Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson reveals huge risk he took at start of acting career

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has learnt that authenticity pays off.

Dwayne revealed in a new interview that shedding the typical leading man image and embracing his unique character made his career in acting skyrocket.

"As I was pushing my career forward — doing my best to push my career forward — there were moments of doubt," he told Entertainment Weekly.

He shared the advice he got when he first quit wrestling to become an actor, saying, "'If you wanna be a leading man, you're too big; you can't go to the gym, you have to lose weight, you gotta go on a diet.'"

He continued: "And if you don't know any better, then you buy into it, so I started to question myself then. Some of those films at the time I was making, I think, reflect that. And then a moment came where I said, 'Excuse my language but f--- that, I'm not doing this anymore, I'm gonna do myself. And if I fail, then I can fail being me.’”

He recalled: "I was coming off cresting WWF at that time — not even 'WWE.' I hosted Saturday Night Live, we pulled great ratings. I made The Scorpion King. I made Walking Tall."

"A funny thing happened when I said, 'Ah, f--- all this': career went like this," the Jumanji star said, pointing up. "I became acutely aware of the power of being authentic and being real."

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson’s next movie releases are Red One and Moana 2, where he plays Maui.