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John Cena (born April 23, 1977, West Newbury, Massachusetts, U.S.) is an American professional wrestler, actor, and author who first gained fame with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) organization and later had success in movies and books. His notable films included Trainwreck (2015), F9: The Fast Saga (2021), and The Suicide Squad (2021).
Early life
Cena began lifting weights while a preteen and later decided to pursue a career in bodybuilding. In 1998 he received a degree in exercise physiology from Springfield College in Massachusetts. After moving to California, he was encouraged to take wrestling classes. Cena had grown up watching professional wrestling, and his father, taking the name Johnny Fabulous, was an announcer for the entertainment sport in Massachusetts. In 2000 Cena began his professional wrestling career under the name “The Prototype.”
WWE
Cena’s rise to the top tiers of wrestling was quick. In the same year as his debut, he won the Ultimate Pro Wrestling heavyweight championship and gained the attention of the WWE. He subsequently signed with the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) organization, which was then a training academy for the WWE. After capturing the OVW heavyweight championship in 2002, Cena started to participate in WWE events. At first he performed in the SmackDown division. After winning the WWE championship in 2005, he joined the Raw division, which not only profiles the more popular wrestlers but also develops more detailed story lines.
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American Sports Nicknames
During his wrestling career, Cena won more than 15 WWE world championships and became one of the organization’s most popular wrestlers. He obtained many nicknames, including the “Perfect Man,” “the Doctor of Thuganomics,” and “the Chain Gang Soldier.” His signature moves included the “spinebuster,” in which he would pick up his opponent, spin him around, and drop him. In the “attitude adjustment,” Cena would pick up his opponent and flip him headfirst onto his back.
Acting career
Action movies
Simultaneously with his wrestling career, Cena began acting, and he first gained attention for such action movies as The Marine (2006), 12 Rounds (2009), and The Reunion (2011). In 2018 he played a military officer in Bumblebee, a prequel in the Transformers series. Three years later he joined another popular franchise, the Fast and Furious. Cena appeared in F9: The Fast Saga (2021) and was also cast in the sequel Fast X (2023). His other action films from this time include The Suicide Squad, which centers on a group of DC Comics superheroes. In 2024 he joined an all-star cast—which included Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, and Catherine O’Hara—for Argylle, about a novelist whose current spy novel comes to life.
Comedies
Cena also proved adept at comedy. In 2015 he had a memorable supporting role in Trainwreck, which was directed by Judd Apatow and starred Amy Schumer. He later appeared inBlockers (2018) and Playing with Fire (2019). In 2021 he starred in Vacation Friends, about two couples who begin an unlikely friendship while on a trip to Mexico; he reprised his role in the 2023 sequel. Cena also appeared in the blockbuster Barbie (2023), a coming-of-age tale of the famed doll that was directed by Greta Gerwig. Cena later starred with Awkwafina in Jackpot! (2024), directed by Paul Feig. The action-comedy centers on a Grand Lottery, in which winners must survive until sundown as others attempt to kill them and claim the money.
Animated films and TV
Cena lent his voice to characters in such movies as Ferdinand (2017), Dolittle (2020), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023). He also starred as the title character in the TV series Peacemaker (2022– ), a spin-off of The Suicide Squad. In 2024 Cena had a cameo in the popular show The Bear.
Other activities
In 2018 Cena released his first children’s book, Elbow Grease, about a monster truck. He followed that up with several more books in the series, including Elbow Grease vs. Motozilla (2019) and Fast Friends (2020). In 2021 he published the self-help books Be a Work in Progress: And Other Things I’d Like to Tell My Younger Self and Do Your Best Every Day to Do Your Best Every Day: Encouraging Words from John Cena, the latter of which was for younger readers.
In addition, Cena and his cousin Tha Trademarc released a rap album, You Can’t See Me, in 2005. It debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 15.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
