Interesting Things About Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

1. He won a national championship in Football

In 1991, Dwayne Johnson played football for University of Miami, and won the national championship that year. After the win, he aspired to pursue a professional career in football and enlisted for the 1995 NFL Draft, but went undrafted. He didn't give up and also went on to sign up and play with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL), but was kicked out the team in his first season. Depressed from all the failures he's been through, The Rock decided to start training for a different path - to become a professional wrestler.

2. At one point, he only had $7 to his name

After he was kicked out from the football team in 1995, Dwayne Johnson went back to Miami and was picked up by his dad at the airport. While they were on their way home, he wondered how much he had to his name. He pulled out his wallet and found out he only had $7. Dwayne said that this was the lowest point in his life, especially when he knew that Warren Sapp, the man who beat him out of his position in Miami, had just been drafted for a million dollars.

3. He moved a lot as a kid

Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California to Rocky Johnson and Ata Johnson. Due to his father's wrestling career, Dwayne moved a lot in his childhood and teenage years, and had lived in 38 out of the 50 states of the entire United States. On top of that, he also lived in New Zealand with his mother's family and attended school at Richmond Road Primary School before returning to the US. Although Johnson was born in California USA, he also honoured his father's heritage by fulfilling all the requirements to become a Canadian citizen in 2009.

4. He learned hard work from his dad

Dwayne's father "Soulman" Rocky Johnson was a also a professional wrestler back in his day. Dwayne said that his father always got up at 5 in the morning to train, and dragged him alongside him, even on school days. He said that although his father was a hardcore disciplinarian, he also learned that to be able to achieve something great, you really have to put in the work. At present, Dwayne Johnson wakes up at 3:30 in the morning to train and has often times mentioned that he loves to put in the hard work as early as possible to get his day started on the right foot, mentally and physically.

5. He planned 10 years ahead to succeed in Hollywood

At 29 years old, Dwayne Johnson had started to discreetly retire from his career as a professional wrestler at WWE. Although he loved entertaining people at wrestling where he was really good at, Dwayne realized he wanted to pursue his dream career as an actor, and someday become one of the best artists in Hollywood. He studied the craft, worked alongside acting coaches, and had to make big decisions in his career to achieve his goals. In 2002, Dwayne Johnson played his first major role in the film The Scorpion King, and has become one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, with a net worth of $320 million dollars.

6. He wanted to become a secret agent

When Dwayne was in College, he started studying criminology and wanted to work for either the FBI or the CIA. Dwayne spent a lot of time with a professor called Dr. Paul Cromwell, who told him if he wanted to become a super spy, he'd have to get a law degree first, which will take years and years of studying and being in school - which he didn't want to do. Although Dwayne Johnson didn't end up becoming a secret agent, he starred as a CIA agent in the 2016 film Central Intelligence, along with co-star Kevin Hart. Dwayne Johnson has become one of Hollywood's favourite action movie stars and has given us many box-office hit movies such as the Fast and Furious franchise, Hobbs and Shaw, San Andreas, and Bay Watch.

7. He made the word 'Smackdown' enter the Merriam-Webster dictionary

One of The Rock's famous catch phrases during his wrestling matches, was 'lay the smackdown', which became a hit among his fans. The word 'smackdown' has travelled far and gained enough popularity that it was able to be officially put in the 2007 edition of the Merriam-Webster collegiate dictionary. According to Webster's, the first time that the word was used was in 1997, which took about a decade for them to decide to make it an official word. Smackdown was entered into the dictionary with a definition of 'the act of knocking down or bringing down an opponent.'

8. He saved his mother once

We are all used to seeing Dwayne Johnson save people from a burning building, or a cliff hanging from a helicopter, or rescuing hostages in the middle of a gunfight. When Johnson was only 15 years old, he saved his mother from walking into oncoming traffic. His family was going through a very difficult time, and losing their home compounded their problems. Dwayne's mother Ata Johnson, stopped their car on a highway in Nashville, and tried to commit suicide by walking into oncoming traffic, to which Johnson was able to prevent by swiftly grabbing her and bringing her to the side of the road safely.

9. His first onscreen role was acting as his father

When Dwayne Johnson decided to finally venture into the world of acting in 1999, he was given the role to play as his father in the series 'That 70's Show'. Johnson's cameo in that film was his first ever experience in acting in a scripted program, which he did really well. During that episode, Johnson slightly went out of script and referenced himself by mentioning that his son would become 'the most electrifying man in sports entertainment'. A few years later, Johnson had actually turned into becoming one of the most popular wrestlers of all time, a bonafide action movie star, and remains one of the highest-paid actors at the box office.

10. He has become Under Armour's favourite

Dwayne Johnson has one of the most lucrative deals with Under Armour which produces workout clothes and shoes for training. Under Armour named the branding as 'Project Rock' which recently launched a new collection called 'The Work' which Johnson says as a set that is built for the hardest workers in the room. The collection features gym-focused apparel for men and women, which also includes a training shoe called Project Rock 1 sneakers, which sold out in a day on it's first release in 2018. Dwayne also added headphones to his collection which sold out in less than 72 hours, and afterwards made the Project Rock 2 sneakers, which quickly became Under Armour's best seller of all time.