ACTOR Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has announced a new sitcom based around his ‘formative years’ called Young Rock. The 47-year-old, who first found fame as a WWE star, is set to star in the NBC comedy series and will also executive produce the project through his Seven Bucks Productions. The 11-episode single-cam show will also […]
ACTOR Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has announced a new sitcom based around his ‘formative years’ called Young Rock.
The 47-year-old, who first found fame as a WWE star, is set to star in the NBC comedy series and will also executive produce the project through his Seven Bucks Productions.
The 11-episode single-cam show will also be executive produced by Fresh Off The Boat’s Nahnatchka Khan, who has co-written the pilot with Jeff Chiang.
The wrestler-turned-actor‘s new project will follow his life through his childhood, teenage years and adolescence.
Announcing the new show on social media, Dwayne, who is expected to appear in each episode, likened his life to Forrest Gump and promised the series would show “the good, the bad, the ugly”.
He wrote on Instagram: “The story of my wildly unpredictable life comes to @NBC ‘YOUNG ROCK’.
“For the first time ever I’m bringing you along with me to experience my insanely unbelievable childhood, teenage years and adolescence.
“My close friends refer to me as the big, brown tattooed Forrest Gump because of everyone and everything that has weaved in and out of my surreal life,” he continued.
“I’ve seen it all my friends – success, failure, homelessness, evictions, suicide attempts, arrests, hard times, good times, low times, high times.
“And all this s**t happened to me by the time I turned 21. This is a show about my young life. And the lessons I learned. The good, the bad, the ugly but ALWAYS FUNNY.
“Excited to bring you on this journey of taking a look at my past life, thru the lens of what the future holds. And who knows what that might be.”
The Baywatch star was born in Hayward, California, where he lived with his mother Ata Johnson, professional wrestler dad Rocky Johnson and siblings Curtis and Wanda Bowles.
Dwayne briefly lived in New Zealand with his mother’s family as a child before he returned to the US.
Following his time in Auckland, he lived in North Carolina, Connecticut, Hawaii, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
After getting evicted from his apartment in Waikiki aged 14, he turned to crime and used to be part of a group who would target tourists.
By the time he was 17, Dwayne had been arrested multiple times for fighting, theft, and check fraud.
Speaking to Muscle and Fitness magazine in 2014, he said: “There are a lot of tourists that come into Waikiki and there’s a lot of money.
“A lot of foreign money that comes in, and we were part of a theft ring that would target those groups.
“We would target the money, we would target the high-end clothes and we would target the jewelry – turn around and sell it, best we could.”
Following his tough upbringing, the actor found fame as The Rock in 1997 and transitioned into acting with the 2001 movie The Mummy Returns, followed by 2002 spin-off The Scorpion King.
He has starred in blockbusters like Jumanji: The Next Level, the Fast & Furious franchise and Moana.
In August, he was named by Forbes as the highest-paid actor of 2019 after raking in $89.4million.
Got a story? email exclusive@the-sun.com
