The road to movie stardom for Dwayne Johnson is one of the unlikeliest in recent memory. A third-generation professional wrestler known the world over as “The Rock,” Johnson nabbed a supporting role in 2001’s “The Mummy Returns” and made such an impression that he starred in a successful stand-alone film, “The Scorpion King,” the very next year.
As his film career progressed, it became evident that, despite his success in action films, Johnson had a distinct flair for comedy, which he began to show off in such films as “Be Cool” (2005), “Central Intelligence” (2016), “Moana” (2016) and in his biggest-grossing film, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (2017). One of the most recent was “Jungle Cruise” (2021) for Disney.
But it’s in high-concept action cinema that Johnson has found his greatest success, especially after hopping aboard the highly lucrative “Fast and Furious” franchise. He even got his own spin-off adventure, “Hobbs & Shaw” (2019), which teamed him up with fellow franchise favorite Jason Statham.
Take a tour through our photo gallery of the best movies that helped to turn him into one of the world’s biggest stars.
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10. JUNGLE CRUISE (2021)
Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios Director: Jaume Collet-Serra. Writers: Michael Green, Glenn Ficarra, John Requa. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, Paul Giamatti.
This CGI-heavy movie based on the Disneyland and Disney World theme park ride features a group of travelers in the dangerous jungles with an adventure-seeking riverboat captain.
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9. GET SMART (2008)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Peter Segal. Writers: Tom J. Astle, Matt Ember. Starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin, Terence Stamp.
Anyone familiar with Johnson’s wrestling career as The Rock may remember that he originally started out as a heel, playing the bad guy in his early matches. (His arrogant strut alone made you want to scream at him.) But Johnson has had very few occasions in his film career where he could resurrect that bad guy swagger, so seeing him turn evil and hold Anne Hathaway hostage has an extra-fun kick to it.
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8. BE COOL (2005)
Image Credit: Ron Phillips/MGM/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: F. Gary Gray. Writer: Peter Steinfeld. Starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Harvey Keitel, Dwayne Johnson, Danny DeVito.
Based on Elmore Leonard’s sequel to “Get Shorty,” “Be Cool” offers Johnson in one of his most unusual roles. As Elliott, a gay Samoan bodyguard, Johnson is clearly having a blast in this character part, and though may have been hired as muscle for the film’s bad guys, Elliott secretly wants to be an actor. So when Chili (John Travolta) gets him an audition for a part in a Nicole Kidman movie, for Elliott, all bets are off.
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7. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE (2016)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Director: Rawson M. Thurber. Writers: Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen, Rawson M. Thurber. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan, Aaron Paul.
If you were pitched a Dwayne Johnson/Kevin Hart action comedy which pairs a former high school dweeb turned CIA agent and a former BMOC who feels like he peaked in high school, you’d have a pretty good idea as to which actor played what character, right? And you’d be wrong. And it’s that role reversal that is at the heart of the laughs in “Central Intelligence,” with Johnson and Hart proving to be an expectedly hilarious comedy team.
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6. THE SCORPION KING (2002)
Image Credit: Bruce Birmelin/Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Chuck Russell. Writers: Stephen Sommers, William Osborne, David Hayter. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Kelly Hu, Michael Clarke Duncan, Peter Facinelli.
The big question after The Rock (Johnson’s professional name at the time) garnered wide attention for his supporting turn in 2001’s “The Mummy Returns” was whether he and his character could sustain a film on their own. After the film became an worldwide hit, it was clear that the answer was yes. Though the film itself received mixed reviews, “The Scorpion King” was a key building block toward Dwayne Johnson’s movie stardom.
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5. JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (2017)
Image Credit: Masi/Columbia/Sony/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Jake Kasdan. Writers: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan.
The sequel to the 1995 “Jumanji,” “Welcome to the Jungle” focuses on four high schoolers who, while playing the video game, are whisked into the game’s jungle setting and inhabit the characters that they chose to represent them. Johnson and Kevin Hart, paired once again after “Central Intelligence,” are joined by Jack Black and Karen Gillan, who must win the game in order for the kids to return to real life. Having grossed over $400 million so far domestically, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is the biggest hit of Johnson’s career.
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4. SNITCH (2013)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Director: Ric Roman Waugh. Writers: Justin Haythe, Ric Roman Waugh. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Barry Pepper, Susan Sarandon, Benjamin Bratt.
Yes, there are guns ablazing in “Snitch,” but it’s the first Dwayne Johnson action movie that is a primarily serious character film. After his son is arrested as the victim of a sting operation and is sent to prison thanks to minimum sentencing laws, his father (Johnson) steps in to offer to become a snitch and deliver a drug cartel higher-up in exchange for a reduced sentence for his son. Johnson, who has best known for his action comedies, shows some serious dramatic chops here.
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3. THE RUNDOWN (2003)
Image Credit: Universal/Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Peter Berg. Writers: R.J. Stewart, James Vanderbilt. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken.
In his only second leading film role, Johnson surprised critics and audiences alike in displaying his flair for comedy in Peter Berg’s “The Rundown.” Johnson plays Beck, a bounty hunter whose boss gives him one last assignment — to go to Brazil to retrieve his son Travis (Seann William Scott), but for Beck, Travis proves to be more than a handful. Johnson’s comic chemistry with Scott was the key to make “The Rundown” work.
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2. THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS series (2019, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2011)
Image Credit: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directors: Various. Writer: Chris Morgan. Starring Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Dwayne Johnson.
Johnson appeared in the four most recent installments of “The Fast and the Furious” series — “Fast Five” (2011), “Fast & Furious 6” (2013), “Furious 7” (2015) and “The Fate of the Furious” (2017), plus the spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw” (2019) — playing Luke Hobbs, who is a Diplomatic Security Services officer (DSS) first assigned to bring down Dom’s crew, but as he infiltrates the team, he feels more and more on board with their mission. A hugely successful integration of a new member into the “F&F” team.
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1. MOANA (2016)
Image Credit: Disney/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker. Writer: Jared Bush. Voice Artists: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison.
For an actor whose facial expressions are famed, it’s ironic that Johnson’s best screen performance to date has been one where his real life face was not ever presented at all. As Maui, the preening demigod in Disney’s Oscar-nominated animated feature, Johnson exudes every bit of strutting confidence that he displayed as The Rock, only to be humbled whenever he has to deal with Moana, a teen warrior who needs Maui but who just won’t put up with his nonsense. Wonderful stuff.
