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Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor, professional wrestler and philanthropist currently signed with WWE, primarily featured on its Raw brand. He is often credited as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
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Johnson was a college football player. In 1991, he was part of the University of Miami's national championship team. He later played for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League, and was cut two months into the 1995 season. This led to his decision to become a professional wrestler like his grandfather, Peter Maivia, and his father, Rocky Johnson. 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 the company's history.
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Johnson was quickly given a push as a heroic character in the WWF, originally billed as "Rocky Maivia", and then as "The Rock". He would subsequently turn into a villain as a member of the Nation of Domination in 1997. Two years after he joined the WWF, Johnson won the WWF Championship, and became one of the most popular wrestlers within the company's history for his engaging interviews and promos.
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Johnson won a total of 16 championships in WWF/E. This included nine World Heavyweight Championships (the WWF/E Championship seven times and the WCW/World Championship twice), two WWF Intercontinental Championships, and five times as co-holder of the WWF Tag Team Championships. He was the sixth WWF/E Triple Crown Champion, and the winner of the 2000 Royal Rumble.
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Johnson's autobiography co-written with Joe Layden, The Rock Says..., was released in 2000. It debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list, and remained on the list for several weeks. Johnson's first leading role as an actor was in The Scorpion King in 2002. For this film, he received the highest salary for an actor in his first starring role, earning $5.5 million. He has since appeared in several blockbuster movies such as The Rundown, Be Cool, Walking Tall, Gridiron Gang, The Game Plan, Get Smart, Race to Witch Mountain, Planet 51, Tooth Fairy, Doom, Why Did I Get Married Too?, The Other Guys, Faster, and most recently Fast Five starring opposite Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.
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Dwayne Johnson, the son of Ata Johnson (née Maivia) and professional wrestler "Soulman" Rocky Johnson, was born in Hayward, California. His maternal grandfather, "High Chief" Peter Maivia, was also a professional wrestler. His maternal grandmother, Lia Maivia, ran Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling from 1982 until 1988 following her husband's death, becoming one of wrestling's few female professional promoters. His father is of Black Nova Scotian (Canadian) origin and his mother is of Samoan heritage. For a brief period, Johnson lived in Auckland, New Zealand, with his mother's family. During this time his mother Ata ensured Johnson was exposed to one of the urban Polynesian cultural strongholds of the Southern Hemisphere. Johnson attended Richmond Road Primary School before returning to the United States with his parents.
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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 East Penn 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. Along with his father and grandfather, several members of Johnson's family are current and former professional wrestlers, including his uncles, the Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika Anoa'i) and cousins, such as Manu, Yokozuna, Rikishi, Rosey, and Umaga. When he declared his intention to join the family business, his father resisted, but agreed to train his son himself, warning him that he would not go easy on him.
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With help from veteran wrestler Pat Patterson, Johnson had several tryout matches with WWE in 1996; he defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show under his real name, Dwayne Johnson, and lost the others to Chris Candido and Owen Hart. Impressed by his talent and charisma, Johnson was signed to a contract after wrestling at Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association, where he wrestled under the ring name "Flex Kavana". While there, he won the USWA World Tag Team Championship twice with Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996. Johnson married Dany Garcia on May 3, 1997, a day after his 25th birthday. 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.
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Johnson's autobiography co-written with Joe Layden, The Rock Says..., was released in 2000, debuting at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list, and remaining on the list for several weeks Johnson is good friends with actor and former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, X-Men's Wolverine star, Hugh Jackman, and a close friend of Michael Clarke Duncan.
