious piece that was presented on the stage. “When I was a kid, Harrison Ford was my favorite actor,” Johnson said . He’s great! Be strong and romantic when flirting with girls. I want to become such a man. Then, I also want to be Elvis Presley. And at the same time, I think now I also want to be Chuck Norris. So I wanted to take all the male role models at that time and create an image for myself.”

Johnson finally broke into the film world in 2001 with the role of Mathayus, widely known to the public as “The Scorpion King” in The Mummy Returns. Although it was a small role, it was enough for movie producers to see the potential in The Rock’s acting. Not long after that, The Rock “nobly” received $5.5 million, a record fee for an average actor, to appear in the lead role in his own movie about the character Scorpion King ( 2002).

The image of “Scorpion King” is the perfect start for The Rock.
A warrior with a statuesque body, who later transforms into a half-human, half-scorpion demon, was made using the CGI techniques of the early 21st century but was still enough to scare the audience to death. The image of the Scorpion King is a perfect way to introduce The Rock to a wide audience that has no interest in WWE.

Since then, The Rock no longer appears regularly in the WWE ring but instead on the big screen. In 2004, he officially gave up the throne of the wrestling industry to become a rare muscular star in the history of the world entertainment industry.

Adi Shankar, producer of the movie The Gray and a huge wrestling fan, told The Wrap: “Most wrestlers only bring their in-ring image to movies. They have no need to change their image.”

Instead of choosing to be just a muscle-bound wrestler ready to fight in action movies. The Rock has chosen a more diverse and transformative acting path than his predecessors. He appeared with a contrasting image as Sean William Scott in “The Run Down” or as an interesting gay guy in “Be Cool”. The Rock also constantly “friendly” his image by adding family-friendly films to his acting repertoire such as the role of a funny tooth fairy in “The Tooth Fairy” or a father. affectionate uncle in “Journey to the Center of the Earth 2”.

Besides acting, Dwayne is also one of the most popular voice actors in animated films such as “Family Guy” (2010) or “Moana” (2016). For many children, The Rock is not a grumpy, scary wrestler but a big but funny uncle who brings a sense of security. Something that was difficult for previous wrestlers to do.

Don’t just limit yourself to the image of strong heroes…

…The Rock also takes great pains to transform into humorous characters like in the movie “The Tooth Fairy”
“If you take the humor out of The Rock, you won’t have anything left,”  was a film commentator’s comment about The Rock. In 2015, The Rock once again became the highest-grossing actor in Hollywood thanks to the tremendous explosion of the two blockbusters ” San Andreas”  and ” Fast & Furious 7″ .

The blockbuster “Fast and Furious 7” helped The Rock take the throne in terms of revenue in Hollywood in 2015.
In 2017, The Rock returned and “stirred up” the big screen with many different roles. In “Baywatch”, he transformed into the chivalrous and brave captain Mitch Buchannon, confronting the impulsive, disruptive “rookie” played by Zac Efron, earning The Rock a nomination for “Male Lead”. Best Comedy” at the Teen Choice Award.

The next blockbuster “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”, released on the year-end holiday, also earned more than $533 million, five times more than its production cost. With humorous acting, The Rock and his teammates received a series of positive reviews from critics. Roten Tomatoes, a famous movie review site, gave the movie a 75% positive rating with the comment: “The movie is truly a pleasant surprise.” Continuing and steadily in 2018, The Rock continued to “thrill” the big screen with giant genetically modified super animals in the explosive blockbuster Rampage with a total global revenue of over 400 million USD (as of December 16). May 2018), compared to 120 million USD in production.

Humorous image, The Rock and his teammates turned “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” into a blockbuster at the end of this year.

Having gone through a dark and rebellious childhood, Dwayne Johnson is an image of finding and pursuing one’s dreams. From a rugby player to the king of the American wrestling industry and then becoming a million-dollar actor in the film capital of Hollywood. The Rock has never shown signs of stopping and accepting his own safety limits. That is what created the brand The Rock – Dwayne Johnson today.