He was born on May 2, 1972 in Hayward, California, USA, the son of famous wrestler Soulman Rocky Johnson and promoter Ata Maivia. His mother’s family is of Polynesian descent and comes from the islands of Samoa, his father is descended from black Nova Scotians. The mother’s maternal grandfather High Chiff Peter Maivia was also a wrestler, and the grandmother Lia Maivia ran the wrestling promotion Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling from 1982 to 1988.

As a child, he lived for a time in Auckland, New Zealand with his mother’s family. In Auckland, he attended elementary school Richmond Road. Later moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he attended President William McKinley High School through 11th grade. Before the 11th grade, his parents moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where Duane attended Bethlehem Freedom High School. Here he began playing American soccer for the school team and was also a member of the school’s track and wrestling teams.

Upon graduation, many universities offered him admission to them, and Johnson chose the University of Miami, which offered him a scholarship that included full tuition. Johnson made a good impression on coaches and teammates and was considered one of the promising players. However, at the same time, Warren Sapp, a future NFL star who played the same position as Dwayne, came to the Miami Hurricanes. In 4 years with the Hurricanes, Johnson took the field in 39 games, including just one in the starting lineup.

In 1991, he and the soccer team went on to win
NCAA national championship. Johnson graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in criminology and psychology.

Upon graduation, he signed a three-year contract with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, but after playing just one season, he suffered a back injury and was forced to end his career as a professional soccer player.

In 2000, Johnson wrote an autobiographical book, The Rock Says, which debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

In 2001, he began acting in movies, and in 2002 he played the lead role in the movie “The Scorpion King”. His fee of 5.5 million dollars was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest fee for the first major role. In addition, Johnson starred in such films as “The Mummy Returns,” “Walking Tall,” “Amazon Treasure,” “Doom,” “The Tooth Fairy,” “Cops in Deep Storage,” “G.I. Joe: The Cobra Rush 2,” “Hercules”,
and the Fast and Furious movie series.

On May 3, 1997, the day after his 25th birthday, Johnson married Dani Garcia. On August 14, 2001, they had a daughter, Simone Alexandra. On June 1, 2007, the couple announced that they would no longer live together, but remain good friends. On December 16, 2015, the couple had Johnson and his girlfriend Lauren Heshian, with whom they have been together for 9 years, had a daughter Jasmine.