Dwayne Johnson
Birthdate: May 2, 1972
Birthplace: Hayward, California, USA
It’s exceptional enough to reach the top of a highly competitive profession—say, pro wrestling or movie star. Dwayne Johnson (birthname: Dwayne Douglas Johnson) is the only human being to have reached the top of both, as measured by audiences, fan base, and ticket sales. He certainly can make a case for being one of the most popular figures in both pop and sports culture, with only Arnold Schwarzenegger (one of Johnson’s idols) as a close comparison.
Long ago shedding his pro wrestling moniker “The Rock,” Johnson’s ability to match in the movie business his total dominance of the World Wrestling Federation and global pro wrestling (particularly from 1996 to 2004, though he also wrestled some during 2011-2013 and as late as 2016) was never a certain thing. But Johnson is now in the rarified air of being only one of two actors (along with Tom Cruise) who can be considered truly bankable, the closest thing there is to a sure bet as an above-the-title star. By all measures, he now commands the highest per-film salary in the movie business.
Unlike in his remarkable pro wrestling phase, when he made the sport-entertainment a major, mass-market show business phenomenon as the avatar and key figure of WWF’s (now WWE) huge “Attitude Era,” Dwayne Johnson entered the movie world in what was possibly the start of the great Decline of the Movie Star at the turn of the 21st century. And yet, when he debuted as The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001), with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, his impact was so immediate that Universal Pictures immediately greenlit Johnson’s own The Scorpion King (2002), with Kelly Hu and Michael Clark Duncan, with the instant movie star’s face dominating the poster.
Ever since, over two decades, Johnson has been the star or co-star of virtually every movie in which he’s appeared. As in Peter Berg’s The Rundown (2003) and the remake of Walking Tall (2004), Johnson was cast as an obvious type. But he soon made more creative choices, such as F. Gary Gray’s version of Elmore Leonard’s Get Shorty follow-up, Be Cool (2005), with John Travolta and Uma Thurman, and one of his most daring movies—and a rare box-office bomb—Richard Kelly’s surrealist SoCal epic, Southland Tales (2006), with Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Justin Timberlake.
He followed this with his first serious dramatic starring role in Phil Joanou’s Gridiron Gang (2006), with Xzibit and the first of several broader comedies geared for younger viewers, Disney’s The Game Plan (2007), with Kyra Sedgwick. He shared the screen with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway in Peter Segal’s feature version of Get Smart (2008), earning over $230 million worldwide. Though the worldwide take of Johnson’s next Disney movie, The Race to Witch Mountain (2008) was about half that total, it was a hit. It solidified Dwayne Johnson as Disney’s go-to live-action star and the undisputed champion of kiddie movies.
This title was successfully defended with 20th Century Fox’s family comedy, Tooth Fairy (2010), with Ashley Judd and Julie Andrews. Dwayne Johnson returned to the action movie genre with George Tillman Jr.’s Faster (2010), with Billy Bob Thornton. Johnson’s position as a major star received a further boost in 2011—his first foray as Agent Luke Hobbs in the Fast & Furious franchise, with Fast Five—and in 2012, with his first movie in a star-producer role in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (the sequel to the 2008 hit Journey to the Center of the Earth), grossing $335 worldwide.
Johnson moved into a brawny action phase with a string of box-office smashes. Johnson’s second producer-star project, Snitch (2013); followed by G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), with Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum (major stars in their own right, but utterly dominated in the movie’s poster by Johnson’s hulking image); Michael Bay’s superb comedy-drama, Pain & Gain (2013), with Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie; and Justin Lin’s spectacularly successful Fast & Furious 6 (2013), with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, earning $789 worldwide; and a role that was a perfect fit for Johnson’s profile, Hercules (2014), with Ian McShane and Joseph Fiennes, earning $244 million globally.
Johnson became a key starring component of the Fast & Furious series with Furious 7 (2015), boosting the latest entry’s global take to an astounding $1.52 billion (doubling the previous entry’s total number). Johnson singlehandedly revived the disaster movie genre with the unexpected, non-franchise hit San Andreas (2015), with Carla Gugino, nearing $ ½ billion globally, and boosted the buddy-comedy form with his first of several Kevin Hart co-starring vehicles, Central Intelligence (2016).
Dwayne Johnson returned to the friendly confines of Disney with a voice performance in the animated Moana (2016), with Auli’i Cravalho (his first movie touching on his Samoan/Polynesian roots), and returned as Hobbs in F. Gary Gray’s The Fate of the Furious (2017), with Jason Statham and Vin Diesel, grossing $1.23 billion---yet another billion-dollar-plus earner for Johnson.
With Baywatch (2017), co-starring Zac Efron, Johnson’s larger-than-life entertainments began to be made consistently with Johnson as producer, including his entry into yet another hit franchise, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), with Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan; Brad Peyton’s monster movie, Rampage (2018), with Naomie Harris; one of Johnson’s few box-office failures, Rawson Marshall Thurber’s Skyscraper (2018), with Neve Campbell; the lower-budget dramatization of a true-life sports story, Fighting with My Family (2019), with Florence Pugh and Lena Headey.
A somewhat lower-grossing Fast & Furious franchise entry, Hobbs & Shaw (2019), with Johnson facing off directly with Statham; the second entry in the Jumanji enterprise, Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), earning over $800 million globally; a somewhat disappointing live-action Disney project that commercially under-performed, Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle Cruise (2021), with Emily Blunt; and the art-heist thriller Red Notice (2021), which was released via Netflix, with Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, and is the first of two additional sequels reuniting Johnson with Reynolds and Gadot.
Johnson’s astonishing run as star producer continued in 2022 with Warner Animated’s DC League of Super-Pets, co-starring Hart and another DC Comics franchise entry, and Shazam! a spin-off, Black Adam (2022) (directed by Collet-Serra), with Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge and Quintessa Swindell, but which tanked at the box office for Warner Bros. with a $393.5 million global gross (against $260 million costs).
Dwayne Johnson starred in and produced the Santa-Is-Kidnapped Christmas action comedy, Red One (2023), with Chris Evans), Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons under Jake Kasdan’s direction, and released wide by Amazon MGM Studios via MGM. Johnson returned to the voice character of Maui for Disney’s sequel, Moana 2 (2024), co-starring the voices of Auli’I Cravalho, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Scherzinger under the co-direction of David Derrick Jr. (who also co-wrote with Jared Bush), Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller; and then Johnson produced and co-starred with Catherine Laga’aia and John Tui in Disney’s live-action version of Moana (2026), directed by Thomas Kail and co-written by Bush and Miller.
Johnson was again star-producer of director/writer/editor Benny Safdie’s MMA-themed biopic, The Smashing Machine (2025), co-starring Emily Blunt, and released by A24. Johnson reunited with the regular squad as Hobbs in Universal Pictures’ sequel, Fast X: Part 2 (2026), co-starring Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Nathalie Emmanuel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Momoa, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang and Ludacris under Louis Leterrier’s direction; and then Johnson joined a reboot (instead of a sequel) of John Carpenter’s 1986 Big Trouble in Little China, written by Ashley Miller (date to be announced).
Personal Details
A Hayward, Ca. native, Dwayne Johnson was raised by parents Ata (who is Samoan) and pro wrestler Rocky Johnson (who is Black, born in Nova Scotia, Canada). He is a member of pro wrestling’s most notable family, the Anoa’i Family from American Samoa. Johnson earned a Bachelor of General Studies at the University of Miami, where he achieved great fame as a star college football player.
His NFL career was thwarted by a back injury. After one year in the Canadian Football League, Johnson left football behind for massive international fame in pro wrestling. Johnson’s first marriage, to bodybuilder and businesswoman Dany Garcia, was from 1997 to 2008 when they divorced; he is currently married to Lauren Hashian, since 2019. He has three children: Simone (born with Garcia), and daughters Jasmine and Tiana (born with Hashian). His height is 6’ 5”. Johnson’s estimated net worth is $800 million.
Filmography
actor
Upcoming (7)
- 2025 | Jumanji: The Last Storyas Dr. Smolder Bravestone
- 2026 |
- 2025 | The Smashing Machine
- 2025 | The Smashing Machineas Mark Kerr
- 2024 | Breaking Olympia: The Phil Heath Story
- 2024 |
- 2026 |
Previous (53)
- 2024 |
- 2023 | BackBeat from Above: The Legacy of Sib Hashian
- 2022 | The Life & Near Death of Kevin Hart
- 2022 | Black AdamasBlack Adam
Black Adam
Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods--and imprisoned just as quickly--Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
- 2022 | DC League of Super-PetsasKrypto
DC League of Super-Pets
Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime side by side in Metropolis. However, Krypto must master his own powers for a rescue mission when Superman is kidnapped.
- 2021 |
- 2021 | Jungle CruiseasFrank Wolff
Jungle Cruise
Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element.
- 2020 | Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson: No Pain No Gain
- 2020 | Stars of the Ring: Cena, Johnson, Bautista
- 2019 | Jumanji: The Next LevelasBravestone
Jumanji: The Next Level
In Jumanji: The Next Level, the gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to rescue one of their own, the players will have to brave parts unknown from arid deserts to snowy mountains, to escape the world's most danger...
- 2019 | Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & ShawasHobbs
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Lawman Luke Hobbs and outcast Deckard Shaw form an unlikely alliance when a cyber-genetically enhanced villain threatens the future of humanity.
- 2019 | Fighting with My FamilyasDwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Fighting with My Family
A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.
- 2018 | Heavyweight
- 2018 | SkyscraperasWill Sawyer
Skyscraper
A security expert must infiltrate a burning skyscraper, 225 stories above ground, when his family is trapped inside by criminals.
- 2018 |
- 2017 | Jumanji: Welcome to the JungleasSpencer
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Four teenagers are sucked into a magical video game, and the only way they can escape is to work together to finish the game.
- 2017 |
- 2017 | The Fate of the FuriousasHobbs
The Fate of the Furious
When a mysterious woman seduces Dominic Toretto into the world of terrorism and a betrayal of those closest to him, the crew face trials that will test them as never before.
- 2016 | A Tribute to David Levy: Newhouse Mirror Awards
- 2016 | A Trip to Unicorn Island
- 2016 |
- 2016 | Central IntelligenceasBob Stone
Central Intelligence
After he reconnects with an awkward pal from high school through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.
- 2015 | San AndreasasRaymond Gaines
San Andreas
In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey with his ex-wife across the state in order to rescue his daughter.
- 2015 |
- 2014 |
- 2013 | Empire Stateas Det. James Ransome
- 2013 | Fast & Furious 6asHobbs
Fast & Furious 6
Hobbs has Dominic and Brian reassemble their crew to take down a team of mercenaries: Dominic unexpectedly gets sidetracked with facing his presumed deceased girlfriend, Letty.
- 2013 | Pain & GainasPaul Doyle
Pain & Gain
A trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.
- 2013 | G.I. Joe: RetaliationasRoadblock
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
The G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence.
- 2013 |
- 2012 | Journey 2: The Mysterious IslandasHank
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Sean Anderson partners with his mom's husband on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to be missing on a mythical island.
- 2011 | WWE The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment Vol 1
- 2011 | WWE The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment Vol 1
- 2011 | WWE The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment Vol 2
- 2011 | WWE The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment Vol 2
- 2011 | Fast Fiveas Hobbs
- 2010 | Fasteras Driver
- 2010 | Tooth Fairyas Derek
- 2009 | Planet 51as Captain Charles T. Baker
- 2009 | Race to Witch Mountainas Jack Bruno
- 2008 | Get Smartas Agent 23
- 2007 | Operation Filmmaker
- 2006 | Southland Talesas Boxer Santaros
- 2006 | Southland Talesas Jericho Cane
- 2007 | The Game PlanasJoe Kingman
The Game Plan
An NFL quarterback living the bachelor lifestyle discovers that he has an 8-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
- 2006 | Gridiron Gangas Sean Porter
- 2005 | Polynesian Poweras Narrator
- 2005 | Doomas Sarge
- 2005 | Be Coolas Elliot Wilhelm
- 2004 | Walking Tallas Chris Vaughn
- 2003 | The Rundownas Beck
- 2002 | The Scorpion Kingas Mathayus
- 2001 | The Mummy Returnsas The Scorpion King
Some Facts About Dwayne Johnson
Record-Holder: Dwayne Johnson is the first pro wrestler to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship eight times. He is also one of the few wrestlers to hold titles in the WWF and WCW.
G-Rated: Johnson has starred in only a handful of movies rated R, including Southland Tales, Pain & Gain, and Baywatch. The vast majority of his filmography comprises movies rated G, PG, or PG-13.
Donor: Dwayne Johnson has donated millions of dollars to his alum university, the University of Miami.
Dual Citizen: Johnson is a citizen of the United States and Samoa, his mother.
Top Earner: Dwayne Johnson commands the highest salary in Hollywood, earning over $64 million during the period of 2015-2016 as reported by Forbes Magazine, and sets his per-movie salary at above $20 million, the highest in the film industry.
