STANDING at a towering 6ft 5ins tall and weighing in at 17.5 stone, legendary actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a big deal in more ways than one.

He just closed a whopping £11.5million deal to buy the XFL American football league from Vince McMahon, further cementing his reputation as one of Hollywood’s biggest ballers with an estimated net worth of $320million (£243million).

The Rock now lives a life as large as himself – but things haven’t always been this wayCredit: Instagram

Dwayne’s recent XFL purchase stems from his love of American football – he played for the University of Miami in the 1990sCredit: Getty Images – Getty

The 48-year-old now spends his astronomical wealth on the finer things in life, from private jet flights to fleets of supercars.

And that’s leaving aside his sprawling international portfolio of mansions.

Before his acting career took off, Johnsons was a professional wrestler, using his strength and size to throw his opponents from one side of the ring to the other.

And he’s now reaping the rewards of not just being one of Hollywood’s most likeable action heroes, but also one of the highest-paid actors in history.

Here’s how he spends – and made – his mind-boggling fortune.

Supercars and pop-up gyms

Despite being too big to fit into most of them, Dwayne has a passion for supercars, and boasts an impressive collection of some of the world’s priciest wheels.

Chief among them is a £1million Pagani Huayra, which he drove to the premier of Ballers.

He also shared pictures posing next to a limited edition Ferrari LaFerrari, worth £1.15 million, and a Rolls Royce Wraith, worth £260,000, which his Ballers character drove.

And as for those longer journeys? Of course, these days Dwayne travels by private jet.

The Rock with a white Ferrari LaFerrari – which he was too big to actually get intoCredit: Instagram

But he definitely can fit into his huge pick-up trucks – which he takes to board private jet flightsCredit: Instagram

In 2018, he started renting an incredible nine-bedroom home in Richmond, London, where former tenants include Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

The palatial home is fitted out with its own gym, indoor and outdoor pools, five lounges and a home cinema where he can introduce the kids to his back catalogue of action films.

He also ensured that his very own pop-up gym, nicknamed the Iron Paradise, could move with him to London.

The state-of-the-art gym, decked out with 40,000lb of kit, follows him around the world — and was set up on a marquee in the grounds of his property.

The Rock’s Iron Paradise, his ‘mobile’ gym which takes hundreds of people to set up on every movie set he films atCredit: Instagram

The Rock’s palatial house in London – here he’s riding Rusty, the star of both Gladiator and Robin HoodCredit: Instagram

The incredible gaff has nine bedrooms and a choice between two luxury pools

To maintain his ripped physique, Dwayne is reported to consume 5,000 calories a day — much of it in his favourite food, sushi.

But besides the expensive food bill, his other outlays are more flashy — Dwayne is a lover of custom suits and expensive watches, and often posts Instagram photos showing off both.

His other investments are in property.

He reportedly owns a £4million mansion in Miami, as well as a working farm in Virginia.

And in late 2019, he reportedly snapped up a £7million mega-mansion near Atlanta, Georgia.

The gargantuan pile boasts eight bedrooms and a pool, along with a wine cellar and a 12-stall horse stable.

The Rock is also said to own this massive mansion near Atlanta, GeorgiaCredit: Planet Photos

The sprawling estate has its own library – the whole property is a staggering 14,791 square feetCredit: refer to caption

It also boasts a massive wine cellar for storing dozens of bottles of pricey vintagesCredit: refer to caption

The huge estate even has its own separate 150-year-old farm house and 46 acres of landCredit: Planet Photos

And there’s a 12-stall stable on the estate for keeping thoroughbreds in luxuryCredit: Planet Photos

But true to his generous reputation, it’s not just himself he’s buying houses for.

On Christmas in 2018, he gave his mum the present of a new house, which he revealed in a sweet Instagram video.

One man money machine

The Rock’s stratospheric bank balance has come from the fact he’s made himself a diamond in the eyes of advertisers, casting directors, and movie producers.

Throughout his career, Dwayne’s films have made an estimated £7.6billion at the box office.

His most recent film alone, Jumanji: The Next Level, grossed £607million in cinemas around the world.

The Rock with Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan in his wildly successful Jumanji reboots

Last year, he married Lauren Hashian in a secret ceremony in Hawaii in AugustCredit: Instagram

The couple’s second daughter, Tiana, was born in 2018Credit: @laurenhashainofficial/ Instagram

In fact, last year his hard-man image and good guy persona combined to make him the highest-earning actor in Hollywood, raking in a staggering £73.6million.

And his glamorous exploits have also seen him become the highest paid celeb on Instagram, where he can charge £800,000 per post on account of his 192million followers.

If his followers were a country, they’d be the eighth most populous country on the planet.

Self-made icon

Dwayne found a way to make something amazing of himself by following his father’s footsteps, debuting as a wrestler in 1996.

Although he is now famed for his nice-guy persona, he started out his wrestling career as one of the villains — constantly taunting his opponents and using his strength to bully them into submission.

He was the WWE champion ten times before he switched his focus to actingCredit: Instagram

He won his first WWF championship in 1998, and soon became famous for his legendary catchphrase: “Do you smell what The Rock is cooking?”

As one of wrestling’s biggest attractions, he helped to usher in a boom period for WWF, later renamed WWE.

He attracted record numbers of TV viewers and headlining Wrestlemania XXVIII, the most financially successful pay-per-view event in wrestling history at the time.

The ten-time world champion “retired” from wrestling in 2004, but has since sporadically reappeared in the ring.

Of course, he was a natural star right from his first fight, so it was no wonder that Hollywood wanted to snap him up.

In 2001, he acted in his first film, The Mummy Returns, where he played the Scorpion King.

Despite some laughably bad CGI, his personality shone through, and he appeared in a spin-off based on his character in the following year.

The Rock’s ridiculous physique has taken him from WWE superstardom to Hollywood action hero iconCredit: Instagram

A decade later, he almost single-handedly revitalised the flagging Fast and Furious series when he was cast in the fifth instalment, becoming an instant hit.

Then in 2014 he starred in Ballers, a HBO series about pro athletes, and went on to act in Baywatch, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Skyscraper, as well as lending his voice to Disney hit Moana.

Between all these films, Dwayne has established himself as box office gold — a figure who appeals to cinema-goers of all age groups.

As Ron Meyer, vice-chairman of US TV network NBC Universal, has said: “He is as close to guaranteeing you butts in the seats as anybody can be.”

Dwayne starred in Ballers, where he played an ex-NFL player turned financial managerCredit: HBOChildhood of poverty and pain

You could say Dwayne was born to be a wrestler — his Canadian dad, Rocky Johnson, was a wrestler too, while his Samoan mother, Ata, also came from a wrestling family.

As a child — back when The Rock was a mere pebble — the family travelled all over America, following Rocky wherever work took him.

Dwayne in a pink suit posing beside his dad Rocky ‘Soulman’ Johnson, a revered WWE Hall of FamerCredit: Imgur

However, they struggled for money, and it made for a chaotic and distressing childhood.

Dwayne’s early life was punctuated by constant moves, and marked by poverty and destitution.

He’s said before that his early teenage years were defined by the memory of his family being evicted from their one-room apartment when he was just 14.

And just one year later, he saved his mother’s life when she tried to commit suicide in front of him.

The Rock with his mum, Ata Johnson, who once tried to kill herself in front of himCredit: Getty – Contributor

He said in an interview: “She got out of the car on Interstate 65 in Nashville and walked into oncoming traffic.

“Big rigs and cars were swerving out of the way.

“I grabbed her and pulled her back on the gravel shoulder of the road.

“What’s crazy is that she has no recollection of it whatsoever. Probably best she doesn’t.”

He later found himself on the wrong side of the law, having been arrested multiple times for fighting and theft before he had even turned 17.

In the end, it was sport which saved Dwayne from a life of crime and poverty — first taking refuge in American football, and then turning his attention to wrestling.

With his new purchase of the XFL, he’s reconnecting with the sport that started him on his amazing path to superstardom.