Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor, producer, and semi-retired professional wrestler. Johnson was a professional wrestler in the WWE for eight years prior to becoming a full-time actor in 2005. Since then, he has become one of the top-grossing and highest-paid actors in the world.

Johnson was a college football player for the University of Miami, with whom he won a national championship in 1991. He initially aspired for a professional career in football and entered the 1995 NFL Draft but went undrafted. Johnson then signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) but was cut from the team in the middle of his first season there. Shortly after, he began training as a professional wrestler.^[7]