We all know Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in movies like Baywatch, Central Intelligence, and San Andreas where he has the heroic role that stands out above every other character. What if I were to tell you one of his most natural and iconic roles was in the movie The Game Plan, where Dwayne played the star role of football player Joe Kingman. Not only did Joe have the fatherly, yet heroic personality and humor equal to Dwayne’s, but he also was directly parallel with his football skills. In this movie, Dwayne was a star player for his football team, much like he was in real life.

Before becoming an actor, he played football on a very successful University of Miami team as a defensive tackle. In his first year on the roster, his team won the 1991 National Championship against the Washington Huskies. The 6’5 290-pound “Rock” started in 39 games through his 4 years of playing at Florida’s U of M. Over these 4 years, he compiled 77 total tackles with 4.25 sacks. Dwayne was not the team’s shining star in any way, but was rather underrated and looked over throughout his career. Against Pittsburgh, Johnson threw together a very impressive performance of 6 total tackles—with 2 of them being solo tackles—which put him on the charts in the 1993 season. In 1996, he declared for the NFL Draft, but went undrafted, putting his professional sports dream to rest. That is until he decided to see himself into the world of Professional Wrestling.

Dwayne found one of his many talents, which he brought to the WWE to show off his skills. In his debut, Dwayne shocked the audience with his crazy moves, and rather comedic style of fighting. With his big figure, he crushed the competition with the help of his past football career. In his 8 years in the WWE, “The Rock ” made a name for himself, which was then carried into his acting career and still used to this day. Through this success, Dwayne still has ties with the WWE, and is known as one of the most iconic fighters in history. The world of sports develops many of Hollywood’s biggest stars into who they are today, which is precisely what happened to The Rock and is what will bring the most beloved influencers to the big screen.