When Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson walks into a room, the walls breathe a collective sigh of relief. With his easy smile, soft baritone voice and unmenacing disposition, Johnson appears to be all that The Rock is not. There is no ego too large to fit into his opulent suite at the Ritz-Carlton - not even a twitch from "the People's Eyebrow." Simply but impeccably dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, The Rock shakes hands (which are more like baseball gloves) and introduces himself as Dwayne.
Johnson appears unfazed by the cadre of people walking in and out of his suite - camera crews, reporters, public relations people and a bodyguard who looks like he ate a few hobbits. Johnson just smiles warmly and focuses all attention on the four reporters in front of him, and making at least one of them feel like she is the luckiest girl on Earth.
The Rock is quick to make a joke. When asked by a reporter if he still lifts, Johnson replied, "Yeah, of course. Donuts, pizza, beer..." This is obviously not true, since his bicep is larger than some people's thighs. However, most notable is the absence of Hollywood arrogance in the room, replaced by sincere charm and humor. In fact, Johnson hardly goes a few sentences without getting a laugh.
Johnson got his start playing defensive lineman for the University of Miami. After an injury sidelined him most of his senior year, hopes of a career in the NFL were dashed.
When a reporter implied that the injury ended his football career, the Rock is quick to correct the statement.
"Injury didn't force me out [of football]," he said. "It wasn't [an issue of] injury, it was more of talent. I wasn't talented enough to play in the NFL. Those guys who play professional football are, and that's why they're there."
He could have kept that thought to himself, and no one would have been any the wiser. But Johnson doesn't sugarcoat things. Maybe he and The Rock aren't so different after all.
A stint in the Canadian Football League proved unsuccessful, and Johnson returned home with $7 to his name. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Johnson realized that there was a different calling for him - and this one happened to be in his blood.
The Rock's grandfather was professional wrestler Peter "High Chief" Maivia, and his father was wrestler "Soulman" Rocky Johnson. When The Rock first joined the WWF (now the WWE), it was not his greatest success to date, and he hadn't really had any success yet. Originally cast as the good guy Rocky Maivia, he was essentially loathed by fans and no one, least of all Johnson himself, thought he would be around for much longer. That all changed when Johnson and a top WWF official made the decision to turn Rocky Maivia from good guy to bad. And The Rock was born.
After a few years of electrifying performances in the WWF and a best-selling book, "The Rocks Says...," Johnson caught the attention of Hollywood and landed a role in "The Mummy Returns." Despite having only five minutes on screen and no dialogue in English, the Rock said he fell in love with acting.
"You hear about the acting bug and getting bit by the acting bug, and I always thought that was BS," Johnson said. "[That is,] until I went over to Morocco to shoot 'The Mummy Returns' ... and it was like a complete immersion in the filming process."
Perhaps most surprising about Johnson is his humility. When asked how he felt about people who would say he's a wrestler, not a real actor, The Rock responded, "Oh that's cool. It's fine. I'm always going to have my critics and I understand where those people are coming from. So what's important for me is to hopefully try to dispel that with the roles I choose and the performances I give. Not that I was trying to get an Oscar nod or anything."
What the Rock appreciates most about the challenge of acting is the opportunity to grow and learn.
"My mind is like a sponge and I just want to learn as much as I possibly can," he said.
He looks for elements that make a character interesting and bring depth to a role. Both his character in his latest movie, "Walking Tall," and last year's hit "The Rundown," had a distinct aversion to guns and preferred to handle physical disputes without them.
"The words 'reluctant hero' are often thrown out in a lot of movies," he said. "But more times than not, the reluctant hero comes out in the first scene shooting. I don't think that defines the character [of a reluctant hero]."
Johnson admitted that the shift from wrestling entertainer to movie star has been a bit challenging, and that he has three acting coaches.
"[Acting is] a big responsibility," Johnson said. "The last thing I want to do is be in a scene with John Travolta and Uma Thurman [with whom he's starring in the upcoming "Spy Hunter"] and stink up the screen."
But for all the bravado of the wrestling ring and the egotism of the Hollywood red carpet, Johnson maintains that, at the end of the day, he's a family man.
"I have a really supportive group of people behind me, especially my family," Johnson said. "[My wife, baby daughter and I] live in a small town in Florida ... and I go out and get the pizza and take out the garbage."
Perhaps it's this role that keeps him from becoming self-serious. At the end of the interview, a reporter, who couldn't have weighed more than 120 pounds soaking wet informed the Rock that he had hoped to arm-wrestle him. With an ear-to-ear grin and a chuckle, The Rock replied, "I don't know bro, you look like you could mess me up."
Substituting a laugh for ego, The Rock proves he's learned comedic timing and shows why America just him the way it does.
