Mickey Rourke’s character in ‘The Wrestler’ – that was my dad, that was my uncles, that was so many members of my family. It was the only thing they knew. And then they would end up wrestling for a hundred bucks, go to autograph signings for two hundred bucks.

With action films, it’s great if it’s not just driven by action, but by a good story and interesting characters, as well. Though, there’s nothin’ like kicking butt!

Wrestling is intimate. You can reach out and touch the wrestlers.

The Revlon Run/Walk effort to focus on women’s cancer has my wholehearted support and gratitude.

The only film I’ve enjoyed starring a wrestler was Mickey Rourke in ‘The Wrestler’.

Don’t be afraid to be ambitious about your goals. Hard work never stops. Neither should your dreams.

If I want to be called ‘The Rock,’ I’ll be called ‘The Rock.’ If I want to go back to wrestling, I’ll go back to wrestling.

My freshman and sophomore years in high school, I spent a lot of time trying to get back on the right track. I was arrested multiple times by the time I was 16, so I had a little harder time trying to adjust like a lot of us do in high school.

In Hollywood, a lot of times when something is in development, it just takes a lot of time.

My genetic make-up is one of physicality. I’m a visceral guy.

We all live with cancer, whether it is present in ourselves or affects someone we love.

There’s this lingering philosophy that movie stars shouldn’t do TV.

My grandfather was one of the very, very first if not the first, Samoan wrestlers to become known on a worldwide basis.

I’ve always loved the showmanship of professional wrestling. While I love making movies, I love that platform, too.

I never wanted to stay in one genre; I never wanted to be pigeon-holed or defined as the actor who only worked in one genre. I want to be able to work in all different genres. For me it’s fun, and that’s how I grow as an actor.

Playing big, heroic characters with heart is always a lot of fun. I enjoy making movies like that, and a lot of people love to live vicariously through those characters.

I like the idea of working in different genres and transcending genres and hopefully finding success, and ultimately make movies people like.

I love the 3D revolution. I love the technology today that continues to push the envelope, continues to break new ground, and continues to raise the bar.

When I was a kid, I loved Elvis and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. But I had no connection to Hollywood – and being a movie star was such a far-fetched idea, growing up in Hawaii.

Maybe I’ll give Broadway a try. But you know what would be great? Hosting the Oscars. I promise you, that would be a show no one forgot.

But I do believe that there’s going to be a time where all movies are going to be made in 3D and it’s just going to be a given, and that is going to be an exciting time.

WWE is a space where I thrived, and I loved, and I still do. I love connecting with an audience; that is the greatest thing about going back to WWE.

Every once in a while I get the highly inappropriate proposal which is like, ‘Wow, Really! You don’t even know me and I don’t know you at all, and you want that to happen? Tonight? Ok, I get off work at 7.30’.

But being on location and shooting, whether it’s in Puerto Rico or Atlanta, it always reminds me of how really cool my job can be. Interacting with the fans is one of the best parts of it.

Oh, I can keep many secrets, so I would be a phenomenal secret agent. I love secrets.

I think there are a number of things that you can do to encourage your kids’ dreams, but I do believe in speaking by the experience of having a lot of help along the way, stumbling in the past. We’ve all stumbled, and we certainly all deserve to get up and walk again.

fI’ve been known to have a good step or two. I’m half Samoan, you know, and part of our culture is singing and dancing daily.

The one thing I couldn’t identify with was the blue cowboy outfit he put on.

I enjoyed working with Stephen Merchant. He was wonderful. I’ve been such a big fan of his acting.

For me, it came from the material. It was so well written and brought the opportunity to work with great actors. And of course, the opportunity to ‘mince about’ was an added element that I wanted to take advantage of!

Wrestling was like stand-up comedy for me. Every night I had a live audience of 25,000 people to win over. My goal was never to be the loudest or the craziest. It was to be the most entertaining.

I’m a passionate, hardcore fisherman. The biggest fish I caught? A 200-pound tarpon.

What was important to me was entertaining the audience, and whether that meant winning, losing, singing, or whatever it was on the live show we were doing every week, which was awesome, I was game for it.

I’ve been fortunate to have had the life I had prior to Hollywood. I wasn’t starving; I was going to eat the next day.

The goal for me is always to have the opportunity to work in different genres. This is a great and exciting time in my career, where I can have the opportunity to work in different genres, and also I recognize there’s not a lot of actors who have that opportunity and I’m grateful for it.

I love WWE, and I love that platform. There is no other platform in the world that gives me that instant gratification. There is just no other platform.

I like to use the hard times in the past to motivate me today.

Part of my daily regime is my glucosamine and, of course, a multitude of multivitamins. Branched-chain amino acids, glutamine, of course, protein. I have one protein shake a day, and that is immediately after my training.

I liked his ability to deal with a lot of the negativity that surrounded him. Even though he was in a world that he didn’t want to be in, he still saw the bigger picture.

I’ve been through natural disasters. I lived down in Miami and was down there for Hurricane Andrew which was a Category 5. There were members of my family that thought they were going to die. Everyone was in the bathtub.

My reputation precedes me now.

My mom cleaned toilets for a long time, and she’d seen a lot of terrible things, but she was still the strength of our family. And there are women like that all across the country – all around the world – who show that type of fortitude.

The men I idolized built their bodies and became somebody – like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger – and I thought, ‘That can be me.’ So I started working out. The funny thing is I didn’t realize back then that I was having a defining moment.

When he speaks to you he speaks with an earnest vibe and an earnest energy.

I do all my own stunts. I’m kidding.

I was brought up as an only child, and we were very close. But when I was 14, we got evicted. We came home to a padlock, and I looked up at my mom and she was crying, and there was nothing to do.

I grew up where, when a door closed, a window didn’t open. The only thing I had was cracks. I’d do everything to get through those cracks – scratch, claw, bite, push, bleed. Now the opportunity is here. The door is wide open, and it’s as big as a garage.

There’s no substitute for hard work and getting out there and busting your butt at whatever it is. Nothing comes easy. You can overcome so much just through hard, focused work.

Success at anything will always come down to this: focus and effort. And we control both.

Success isn’t overnight. It’s when every day you get a little better than the day before. It all adds up.

When life puts you in tough situations, don’t say ‘Why me?’ just say ‘Try me’

Failure’s not an option. It’s just a step.f

I was a good football player, and I had a chance to play with some great players.

Some of the kids in school used to call my father a fake or a phony. That kind of thing brought on a few fights.

I can’t deny that the thought of being governor, the thought of being president, is alluring. And beyond that, it would be an opportunity to make a real impact on people’s lives on a global scale. But there are a lot of other things I want to do first.

When I was ten, I won the horseshoe-throwing contest at summer camp. I was also the Wiffle ball champion in my town.

I love making movies, but there’s nothing like performing live.

It took Simone a long time to understand why people want Daddy’s autograph. I’d tell her, and my wife would tell her, too, ‘People see Daddy in the movies, and they are excited to meet him.’ But she couldn’t really grasp it.

In wrestling, there’s a shelf life, and some wrestlers don’t pay attention to the shelf life.

When I was 8, I thought I was Harrison Ford, Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Elvis, and Chuck Norris all at once.

I knew early on that I wanted to entertain in some form. And I knew I would work as hard as anyone to do it.

If you check your ego at the door when it comes to comedy, you’ve got a pretty good shot at making a great movie that you can commit yourself to, you can jump off the proverbial cliff with, and have a great time, and the audiences respond to that.

My parents were dealing with evictions and repossessions and electricity getting shut off, and I just realized that I had to get it together.

Because of my wrestling background, nothing a director can throw at me on a set can faze me.

When I was a kid, I never thought much about football. I thought about following in my family’s footsteps and going into professional wrestling.

I absolutely believed when I was young because the Tooth Fairy was always good to me. The Tooth Fairy generally left me a dollar or two dollars and, as a kid, that was a lot of money.

One of the skills I had to learn and become proficient in is kissing a man. I had never kissed a man. Will Smith did it in his movies, so did Jake Gyllenhaal, and I figured it was my time. So it was me and Steve Carell – fantastic.

The sexiest thing that a woman can do, wear and say all fall under one word to me: subtlety. To be subtle in the things that she does and the things she says and the things she wears – I appreciate the details.

When I was a kid at four years old, that’s when I started amateur wrestling with my dad and family. And when that’s instilled in you, it never goes away.

With all the… success that I’ve been lucky enough to get? That doesn’t happen unless the home life is solid.

If you ever see The Rock working out in the gym, don’t think you can just go up and disturb his workout and expect him to take a picture. He’s there to work, so kindly just pass the silverback on by or he’ll rip your face off.

When you have something as unique and special as the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise, you want to create an experience for the fans that they can only feel and experience at Universal Parks.

I was born to play Hercules. I have loved and honored mythology over the years – since I was a kid. When I first broke into Hollywood, ‘Hercules’ was one of the movies that I – not chased, because I didn’t have the power to chase anything – but always had in the back of my mind.

If you tell me there’s something I can’t do, I’ll want to do it even more. Especially when it comes to entertaining.

When I was 8 years old, I saw ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in Charlotte, North Carolina. I walked out of there and was so inspired. I loved the movie, and I knew I wanted to be that guy.

As an athlete, you’d better laugh at yourself when you slip in the mud.

The successful men I admired all built their bodies.

I’ve always seen first responders as unsung heroes and very special people because, when everyone else is running away from danger, they run into it.

It is no surprise that animation is Hollywood’s most successful and innovative genre.

I want to be a man who is truthful and who won’t let pride get in the way of my ripping myself open to my partner and saying, ‘Here I am. This is me.’ I feel there’s something powerful when a man reaches a point in his life when he can be completely vulnerable.

I was raised by strong women, and that DNA is in my daughter and wife.

I’m always asked, ‘What’s the secret to success?’ But there are no secrets. Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.

I can hold my own when it comes to burping. I’ve got a good feeling that I could win a championship.

I have an immense amount of respect for acting. I’ve always loved movies and was always fascinated by movie-making. But to become an actor, I wanted to commit myself.

For ‘Hercules,’ I went for the demigod look: big and mean. When you’re playing a character like the son of Zeus, you only get one shot.

I think that always makes it fun, trying to create a heroic character and putting your own twist on it and injecting your own personality into it.

I’ve learned never to say never.

I found that with depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone.

You’ve got to keep your finger on the pulse of what your audience is thinking and know what they’ll accept from you.

I can eat two large pizzas and a tray of brownies in one sitting. I’m not sharing that. We can get another one, but I ain’t sharing.

What I like to do is get the family in the pick-up truck… and then we just go for a drive. That’s it!

I’ve never gone wrong trusting my gut.

I’ll never, ever be full. I’ll always be hungry. Obviously, I’m not talking about food. Growing up, I had nothing for such a long time. Someone told me a long time ago, and I’ve never forgotten it, ‘Once you’ve ever been hungry, really, really hungry, then you’ll never, ever be full’.

Attitude and enthusiasm play a big part in my life. I get excited about the things that inspire me. I also believe in laughing and having a good time.

Think back five years ago. Think of where you’re at today. Think ahead five years and what you want to accomplish. Be unstoppable.

All success begins with self-discipline. It starts with you.

The first step to achieving your goal is to take a moment to respect your goal. Know what it means to you to achieve it.

Blood, sweat, and respect. First two you give, last one you earn.

The wall! Your success is on the other side. Can’t jump over it or go around it. You know what to do.

If something stands between you and your success, MOVE IT! Never be denied.

Yeah, I was a delinquent. It was when I was in the ninth grade. I was doing stupid stuff, and the cops came into the class. I was humiliated more than anything.

My philosophy is, it’s always very rewarding when you can make an audience laugh. I don’t mind making fun of myself. I like self-deprecating comedy. But I’d like you to laugh with me occasionally, too.

If I had to describe myself to an alien I’d say I was bigger than the average human, enjoy a drink or two with a good meal, and have a bigger head than most. I’d also say I’m really handsome – especially if they were a female alien.

When I say I’m going to take care of a woman, I don’t just mean physically or sexually or romantically. I’m going to take care of her emotionally and spiritually. I’m going to take care of her in all ways. I take a lot of pride in that today.

I like the idea of making a big, fun, adventure type of movie.

I would never win an award for not loving pizza.

I’d love to do a musical. I’ve been known to have a good step or two. I’m half Samoan, you know, and part of our culture is singing and dancing daily.

When a family film is done well, there’s a character that every member of the audience can relate to. I want to be one of those guys.

I want someone who can trust that my big hands are going to take care of them.

Football changed my life and it gave me a platform to get out my aggression and it gave me a sense of value.

I grew up in a musical family; the majority of my growing up was done in Hawaii. It’s what we do. You sing you dance, you play the ukulele and you drink.

That’s a traditional Samoan dance. I was lucky that I was able to fly my cousins, who are professional dancers, up from Hawaii and they were able to be in the movie with me. We had a great time.

You don’t sign up for a divorce when you get married. It’s very painful. But it’s taught me a great deal about myself.

Nutrition is so important. It can’t be stressed enough.

It’s the philosophies of being an athlete that carry me today.

I was fortunate and I was lucky that I had a couple of people in my life who cared about me. I had good, loving parents.

There are definitely people who disagree with certain creative decisions you make. Pleasing everyone is pretty hard.

For different roles, my condition and training and diet does alter. Depending on the role, it will really dictate the type of training I do.

Not only do I think being nice and kind is easy but being kind, in my opinion, is important.

I knew credibility would come only in time and through earnest performances.

For me, training is my meditation, my yoga, hiking, biking all rolled into one. Wake up early in the morning, generally around 4 o’clock, and I’ll do my cardio on an empty stomach. Stretch, have a big breakfast, and then I’ll go train.

You don’t need directions, just point yourself to the top and go!

As a father, safety is always a top-of-mind issue for me.

My goal was never to be the loudest or the craziest. It was to be the most entertaining.

I was a bit challenged when I was younger to stay on the right path.

If I love you, I show you I love you every day. Little things, big things.

I learned a long time ago how to be coachable.

I’m very low-key. I don’t really blend in, so it’s difficult to go out in public. I like to do things that are kind of quiet, whether it’s dinner at my house or a restaurant, or a movie night at home.

Check your ego at the door. The ego can be the great success inhibitor. It can kill opportunities, and it can kill success.

With drive and a bit of talent, you can move mountains. I know. I’ve done it.

In 1995 I had $7 bucks in my pocket and I knew two things: I’m broke as hell and one day I won’t be.

Around every corner, always protect the engine that powers you.

Life is anything but predictable.

Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.

The single most powerful thing I can be is to be myself.

The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don’t know anything. I mean, that’s my life lesson.