Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is the world's highest paid actor, and rightly so

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is now officially the highest paid actor in the world. Take a second to fully comprehend that. This isn’t because film executives are scared of his 24-inch pythons – a number that seems to be multiplying at an alarming rate.

It’s because, despite the many reasons his films shouldn’t work, they do and they’re massive multi-million dollar hits. San Andreas alone fell just shy of making half a billion at the box office. If step three is profit, step one is definitely hire The Rock to act in your movie.

For the curious, here are a few reasons why audiences love him so.

He’s overcome adversity in the squared circle

Back in 1996 sweet baby Dwayne debuted in the world of professional wrestling as the smile bearing Rocky Maivia. He was meant to be a fan favorite but the crowd had a different idea, frequently chanting “Die, Rocky, Die”. Little did they know what gifts they were given.

World Wrestling Federation (WWF) creatives threw up their hands and told him to simply be himself. He re-branded himself as the smack-talking, elbow-dropping, jabroni-beating, pie-eating, eyebrow-raising, people’s champ The Rock. Spawning a thousand t-shirt designs in his wake. It was quickly very apparent that The Great One was destined for more than Monday Night Raw.

He’s most likely to EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony)

The wrasslin’ business has the tendency to overreach into things it’s not good at, often with cringeworthy results. However, when they started poking around with music in the late 90s, their biggest star didn’t disappoint. Forming a tag team with Wyclef Jean might have only achieved a number three hit in the UK but It Doesn’t Matter. Proving that while his Fast 8 co-star Helen Mirren might be closer, The Rock has all the tools required to EGOT.

He has the best Instagram account

The real reason for Instagram’s overinflated $1bn sale to Facebook? At least half of that valuation is largely down to The Rock’s surprisingly relatable and self-aware account.

Sure, at first glance it might look like a majority of the snaps feature him simply screaming in front of objects – a real classic of the genre. However, here the problem is that The Rock’s account is more of a thinking man’s Instagram feed. Despite looking like his muscles are about to explode under their own weight, ever since his wrestling days The Rock has always been more of a talker. Here the captions are the championship title winning material.

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