Dwayne Johnson. The name means a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, the name belongs to a WWE legend, The Rock. To some, it means a father who loves playing tea-party with his young daughters. To others, Dwayne Johnson is a great actor who knows how to set the stage on fire. And let’s not forget the resilience and determination linked to his name thanks to that exceptional physique of his!
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Johnson started from the bottom and has worked his way up to the top. From getting paid a minimal fee for his wrestling matches to becoming one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, Dwayne Johnson turned his life around for good. While it’s not surprising that actors of his caliber earn fat paychecks for their work, one instance stands out – Dwayne Johnson getting paid $9 million for a short appearance.
Dwayne Johnson Made $9 Million for a 15-Minute Role
Dwayne Johnson in The Other Guys
Starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, The Other Guys is a 2010 buddy cop film that won the Best Comedy Film award at Comedy Awards 2011. While Wahlberg and Ferrell are the lead actors of the movie, Dwayne Johnson (Detective Chris Danson), along with Samuel L. Jackson (Detective P.K. Highsmith) too had minor roles in the film. And by minor, we mean minor. What was not minor, though, was the payment made to Johnson for his cameo.
For a character that was on-screen for less than fifteen minutes, Johnson took home a paycheck of a whopping $9 million from the sets of The Other Guys, as stated by BuzzFeed. Now that’s what we are talking about! Thanks to such projects and his rock-solid will, Johnson flaunts a net worth of about $800 million as of 2023.
Things Weren’t Always This Good for Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Johnson made $40 per wrestling match in his early days
While Johnson now makes millions and millions of dollars for his work, it obviously wasn’t the case when he first started. Before becoming a wrestling legend, Johnson used to make just $40 a night for wrestling matches. In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Johnson stated,
“It was hardcore. So when I first started out, we would…live life like gypsies and I would wrestle. I had a guarantee of $40 per match every night.”
Johnson also recalled the time when he would wrestle at flea markets, the State Fair, and even the parking lot of used-car dealerships.
“So Monday nights were the flea market, I would wrestle there, at the Big Top Flea Market in Memphis, Tennessee. Saturday would be the State Fair, every Saturday. And then throughout the week, we would wrestle at used-car dealerships..We used to set up rings in used car dealerships, in the parking lots of used car dealerships. And people would go in, they’d buy used cars, and if you want, you could see free wrestling matches. And I would be there with my pineapple haircut and I would be putting on my boots and wrestling gear next to an office who was trying to sell cars.”
Johnson’s life story perfectly describes what it looks like to go from humble beginnings to achieving the life of your dreams. With a forty-dollar per-night fee and then a $9 million charge for just fifteen minutes, Johnson truly made the unthinkable happen!
