May 02

Dwayne Douglas Johnson's Birthday

Dwayne Johnson was born into a wrestling dynasty. His father, Rocky Johnson, was African-American wrestler and his grandfather was Samoan wrestler, High Chief Peter Maivia. His uncles were professional wrestlers known as the Wild Samoans, and his cousins Rickoshi, Rosey, and Umaga were also on the wrestling circuit. Dwayne attended his first wrestling match when he was only a few weeks old, and by the time he was six years old, his father was teaching him the basics.

Dwayne originally planned on a football career, but a back injury cost him a place in the NFL. He then signed a three year deal with the Canadian League but left after a year to pursue a career in the family trade. After a brief stint in the United States Wrestling Association under the name Flex Kavanah, Dwayne switched to the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), then known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and chose Rocky Maivia as his new name .However, as his popularity began to explode, Dwayne began taking the on the persona of his third reincarnation - The Rock. He became a nine-time World Heavyweight Champion in his career, a seven-time WWE Champion, and a two-time WCW Champion. His last reign was as WWE Undisputed Champion in 2002.

Dwayne's success in playing his wrestling persona allowed him to cross over into mainstream popularity. After hosting Saturday Night Live, he received several film offers. Dwayne decided to make his acting debut as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001). Although he only has several minutes of screen time, the film's producers offered him the lead in The Scorpion King (2002), a spin-off of his Mummy character, for $5.5 million - the most money ever paid an actor for his first starting role. Dwayne's film career continued in his action hero persona in The Rundown (2003), Walking Tall (2004), but switched to more family oriented films such as Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Tooth Fairy (2110) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2012).

In early 2003, Dwayne went to Hawaii to have his family history tattooed on him—a Samoan tradition. In his interview with Playboy magazine, he explained that the complex tattoo on his left shoulder took sixty hours total to execute, spread out over three sessions and was composed freehand.

So to celebrate the tattooed former WWE Champion's birthday, we suggest making a batch of Almond Rock while watching him in Be Cool (2005), playing Elliot, the openly gay, Samoan bodyguard to music manager Vince Vaughn who dreams of becoming an actor.

Almond Rock

Ingredients

2 TB margarine
2 cups sugar
1 cup water

1 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1&1/2 tsp almond extract

Instructions

1. Grease a baking sheet pan; set aside.
2 .In a heavy small saucepan, combine the sugar, water, corn syrup and lemon juice. Cook and stir over
    medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer
    reads 300° (hard-crack stage).
3. Remove from the heat; stir in almond extract. Immediately pour onto prepared baking sheet. Quickly
    spread into a 13-in. x 9-in. rectangle. Using a sharp knife and working quickly, score into 1-inch squares.
4. Cut candy through score lines into squares. Let stand at room temperature until dry.
5. Separate into squares, or break into bite-size pieces. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 1 pound.