Actor of the Week: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
With Baywatch round the corner, this week’s Actor of the Week is none other than Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Being the highest paid actor of 2016 he is a prime example of how hard work and dedications really pays off.
Dwayne Johnson became famous through being a wrestler, of which is something that seems to run within his family. This is where he picked up the name The Rock, which has now become a household name. When I was a kid I used to love wrestling, especially playing it with my friends, as well as playing the computer games Smackdown: Just Bring It which coincidentally had The Rock on the cover. Out of all the wrestlers there was to choose from The Rock always stood out from the rest, which is why out of all the wrestlers who have tried to make it as a professional actor, none of them have come close to reaching the heights of which Dwayne Johnson has hit.
Even though Johnson is extremely successful in the movie industry now, he certainly has not had an easy time gaining this. The Rock started off small with a cameo in the 2001 hit The Mummy Returns as ‘The Scorpion King’, and even though this was a fairly small role, it did open up a path for Johnson to lead in his own film, ‘The Scorpion King’, which was a spinoff to The Mummy films. Even though this film was not widely well received, it was a fantastic stepping stone for The Rock to make way into the movie industry.
As time went by Dwayne Johnson had many films that were very throw away, but very crucial to his career, and a prime example of hard work and never giving up. For many years he did films like Welcome To The Jungle and Walking Tall. All films that a lot of you may not remember, but still a very important part of The Rock’s journey to success.
As Johnson continued to make many more films, you could slowly start to see them increase in popularity, starring in films like The Other Guys and Get Smart. Even though he was not the lead in these films, it was a good sign that The Rock was making an impact, until one day he was given the big break...a role in the Fast & Furious franchise as Detective Hobbs, and this opportunity sky rocketed our wrestler’s acting career. Even though The Fast films are extremely cheesy, they are very successful, and is a fantastic achievement for Dwayne Johnson. Not many people take wrestlers serious when it comes to acting, but Dwayne Johnson has changed this forever with his character Detective Hobbs, who is absolutely brilliant, a true badass.
With The Rock cementing himself as a quality actor the roles starting pouring in for him, as we see him star in all the latest Fast & Furious films, being a support to Mark Wahlberg in Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain, a lead in the disaster films San Andreas, having his own TV series ‘Ballers’, and he even managed to get a role within a Disney’s Pixar film called Moana. These are all just to name a few of of The Rock’s success’ within the film industry.
He certainly does not seem to be slowing down either, with his early 2017 release of Fate of the Furious breaking box office records, as well as his remake of Baywatch which is out in only a matter of days, where he play ‘Mitch Buchannon’ alongside the talented and insanely cool Zac Efron.
Dwayne Johnson is someone that has truly worked his way from the bottom up, and is a great example of how hard work really does pay off ( I am not just talking about his many hours in the gym). This is why it was no surprise that last year he was the highest paid actor.
Keep it up Dwayne!!
