Dwayne Johnson Shares Amazing Acting Advice: “Take the Risk”

Dwayne Johnson: “I was willing to take the risk and then I became myself — it sounds funny to say that.”

Dwayne Johnson’s new movie ‘San Andreas’ hits theaters in the next few weeks and the former wrestler recently sat down with Variety to discuss his acting career – it is inspiring.

Dwayne Johnson’s last movie ‘Furious 7‘ was a box office hit. His new TV show for HBO ‘Ballers‘ hits TV screens on June 21st and his new movie ‘San Andreas‘ will be another huge movie to add to his IMDB profile. But, the point of all these movies and TV shows is to show the world how versatile Dwayne Johnson is.

The idea behind all of these projects, says Johnson’s WME talent agent Brad Slater, is to demonstrate different sides of Johnson through both scripted and unscripted TV and film projects, including his TNT reality program, “Wake Up Call.”

“As long as you can give your fans something great, they’re going to be there,” Slater says. “With that, we always talk about not being scared to take risks. A lot of the things he’s chosen to go into were just a little bit outside of the box from what he’d traditionally been (doing) in the earlier part of his career. If he keeps doing great work, all of these avenues are going to continue to be there for him.”

It ultimately comes down to taking risks. Johnson points out that when he first ventured into acting in Hollywood there wasn’t a blueprint for an actor like himself. Instead, he took risks on movies, TV shows, and other productions in order to land himself as one of the top earning actors in our generation.

“There wasn’t a blueprint of the half-black, half-Samoan former football player-wrestler, who then made his way to Hollywood,” says Johnson, who made a well-documented move from CAA to WME during the transition. “I was willing to take the risk and then I became myself — it sounds funny to say that.”

When a casting director hands you extra work, turn it into a speaking role.