Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is now the highest paid actor in the world

The wrestler-turned-actor reportedly started out with only $7 in his pocket in 1995

Professional wrestler turned Hollywood blockbuster mainstay, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, was officially declared the world’s highest paid actor according to the Forbes Celebrity 100.

Johnson, who has garnered quite a tally of top-grossing films in recent years, has brought in a total of $64.5m (£49m) earnings in the 15 years since his silver screen debut in The Mummy Returns. He is ranked 19th on Forbes’ coveted list, on which he first appeared in 2012.

“Receiving news like this will always serve as my anchoring reminder to continue to work even harder,” the Central Intelligence actor said in his announcement on Instagram. “We not only want to ‘embrace the grind’, but take the grind to new levels.”

His drive, he described, is akin to a "wolf" scratching at the door. "[The wolf is] scratchin' cause he's hungry and never satisfied."

Johnson, 44, has starred in seven films that have grossed more than $100m since he first appeared in the fifth installment of the Fast and the Furious saga in 2011.

The news of Johnson’s global top-earning status comes days before the premiere of the second season of the HBO series Ballers, produced by Seven Bucks Productions, the production company he founded with partner and ex-wife Dany Garcia.

Seven Bucks is named for a pivotal moment in Johnson’s biography when, in 1995, he only had $7 in his pocket after his stint in the Canadian Football League ended.

“I looked in my pocket, and I had seven bucks,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Wow. Seven bucks to my name.”

In the following year, followed in his father Rocky Johnson’s footsteps and became a professional wrestler in the WWE. Johnson grappled with his first unsuccessful alter ego Rocky Malvia, a “baby-face” good guy before settling into his darker side and becoming The Rock.

“There are two terms in wrestling,” he explained. “Baby face is your hero, heel is your villain. I had no choice but to go heel.”

During his reign in the WWE, the self-proclaimed “People’s Champion” won a total of 17 championships.

Now that Johnson has dominated Hollywood, he may set his sights a lot higher in coming years.

In an interview with NFL hall-of-famer and Good Morning America host Michael Strahan, Johnson said he will not rule out the prospect of running for president.

“This interesting ground swell that has happened on the idea of my being president one day has become a legit thing to some people,” he said, referring to social media clamor suggesting the actor should run in the near future.

“As time goes on, [we will] take the temperature of the American people,” Johnson explained, choosing his words carefully.

“If it is a very real, overwhelming, positive, strong, ‘We want you to run for president’, and I felt that I can step up to the plate and become a tremendous leader for our country and make a real difference and make change, I would do it.”

But before Johnson announces his bid for the White House, the prolific star has to complete 10 movies currently in production.

Ballers premieres on HBO 17 July.