Dwayne Johnson
From WWE ring to Hollywood's A-list, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is the rare crossover who actually pulled it off, and he's not done yet.
Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California. He is the son of wrestler Rocky Johnson and grandson of High Chief Peter Maivia, making professional wrestling essentially his birthright. After a brief CFL football stint, he pivoted to WWE and became one of its biggest stars ever under the name “The Rock,” before making a crossover to Hollywood that virtually no wrestler had managed at that scale before him.
On screen, Johnson built his brand on high-octane franchises, Fast & Furious, Jumanji, San Andreas, but his most talked-about recent move is a serious dramatic one: playing real-life MMA fighter Mark Kerr in A24’s The Smashing Machine, opposite Emily Blunt, a role that pulled genuine awards-season attention and signaled he wants to be taken seriously as an actor, not just a box-office draw.
He’s also reprising one of his most beloved roles: the demigod Maui, whom he voiced in Disney’s hit 2016 animated Moana. He’ll play the character in the live-action adaptation (directed by Thomas Kail), set for US release on July 10, 2026, one of the most anticipated Disney productions of that year.
Off screen, Johnson is a businessman as much as an entertainer. He co-founded Teremana Tequila, which became one of the fastest-growing spirits brands in recent memory, and he was a co-owner of the relaunched XFL. His social media presence, tens of millions of followers across platforms, is a media empire in its own right.
He remains one of the most searched celebrities on the planet, which explains the sheer range of questions people ask about him, from his workout stats to his family life to whether he’s actually as tall as he claims.