Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his former ring name The Rock, and occasionally credited as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, is an American actor and former professional wrestler.Johnson was a collegiate football player, and 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, but was cut two months into the 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 standout in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), then known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), from 1996 to 2004. Johnson was quickly given a push in WWE, first as "Rocky Maivia", and then as "The Rock", a member of the Nation of Domination. Two years after he joined the WWE, Johnson won the WWF Championship, and became one of the most popular wrestlers within the company for his engaging interviews. Since 2001, he has focused on an acting career, though he still makes occasional WWE appearances for promotional purposes.

Johnson is also an actor, with his first leading role in 2001, in The Scorpion King. For this film, he received the highest salary for an actor in his first starring role, earning $5.5 million. He has since starred in movies such as Be Cool, The Game Plan, Gridiron Gang, Doom, and Get Smart.

Dwayne Johnson, the son of Ata (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. He is of half Black Canadian, half Samoan heritage (his father is Black Canadian and his mother is Samoan ).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 U.S. with his parents.

Johnson received collegiate football scholarship offers from several universities and selected the University of Miami. While the University of Miami football program did not openly recruit Johnson, he entered try-outs as a walk-on for the program and made the team, playing defensive tackle. In 1991, he was part of the Miami Hurricanes' national championship team.After an injury kept him sidelined, Johnson was replaced by fellow Hurricane and future NFL star Warren Sapp.

Johnson married Dany Garcia on May 3, 1997, a day after his 25th birthday.His best man at the wedding was fellow wrestler and long-time family friend Tonga "Haku" Fifita. 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.

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 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.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, and lost the others to Chris Candido and Owen Hart.Impressed by his talent and charisma, Johnson was signed to a deal after a short stint for "seasoning" in 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.

The Rock made occasional wrestling appearances up to 2004's WrestleMania XX, when the storyline revolving around Mick Foley had him brought back to help in his feud with Evolution (Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista).One humorous in-ring segment involved The Rock hosting his own version of "This Is Your Life" for Foley on the March 8, 2004 edition of Raw.Rock reunited with Foley after five years, as Rock 'n' Sock Connection and the duo went on to lose to Orton, Flair and Batista at WrestleMania XX in a handicap match when Orton pinned Foley with a RKO.As of 2008, this was Rock's last match.