Here's How Much Dwayne Johnson Is Really Worth

If there's one celebrity pretty much everyone knows, it's Dwayne Johnson. These days, the man is everywhere, having appeared in some of the biggest movies released in the past two decades. Combined, his films have pulled in nearly $12.5 billion, making him one of the most bankable stars working in Hollywood. More than once, he's been named the highest-paid actor working in the industry, but it took him some time to get to that point.

Johnson put in the hours, first on the field, then in the ring, and finally, on television shows and movies most of his fans have long since forgotten. If there's one thing Johnson isn't guilty of, it's being a complacent worker. He puts more time and effort into building his career than most. The Rock is many things, but he's not lazy, and you can rest assured, he doesn't skip leg day... so far as anyone knows!

All of his efforts have helped him earn a staggeringly large amount of money. His work in the wrestling ring, in acting, and as a producer has helped him amass a sizable fortune. His average annual income often reaches $70 million, with some years seeing that number boosted to $100 million or more. In 2018, it was $124 million, per Forbes. Over the years, he's managed to acquire a substantial fortune, which Celebrity Net Worth estimates to be $400 million. This is the journey he took on his road to earning that extraordinary sum.

Dwayne Johnson is a lot of things, but before he became an international superstar, he was an athlete. Athletics came naturally to Johnson, and it wasn't just good genes and training that made him into who he is. He comes from a family of athletes, going back to his maternal grandfather, Peter Maivia. Maivia wrestled professionally beginning in the 1960s and died of cancer in 1982. Johnson told ABC News that Maivia's image influenced the development of Johnson's character Maui in 2016's "Moana," further connecting him to his grandfather.

His late father, Rocky Johnson (Maivia's son-in-law), also wrestled, from the 1960s until his 1991 retirement. After Rocky's retirement, he began training his son Dwayne, though he didn't jump at the prospect of having Dwayne follow in his footsteps. Wrestling wasn't an easy job, and the family struggled financially throughout much of Dwayne's adolescence. In a video he posted to Instagram, the star explains that his goal wasn't to make millions and live in the lap of luxury; it was to not "be evicted anymore."

He also stated that "You know you're getting your a** kicked when your rent is due by the week. We had a weekly rent, and we couldn't even afford that. Eventually, we got kicked off the island; we got evicted." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson's family car was repossessed, he got into fights, and he entered a theft ring, which got him in trouble with the police.

Dwayne Johnson had some troubles when he was young, but he overcame these issues and refocused his life on his sport of choice. No, it wasn't wrestling — Johnson wanted to play professional football. That's not to say he wasn't involved in wrestling and other sports at an early age, but football trumped wrestling and track and field, so that's the sport he pursued. Johnson reportedly got offers to play for UCLA, Florida State, Penn State, and other schools. Ultimately, he accepted a full scholarship from the University of Miami, where he played with the Hurricanes from 1991 to 1995 as the defensive tackle.

Johnson's football career began with the Hurricanes, where he only started once in four years. According to ESPN, he appeared in 39 games, achieving "a total of 77 tackles and 4.25 sacks." Like many college players, Johnson wanted to play professionally, but he wasn't drafted onto any NFL teams. Instead, he signed with the Calgary Stampeders before the start of the 1995 season. Unfortunately, he was cut only two months later, bringing his football career to an end.

Because Johnson played college football, he didn't receive a salary, as was the rule at the time. He was compensated with a fully-paid education. It's unclear how much money he made via his pro Stampeders contract, but Johnson shared a telling tweet about his financial situation around this time. "In 1995 I had $7 bucks [sic] in my pocket and knew two things: I'm broke as hell and one day I won't be."

When Dwayne Johnson was cut from the Calgary Stampeders, he was free to pursue another passion: wrestling. Wrestling is where Johnson made a name for himself, and he created a moniker that's stuck around ever since. Of course, it would take a lot of time and effort before he became "The Rock." In an interview, he revealed to Stephen Colbert that he started wrestling for only "$40 per match every night." Things changed when he signed with the WWF (now the WWE) under the name "Rocky Maivia" in 1996. The name paid homage to his father and grandfather, but it didn't stick for long.  

He wasn't popular... at first. He wasn't liked by the fans, so he embraced a more villainous demeanor and started going as "The Rock." He would refer to himself in the third person, and he worked hard to build up his persona. It worked, and the fans fell in love with his edgier style and new identity. Before long, he was a Superstar, and more than that, he was the organization's first third-generation Superstar.

Johnson revealed via Twitter that when he first signed with the WWE, he was paid a salary of $150,000 per year. An unconfirmed estimate puts his WWE earnings at $33 million. It's unclear how this number was determined. The Rock shared on Instagram that he first retired from the WWE in 2004 when his contract was up, but he would later return to the sport.

Johnson certainly dominated the WWE, but he didn't transition into acting with high-paying leading roles. Like most people in the industry, he had to put in the hours with minor roles before making it big. In the early days, Johnson appeared in various WWF projects, beginning in 1996. His first walk-on role came in 1999 via an appearance on "That '70s Show," where he played a fictional version of himself named Rocky Johnson.

He caught the acting bug with that performance and continued appearing in minor roles on as many series as possible. He fought Seven of Nine on "Star Trek: Voyager," and he showed up on an episode of "The Net." A day performer on a television show in 2021 would make over $1,000 (via SAG-AFTRA). The Rock was undoubtedly earning money through his appearances, but the exact amount isn't known.

It wasn't until 2001 that Johnson received his "big break" when he was cast to play The Scorpion King in "The Mummy Returns." While his role was minimal (and poorly rendered, even by early 2000s CGI standards), it got his foot in the feature film door. The following year, he reprised the role in an origin story via "The Scorpion King," which let him show off his acting chops in a far more creative way. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he was paid $5.5 million for that role. After that, Johnson was a movie star whose popularity continued to grow with each film he made.

Since he first started appearing in films, Dwayne Johnson has been just about everywhere. He's played a cop, a thief, a Hawaiian god, a football star, and more. Johnson hit the ground running in terms of his acting. As he progressed, he managed to snag high-profile roles that brought in a considerable amount of money. He's been working professionally since the mid-1990s, but he made most of his money in Hollywood.

Numerous outlets have tracked his salary over the years. The Rock's estimated pay for "The Scorpion King" broke records, as it was the largest paycheck for "a first-time actor in a leading role," per Celebrity Net Worth. In 2003, he made $12.5 million for "The Rundown," and 2004 saw him take home $15 million for "Walking Tall." He broke the $20 million up-front salary barrier in 2018 with "Skyscraper," and his salary has continued to rise. The following year, he earned another $20 million for "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw." The actor supposedly earned $43 million in 2013. 

Johnson earned $64.5 million for 2016 (per Forbes). He continues to top his record year after year and was the highest-paid actor in 2020 (for the second year in a row, per Variety). In 2021, he took home $23.5 million for "Red Notice," which broke streaming records.  

Like many successful actors working in Hollywood, Dwayne Johnson has diversified his interests. He's done quite a bit of work through his production company, Seven Bucks Productions. He named it that as a reference to how much money he had to his name when he left football to begin his wrestling career (via Twitter). He created the company with his now-ex-wife Dany Garcia in 2012. While he often produces his own films, the company doesn't only work on Johnson's projects.

In 2019, Seven Bucks Productions produced "Shazam!" which made almost $366 million in the worldwide box office. The company and Johnson have also been attached to various high-earning films, including "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" and its sequel, "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw," "Black Adam," and much more. It's difficult to estimate how much money Johnson takes home through his work as a producer, as it likely depends on how much a film accrues. He may take home a set salary, he may get a percentage of the profits, or he may get both. According to The Numbers, Seven Bucks Productions' films have grossed more than $2.7 billion, so even a tiny percentage of that would return millions. 

Dwayne Johnson was married to Dany Garcia from 1997 until they divorced in 2008. The couple had one daughter, Simone, born in 2001. Typically, when someone like Johnson gets divorced, the cost is incredibly high. Their spouse is often entitled to a portion of what was made throughout the marriage. In this regard, Johnson and Garcia's divorce was anything but typical. 

Their split was reportedly amicable, and they agreed to share custody of their daughter with an equal share of financial support. According to E!, the settlement agreement set Johnson's child support payments at $22,454, which he likely paid up to Simone's 18th birthday. He and Garcia also placed $5,000 each month into a trust for their daughter. Both parties waived the right to alimony, so Johnson didn't have to send any money to his ex-wife on a monthly or annual basis. 

Soon after his divorce was finalized, Johnson officially began dating Lauren Hashian, whom he first met while filming "The Game Plan." Johnson told The Wall Street Journal that his first divorce "did a number on" him, and he went on to say, "I wasn't fearful of getting married again; there was just some hesitancy." Ultimately, he got over his concerns. After several years of dating, Johnson and Hashian married in a secret ceremony in 2019 in Hawaii. Johnson revealed his change in relationship status via an Instagram post, where he wrote "We Do. August 18th, 2019. Hawaii. Pōmaikaʻi (blessed)." The couple is raising two daughters in addition to Simone.

As is common for celebrities of Dwayne Johnson's financial comfort, he's made some real estate investments over the years, some of which made money while others didn't. In 2012, he bought the Miami mansion of Vernon Carey for $3.45 million (per the South Florida Sun-Sentinel). In that deal, he supposedly lost $400,000 by selling it for $3 million. He acquired another Florida property in 2014 for $4.5 million and reportedly sold it two years later to Fort Lauderdale radio show host "Mobile Mike." Mobile Mike then sold the property for $3.6 million to a pharmacist name Serge Francois, who was sentenced in 2018 for a $30 million case dealing with healthcare fraud.

In 2019, Johnson purchased an equestrian estate in Georgia for $9.495 million. The purchase consisted of two adjacent properties totaling 46 acres with 14,791 square feet of living space. The home included a 12-stall barn, riding area, and a viewing deck. Two years after he purchased it, he put the property on the market for $7.5 million. 

According to Dirt, Johnson bought Paul Reiser's Los Angeles estate for $27.8 million in 2021 after negotiating the offer down from $30 million. Before Reiser owned the property, it was owned by Alex Van Halen, who built the Mediterranean-style compound in 1993. The home consists of some 18,000 square feet on 3.6 acres.

It's clear that Dwayne Johnson has earned a lot of money over the years, and he's spent quite a bit of it. Every major purchase chips away at his total net worth, but some of the more tangible assets he acquires have the opposite effect. One of his most interesting purchases came in 2020, when, according to ESPN, he joined a group of actors to purchase the pro football league XFL for $15 million. 

This came after the XFL filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier in the year. In a statement, Johnson said that "The acquisition of the XFL with my talented partners, Dany Garcia and Gerry Cardinale, is an investment for me that's rooted deeply in two things — my passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans" (via ESPN). It's unclear exactly how much Johnson put up for the purchase, but the XFL can bring in a lot of money for the investors.

In 2020, the XFL averaged 1.9 million viewers per televised game and grossed close to $20 million. The COVID-19 pandemic sidelined the season, but it was projected to bring $46 million in the full, 10-game season. Football isn't Johnson's only extravagant purchase; he's also diversified his interests into tequila. According to Forbes, Johnson purchased the Teremana Tequila brand, which was set to make record-breaking sales in the first year of 300,000 cases. "Our entire Teremana team and I are quite pleased and humbled that the brand is experiencing this incredible, off-the-charts success."

Considering how popular Dwayne Johnson is, it should come as no surprise that he's inked tons of endorsement deals over the years. He's signed with Under Armour, Ford, Apple, and many more companies. An unconfirmed report from Money Nation estimated Johnson's Ford deal to be $15 million per year, but that's hardly his most profitable endorsement deal. In 2016, Under Armour officially announced its global partnership with Johnson, which Money Nation estimated to be worth $25 million. The deal enabled Johnson to create his own products for the company, which he would then promote alongside Under Armour's Connected Fitness platforms.

His UnderArmour deal includes clothing, sneakers, and accessories, all explicitly created through the deal. The sneakers were released in 2018 and sold out in under 24 hours. Johnson also starred in the company's "Will Find A Way" campaign, which launched in April 2018. In terms of hiring Johnson to endorse products, "He represents very little risk," according to Janet Comenos, the CEO and founder of Spotted clothing (via CNBC). She went on to say that "he has an incredibly high audience match with the Under Armour customer base," which works out well for the company as well as Johnson.

The last of Johnson's major endorsements that earned a lot of attention was his involvement with the "Got Milk" campaign. His ad premiered at the Superbowl in 2013, and it was a huge hit. The "Got Milk" ad went viral, though it's unclear how much he made from the deal.

Dwayne Johnson has used his celebrity to benefit others by providing his time and money to numerous worthwhile causes. In 2007, he launched the The Rock Johnson Foundation to help at-risk and terminally ill kids. He also gifted his mother with a new home in 1999, revealing on his Instagram, "The first home my parents ever lived in was the one I bought for them in 1999. They divorced about five years later, and as with life, stuff happens and things got a little more complicated." 

He also bought WWE Superstar Harvey Wippleman, whose real name is Bruno Lauer, a truck. Lauer took him in when his father was traveling around the country, so Johnson opted to repay that kindness with a brand new Ford F-150, which likely cost him around $30,000 (via the Daily Mail). In 2016, he surprised his dad with a new car and posted a heartwarming story about his father on his Instagram page. Johnson has literally stopped traffic to pose for a selfie with a fan, and he's volunteered his time and money to help people through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Johnson's Under Armour deal included a charitable aspect, leading the company to enroll the movie star in its "UA Freedom Initiative that has been developed to inspire, honor, and support members of the U.S. Military, first responders, and public safety officials," per Fashion Network.