Dwayne ''the Rock'' Johnson PDF
Preview Dwayne ''the Rock'' Johnson
Dwayne “ The Rock” Johnson B y J o d y J e n s e n s h a f f e r Published by The Child’s World® 1980 Lookout Drive • Mankato, MN 56003-1705 800-599-READ • www.childsworld.com Acknowledgments The Child’s World®: Mary Berendes, Publishing Director The Design Lab: Cover and interior design Amnet: Cover and interior production Red Line Editorial: Editorial direction Photo credits Kathy Hutchins/Bigstock, cover, 1; Helga Esteb/Shutterstock Images, 5; Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library, 7, 8; Miami/Collegiate Images/Getty Images, 11; Doug Pensinger/Getty Images, 12; Getty Images, 15; Paul Drinkwater/Network/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images, 17; Cinemafestival/Shutterstock Images, 18; Dana Edelson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images, 20; Keith Hamshere/Universal Studios/Getty Images, 23; Richard Drew/AP Images, 24; Alan Diaz/AP Images, 26; Featureflash/ Shutterstock Images, 29 Design elements Sergey Shvedov/iStockphoto Copyright © 2013 by The Child’s World® All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. ISBN 9781614732921 LCCN 2012933663 Printed in the United States of America Mankato, Minnesota July 2012 PA02128 Table of Contents A Gentle Giant, 4 Chapter 1 Early Life, 6 Chapter 2 Football Star, 9 Chapter 3 Professional Wrestling, 13 Chapter 4 The Rock on a Roll, 16 Chapter 5 New Arenas, 19 Chapter 6 Action In and Out of the Ring, 21 Chapter 7 A Big Heart, 25 Chapter 8 Call Him Dwayne, 27 Chapter 9 Glossary, 30 further InformatIon, 31 Index, 32 aBout the author, 32 Chapter 1 A Gentle Giant Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson can take over a room. After all, he stands 6 feet 5 inches (2 m) tall and weighs around 250 pounds (113 kg). His athletic abilities helped him become a football star. His bold personality helped make him a wrestling star, too. And these days, Dwayne is known mostly as a famous actor. But with Dwayne, there is often more to the story. Dwayne is also a giving person. In 2000, the Make-A-Wish Foundation gave him an award. The foundation grants wishes of seriously ill and dying children. Many of those kids wished to meet with Dwayne. Make-A-Wish honored Dwayne for granting so many wishes. Dwayne has shown there is more to him than meets the eye. 4 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been a star football player, professional 5 wrestler, and actor. Chapter 2 Early Life Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California. He is an only child. Dwayne was born into a professional wrestling family. His father is Rocky “Soulman” Johnson. He was a professional wrestler born in Canada. Dwayne’s mother is named Ata. She is from Samoa in the South Pacific islands. Her father is Peter “High Chief” Maivia. He was also a professional wrestler. Dwayne grew up loving wrestling. Rocky began teaching Dwayne basic wrestling moves when Dwayne Dwayne was just six years old. considers Hawaii his Dwayne remembers practicing his home away dropkicks in the living room. He from home. also remembers watching his dad 6 Dwayne in high school wrestling on television. Rocky would fly off the top rope of a wrestling ring. Dwayne’s family moved a lot because of Rocky’s job. Dwayne went to school in New Zealand, Tennessee, Georgia, and Hawaii. He liked to travel 7 Dwayne (left) arm wrestles a friend while in high school. with his dad and see the world. But sometimes it was hard moving so often. Dwayne had trouble making friends during his short stays. Some kids teased Dwayne because of Rocky’s job. Dwayne was also teased because of his large size. He was already six feet (1.9 m) tall at age 13. And he weighed 170 pounds (77.1 kg). Sometimes Dwayne got into fights with other kids. He was even arrested for fighting. Dwayne finally decided to make a change. At age 17, he put his energy into football. 8
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