Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson delivered an inspiring speech as he picked up the Icon Generation Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards, urging people to be themselves.
The 47-year-old wrestler-turned-actor decided he "wasn’t going to conform to Hollywood" when he first joined the movie industry after being told to "stop working out" and to lose weight.
In his acceptance speech for the prize, he told the crowd: "I thank you, all of you at home. You are the reason I’m getting this.
"I want to share a really quick lesson with you guys, I’ve learned the most powerful thing we can be is ourselves.
"We are still that little kid just aspiring to be something better, aspiring to be important. 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, six-foot-four, 275-pound pro wrestler.
"I was told at that time you’ve got to be a certain way, you’ve got to drop some weight, you’ve got to be somebody different, you’ve got to stop working out, stop doing the things that I love, you’ve got to stop calling yourself ‘The Rock.’
"For years I bought into it because you think, ‘Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do,’ and I was miserable doing that. I made a choice that I wasn’t going to conform to Hollywood, Hollywood was going to conform to me.
"When I was 15, I heard a quote and I’ll never forget it, ‘It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.’ "
‘Avengers: Endgame’ was the big winner at the ceremony, taking home three prizes, for Best Movie, Best Villain for Josh Brolin’s role as Thanos, and Robert Downey Jr. triumphed in the Best Hero category for his part as Tony Stark/ Iron Man.
The win comes after fellow Marvel movies ‘Avengers’ and ‘Black Panther’ won the award in 2013 and 2018 respectively.
Other winners at the ceremony, which was hosted by Zachary Levi at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, on Sunday night (17.06.19), included ‘Game of Thrones’, which won Best Show, beating off competition from the likes of ‘Big Mouth’, ‘Riverdale’, ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and ‘The Haunting of Hill House’.
However, ‘Thrones’ stars Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams missed out on victories in their respected nominated categories, Best Performance in a Show and Best Hero.
‘Surviving R. Kelly’ – a documentary series in which several women accused the ‘Ignition’ hitmaker of sexual abuse – won the Best Documentary award.
Accepting the accolade, Brie Miranda Bryant, an executive with Lifetime, told the audience: "Survivors walked through the fire and then stood again to tell this story."
Noah Centineo took home two gongs on the night, scooping the Breakthrough Performance prize for his role as Peter Kavinsky in Netflix film ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’, and he and Lana Condor (Lara Jean) won Best Kiss for the film.
‘A Star is Born’ won two awards, with Lady Gaga taking winning Best Performance in a Movie, and another for Best Musical Moment.
What’s more, Jada Pinkett Smith won the annual Trailblazer Award.
MTV Movie and TV Awards 2019 Winners List:
Best Movie
‘Avengers: Endgame’
Best Comedic Performance
Dan Levy (David Rose) – ‘Schitt’s Creek’
Breakthrough Performance
Noah Centineo (Peter Kavinsky) – ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’
Best Performance in a Show
Elisabeth Moss (June Osborne/Offred) – ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Best Documentary
‘Surviving R. Kelly’
Best Hero
Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man) – ‘Avengers: Endgame’
Best Kiss
Noah Centineo & Lana Condor (Peter Kavinsky & Lara Jean) – ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’
Best Performance in a Movie
Lady Gaga (Ally) – ‘A Star is Born’
Best Fight
‘Captain Marvel’ – Captain Marvel vs. Minn-Erva
Best Host
Nick Cannon – ‘Wild ‘n Out’
Most Frightened Performance
Sandra Bullock (Malorie) – ‘Bird Box’
Reality Royalty
‘Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta’
Most Meme-able Moment
‘The Bachelor’ – Colton Underwood jumps the fence
Best Show
‘Game of Thrones’
Best Villain
Josh Brolin (Thanos) – ‘Avengers: Endgame’
Best Real-Life Hero
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – ‘RBG’
Best Musical Moment
‘A Star Is Born’ – ‘Shallow’
Icon Generation Award
Dwayne Johnson
Trailblazer Award
Jada Pinkett Smith