Cena talks about how he got into acting

“Originally my film career was a direction from upper management in WWE-like, ‘Hey, go do movies.’ Originally what I wanted my film career to be was an extension of the WWE business model. I understood. WWE studios opened in 2003/2004, they began to film movies, and the model of the business was, ‘If we can make our stars bigger stars, they will come to see WWE’. Well, that’s what I wanted, but I didn’t want to go do movies. The process of making a movie is so different. It takes a long time, it takes a lot of people, and there’s nobody cheering you on. As a younger man I really was drawn, and still am, to the dynamic of a live audience, and the live experience of ‘Just out there and see what happens’. But 15 years of telling stories in the WWE ring, the constant passion, loving my job every day, I began to ask why. As a young man, I didn’t have the perspective. It was, ‘Oh, because I want to be champion, and I want to do this or that!’ Now, after all these years, it’s like, why do I still love this? I love telling stories, man. I love telling stories. That’s something that I didn’t enjoy on multiple platforms in 2005-2006. Now you can see I enjoy helping with morning shows, doing tonight show bits, hosting, doing R-rated comedies, doing family movies, still doing WWE, being on reality TV. I think I’m just drawn to the creative process. Now with more experience and a more comfortable feeling in my own right in WWE, I’m confident enough to use those skills elsewhere.”

source: alarabiya.net