'A Living Legend': RI Actor Playing Wrestling Star In TV Debut

BARRINGTON, RI —Rhode Island native Brett Azar is hitting the small screen to play wrestling legend Iron Sheik in the upcoming NBC series "Young Rock."

The show, which premieres Feb. 16, is based on the life of actor, producer, and former football player and professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and his experiences growing up in a wrestling family. This is the first major network role for Azar, a Barrington native who graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2009.

"I was a huge wrestling fan," Azar said in a statement. "I had all the action figures, the ring, the pillow buddies; but, as a kid, I was never a fan of the Iron Sheik because he was the ‘bad guy'. Once I started to research him, I realized that he was such a funny character in real life. He was just nonstop, full energy. The guy is a living legend and I am just so honored and humbled to be able to portray him.”

During filming in Australia, Azar met and talked with the Iron Sheik and his family via Zoom, took part in virtual table reads with Dwayne Johnson, and trained under former WWE/WCW champion Chavo Guerrero, who taught Azar and his castmates wrestling fundamentals.

“It takes a lot of physical effort," said Azar. "The one thing that shocked me the most was just running back and forth and bouncing off the ropes – half of us woke up the next morning with bruises all the way across our backs. Those ropes are no joke – if you hit them wrong, you're going to be sore for three days."

Prior to his role as the Iron Sheik, Azar acted for the first time as Abram in a performance of Romeo and Juliet at URI and was a two-time body-double for Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator.

“This was just a dream, to work with a director like Nahnatchka Khan and to finally have something where I'm not the goon, or the thug, or guy with one line for one episode," he said. "This is a dynamic character – there are some serious scenes, and then there are scenes where it is just the Sheik being the Sheik. And it’s not Arnold’s face on top of my neck, which is a plus.”

Azar said being part of filming young rock was "one of the best experiences" he has ever had and credits his success to "persistence and consistency".

"You’ve got to believe it," he said. "You’ve got to believe it'll happen."