Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson refused to change to fit in in Hollywood.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
The 47-year-old wrestler-turned-actor - who has Simone, 17, with ex-wife Dany García and Jasmine, four, and Tiana, 14 months, with partner Lauren Hashian - urged his fans to stay true to who they are and not give in to pressure to "conform" as he picked up the Generation Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards on Saturday (15.06.19).
Accepting the accolade, the 'Baywatch' star said: "I want to say thank you to MTV for this awesome, you know, really incredible prestigious award.
"I also want to thank my family at home, my girls. I got a house full of strong-ass women at home!
"Of course, thank you to my team, my business partners, but mainly I want to thank the ones who make this whole thing happen. I want to thank you, the people, the fans. I thank you. All of you at home. You are the reason I'm getting this, so I want to share a really quick lesson with you guys that I've learned over the years.
"When I first got to Hollywood, Hollywood, they didn't know what the hell to do with me. I mean, I was half-black, half-Samoan, 6 foot 4, 275-pound pro wrestler ... I was told at that time, well, you gotta be a certain way. You gotta drop some weight. You gotta be somebody different. You gotta stop working out. Stop doing the things that I love. You gotta stop calling yourself 'The Rock' ...
"I made a choice, the choice was, I wasn't gonna conform to Hollywood. Hollywood was gonna conform to me ... I'm proudly half-black and half-Samoan and I wanted to bring those cultures here, up here for the world to see. So, yes it's important that you are your most authentic self."
And Dwayne believes that it's only by being himself that he's been able to make a real difference to the world.
He added: "And if you can hit that place, that's when you become influential. That's when you can have real global influence in a positive [way].
"When I was 15 years old, I heard a quote and I will never forget it and I bring it with me everywhere. It's ingrained in my DNA. It's nice to be important but more important to be nice."
The evening's host, Zachary Levi, had paid a brief tribute when he introduced the 'Fast and Furious' star to the stage.
He said: "Dwayne Johnson is more than just 'The Rock', he's our rock."
Tagged in Zachary Levi