Dwayne Johnson (born 2 May 1972; age 52), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an actor and former professional wrestler who played the Pendari Champion in the Star Trek: Voyager sixth season episode "Tsunkatse".
He acquired fame for his accolades as a professional wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), but he has since retired from wrestling to focus on a full-time acting career. He is the first WWE superstar to make a guest appearance on Star Trek; he was followed by Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Jr. and The Big Show, both of whom guest-starred on Star Trek: Enterprise.
Pro wrestling career
Born in Hayward, California, USA (although he was billed as being from Miami, Florida due to his having attended college at and played football for the University of Miami), Johnson is a third-generation professional wrestler who made his debut with WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF) in 1996 as "Rocky Maivia", a combination of his father Rocky Johnson's first name and his grandfather "High Chief" Peter Maivia's last name (both former WWF wrestlers).
With a later "attitude adjustment" to his character, he changed his ring name to "The Rock". He subsequently became famous not only for his wrestling but also for such trademark gestures as "The People's Eyebrow" (in which he raises his right eyebrow to the crowd or to his opponent - he can be seen doing this during his Voyager appearance) and his signature line "Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?" (with the word "smell" generally drawn out). He retired in 2004.
In 2011, The Rock made a surprise return to WWE, acting as the host of WrestleMania XXVII. In 2012, Johnson returned to the ring to compete in his first match in 8 years at WrestleMania XXVIII, held in his adopted hometown of Miami, which he won against John Cena. He then went on to compete at the 2013 Royal Rumble where he won the WWE Championship from defending champion CM Punk. He then lost the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania XXIX, in New York, to John Cena. He later made an appearance at the opening ceremony of Wrestlemania XXX in 2014.
Acting career
Johnson's appearance in Voyager predated the true launch of his acting career. He made his breakthrough film appearance in The Mummy Returns (2001, with Oded Fehr) portraying Mathayus the Scorpion King. He reprised the role in the eponymous The Scorpion King (2002, with Branscombe Richmond and Joseph Ruskin).
He continued his acting career with starring in films as The Rundown (2003, with Jeffrey Chase, William Lucking, and Todd Stashwick), Walking Tall (2004, with Neal McDonough and Barbara J. Tarbuck), Doom (2005, co-starring Karl Urban and featuring creature work by Doug Jones), Southland Tales (2006, with John Larroquette, Holmes R. Osborne, and Wallace Shawn), Gridiron Gang (2006, with Leon Rippy and Brett Cullen), and The Game Plan (2007, with Gordon Clapp). He also made an uncredited cameo appearance as an inept (and ill-fated) S.W.A.T. officer in Reno 911!: Miami (2007, with Carlos Alazraqui, Toby Huss and Patton Oswalt).
With the release of Get Smart (2008), in which he played Agent 23, Johnson dropped the use of the nickname "The Rock" from his acting credits, presumably to further disassociate his acting career from his former wrestling persona and to avoid any copyright claims the WWE may have on the moniker. He then starred in Race to Witch Mountain (2009, with Robert Clendenin, Ike Eisenmann, John Kassir, and Tom Woodruff, Jr.).
In 2010, he co-starred with Ashley Judd in Tooth Fairy. The same year he made an appearance in the comedy Why Did I Get Married Too?, which was written, produced, and directed by Tyler Perry. Perry also starred in the film, while K Callan had a supporting role. Johnson also appeared in The Other Guys and Faster the same year. Still the same year, he had an uncredited cameo as an air marshal in You Again (with Victor Garber).
In 2011, Johnson, now a household name in Hollywood, joined the Fast & Furious action film franchise, starring as Hobbs in Fast Five, directed by Justin Lin and featuring Geoff Meed in the cast. This was followed by Furious 7 (2015, with voice work by Hélène Cardona), The Fate of the Furious (2017), and Hobbs & Shaw (2019, co-starring Idris Elba). Johnson also had an uncredited cameo as Hobbs in Fast X (2023).
Besides his Fast & Furious role, Johnson also starred in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012, with Branscombe Richmond), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013, with Marcelo Tubert), Empire State (2013, with Wayne Péré), Pain & Gain (2013, with Larry A. Hankin and Tony Plana), Hercules (2014), San Andreas (2015), Central Intelligence (2016), Baywatch (2017), Rampage (2018, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jason Liles), and Skyscraper (2018, with Adrian Holmes and Tzi Ma). He made a cameo as himself in Jem and the Holograms (2015).
Johnson also starred in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017, with Missi Pyle and Stephen Dunlevy) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019, with Bebe Neuwirth). He starred in Jungle Cruise (2021, with Stephen Dunlevy), Netflix' Red Notice (2021), and Black Adam (2022, co-starring Aldis Hodge, with Joseph Gatt).
Television and voice acting
Albeit mainly a feature film star, Johnson starred in Ballers from 2015 to 2019. The series featured Steven Weber and Mason Gooding in recurring roles and Matt McCoy in a guest role.
From 2021 to 2023, Johnson starred as himself in NBC's Young Rock based on his own life. Dawnn Lewis, Clyde Kusatsu, and Stephanie Czajkowski also appeared on this show.
Johnson also lent his voice to a number of animated projects. His best known voice work is perhaps his role as Maui in the Disney animated film Moana (2016). He also voiced the lead roles in Planet 51 (2009) and DC League of Super-Pets (2022, with Jameela Jamil and Daveed Diggs).
Johnson voiced the Autobot Cliffjumper in Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman's Transformers: Prime (2010). The character was killed in the very first episode, Johnson's appearance being a marketing ploy to fans. Frank Welker, who voiced Megatron, also provided the snarls of a zombified Cliffjumper in the second episode. Jeffrey Combs, Clancy Brown, and Tony Todd were among the voice actors for that series.
Johnson also voiced himself in a 2010 episode of Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy and had a voice cameo role as a bankrobber in Free Guy (2021). He voiced The Foundation in the video games Fortnite: Chapter 2 (2019, with Troy Baker and Nolan North) and Fortnite: Chapter 3 (2021, with Troy Baker).