Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has created a special niche for himself in Hollywood. We associate his presence with adventure films like the Jumanji franchise, and Jungle Cruise. He has also made quite a name through his action movie roles. But apparently, things weren’t always so smooth for the former pro wrestling champion when he decided to transition into an acting career.

The Baywatch actor has now revealed that as he was starting out as an actor in Hollywood after being a tremendously successful WWE champion, he was pretty demotivated by a plethora of people who tried bringing him down.

Dwayne Johnson has had an interesting career

Dwayne Johnson in WWE
Dwayne Johnson began his acting career with the 1991 film Beyond the Mat. However, the first worthwhile project he appeared in was 2001’s The Mummy Returns. Since then, the actor has come a long way appearing in fairly popular and successful projects like the Fast and Furious franchise. And now, he is all set to make his debut as a superhero in DC’s Black Adam, which he has claimed to be one of the most important roles of his life.

The actor has been promoting the DCEU film more than anything he has ever worked in. There have been speculations that if the project ends up being successful, not only will the actor get a direct sequel, but Black Adam’s character has the potential to become a central figure in binding DCEU, and its other characters.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson opens up about his trials in the beginning

Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam
In an interview to promote the same film, Johnson spoke to Good Morning America,

“I tried to think of times in the past [filming Black Adam] where I felt really constrained. And like I had the chains on me. And people telling me, ‘Well you can do it like this, you have to do it like that.’ For example, when I first got to Hollywood, many moons ago I was told — out of the world of pro wrestling — I was told, ‘Well, if you wanna make it if you want to be a star’ — the biggest stars at that time were George Clooney and Johnny Depp and Will Smith. I was told then, ‘You can’t call yourself The Rock. Don’t talk about pro wrestling. You gotta lose weight, go on a diet, you’re too big, don’t go to the gym as much.’
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
“There were a lot of things like that I was being told and if you don’t know any better you buy into it. And I bought into its own for a couple of years before I said, ‘This ends right now. And I’m gonna be myself and at least if I fail, I’m gonna fail being me.’ So, I tapped into that, because a lot of those elements are what surrounds Black Adam’s life. And his existence of being told ‘you have to do it like that.’”

Way to go to tackle stereotypical images after all. Johnson is living proof of the fact that one can switch careers mid-lane and still be successful.