Dwayne Johnson has transformed himself into one of the planet’s biggest stars and did it on his terms.

It’s 2002 and ‘The Rock’ is booked on The Howard Stern show to talk about his first feature film, The Scorpion King. What happens next is somewhat expected, given the history of athletes venturing into Hollywood. ‘As Dwayne?’ Howard Stern says. ‘Who’s going to go to a Dwayne Johnson movie? I mean, honestly.’ Howard was being, well, Howard. Forthright, probing, not particularly sensitive to the implications of his question. That question centred around identity, and ‘The Rock’, Howard reckoned, had become Dwayne Johnson’s primary identity.

It was an identity crafted by equal measures of talent, intelligence, and desperation. Dwayne was an unpopular WWE character as ‘Rocky Maivia’ and was on the brink of losing his contract. It appeared that losing would define him. A talented American Football player in his youth, Dwayne’s talent didn’t sustain at a pro-level. He lost an NFL contract and a Canadian Football League contract. He was forced to move back into his parent’s home, with $7 in his pocket. At this point, Rocky Maivia was on the brink of collapse.

Staring down an uncertain future, Dwayne decided to roll the dice. He created a new character called ‘The Rock’ and set in motion a pop culture phenomenon. In this context, Howard’s question had some merit. Dwayne had to become ‘The Rock’ to survive. It didn’t define who he was … only what he was at the time. Who he was was shaped by forces far more powerful. Who he was is found in the 14-year-old teen coming home from school to see an eviction notice on the family home and declaring to himself that his parents would never suffer such indignity again.

Dwayne was sent to live in a rundown motel with Bruno Lauer, a friend of his father Rocky, who was on the road wrestling. Dwayne learnt to be street-smart. He made money driving Bruno to and from dive bars and became a skilled shoplifter. He’d later be arrested for stealing winter clothing to keep warm. ‘I’m not proud of that, but I had to do what I had to do to survive,’ Dwayne told Oprah.

His childhood became more complex when his parent’s marriage was compromised by his father’s infidelity. He recalls an incident where his mother, enraged by the betrayal, forced his father to pull over on a busy highway, and stormed out of the vehicle into oncoming traffic. A 15-year-old Johnson swooped in to save her from certain death.

His parents only divorced more than 15 years after that incident. Dwayne’s relationship with his father was severely fractured. Rocky had little investment in raising young Dwayne. After losing his CFL contract, Dwayne returned home and told Rocky about his wrestling ambitions. ‘Absolutely not. You got nothing to offer,’ his father said. With that, Rocky would become one of the first to be wrong about his son, but not the last. ‘The irony is I idolised my dad as a boy,’ he says. ‘I idolised him, man. And obviously that idealisation started to wane over the years. But the older I got, and the more experienced I got, the more I could appreciate his love for me in that limited capacity.’

Dwayne relived the pain of divorce when his first marriage quickly fell apart. ‘It crushed me,’ Dwayne told Rolling Stone. ‘I was young and I thought I could make everything work. I couldn’t, and I carried that for a long time. But life is great now.’

Life, in its daily expression, starts at 3 am in the morning for Dwayne. He works out for ‘…an hour or two’ before spending time with his wife of 16 years, Lauren, and two daughters (when home), catching up on admin, then starting to either shoot whatever movie he is on or manage a clutch of companies he has started. Among them are  Seven Bucks Productions (an ode to the $7 he had in his pocket after being cut from the CFL), a collaboration with Under Armour with whom his signature line is their highest-selling product, or ZOA – the USA’s top-selling new energy drink of 2021, and Teremana Tequila, a spirits brand launched in March 2021. They’ve sold over 600,000 cases, making it the new-to-market brand ever.

‘I consider myself an industrialist, an entrepreneur and a businessman as well,’ Dwayne told Vanity Fair. ‘And I’m in the relationship business. I’m in the customer service business. I’m in the consumer product business. And I’m certainly in the movie business.’

‘He’s a freak of nature,’ Dwayne’s Rampage co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan told Rolling Stone. ‘It seems like every month, he’s in a movie and making a killing. In the middle of shooting Rampage, he’s off hosting SNL and doing ads for Apple and running for president and whatever else. He works out at 3:30 in the morning so he can get to the set on time. I don’t know how he does it. And the other thing is: He’s a family dude, so not only is he juggling the 9 million things he’s got on his plate for work, he’s also raising kids and got a happy marriage. Goodness. I kind of hate him.’

Millions love him. It has to do with how much of himself as Dwayne and his humanity, he’s been able to retain despite his success and his vast global social media following (305 m followers on Instagram at the time of writing). He is utterly relatable, while still being an aspirational figure. He makes you want to be more than you are.

Indeed, he has made a career from being more than people told him he could be.  At this point, it is fitting to revisit Howard’s misplaced observation: ‘Who’s going to go to a Dwayne Johnson movie? I mean, honestly.’

The answer is millions. Dwayne is now the biggest action-movie draw in the world. He is the highest or second-highest-earning actor for five consecutive years according to Forbes. A net-worth approaching half a billion dollars speaks to his talent, work ethic, intelligence, entrepreneurial instinct, and cultural clout, among myriad other qualities.

‘It sits me down,’ Dwayne told Vanity Fair, mulling this circumstance. ‘It sits me down. That was never the goal. The goal was just: I didn’t want to be broke. And I didn’t want my family to be broke anymore. And it’s a blessing, man. Are you kidding me? It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing.’

Dwayne is exploring a new dimension of his creative gift. Early in the American summer, he stars as the voice of Batman in DC League of Super-Pets, a 3D computer-animated superhero comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group, based on the DC Comics. The studio rolled out heavy- hitters Kevin Hart and Keanu Reeves alongside Dwayne, but there’s no mistaking who’s name carries the most weight. Without question, it’s Dwayne Johnson.

Words: Ryan Vrede; photography: gallo/getty images; courtesy images