Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Wins 'Generation Award at MTV Movie & Music Awards

People.com: It’s official: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a once-in-a-generation talent!

The actor and former wrestler was honored with the Generation Award during the 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards on Monday. This marked his first time attending the show since hosting in 2016 with Kevin Hart.

Host Zachary Levi introduced Johnson by highlighting many of his lifetime accomplishments, before showing a reel of his most memorable on-screen roles. The actor, 47, then made his grand entrance, led by a Samoan dance to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” with his wrestling name written in flames on the screen behind the dancers.

While accepting the award, Johnson reminisced on his early days in Hollywood and how he was often told he would have to change himself in order to be accepted.

“When I first got to Hollywood, Hollywood — they didn’t know what the hell to do with me,” he told the audience. “I was this half-black, half-Samoan, 6 foot 4, 275-pound wrestler.”

“I was told at that time, you’ve gotta be a certain way. You’ve gotta drop some weight, you’ve gotta be somebody different, you’ve gotta stop working out, stop doing the things that I love, you’ve gotta stop calling yourself ‘The Rock,'” he recalled.

Continuing, the actor admitted, “For years, I actually bought into it because you think, ‘Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do.'”

It wasn’t until he realized how “miserable” he was that Johnson decided to be his “authentic self.”