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Meet Ilfenesh Hadera: Dwayne Johnson's 'strong and beautiful' love interest on 'Baywatch'


UPDATED FEBRUARY 5, 2019 10:17 AM EST

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson  has cast his Baywatch love interest, and he has picked thestunning Ilfenesh Hadera. The young actress is a relatively new face in the Hollywoodarena but has already demonstrated her talent in Spike Lee's latest film Chi-Raq.

Delightedwith his choice for the character of Stef, The Fast and the Furious actor took tohis Instagram page to introduce his latest co-star: “EXCLUSIVE: Casting my#BAYWATCH love interest wasn’t easy (extremely tough job but hey I’m one of theproducers) but we finally found her. For our coveted role of “STEF” she had tobe a lot of things: Strong, intelligent, formidable, beautiful and funny,” hewrote to his 40 million followers.

Ilfenesh Hadera has been cast to play Dwayne Johnson's love interest in the Baywatch remake Photo: Getty Images

“I want towelcome the talented @ilfenator Ilfenesh Hadera to our #BAYWATCH family. She’s5’11 walking’ smokestack with legs for days. Smart and tougher than new rope…justthe way we like ‘em. And seeing as she’s playing my love interest – my strongcalloused hands are the ONLY HANDS allowed to rub suntan oil on her soft suppleskin. You hear that Efron? Step out of line Zac and she’ll knock yourunattractive candy ass into next week. Mine too,” joked the 43-year-old.

“Our dopecast is coming together nicely with a few more announcements/cool surprisesalong the way. Let’s have some rated R fun…We are the keepers of “The Bay”. Weare…#BAYWATCH,” he concluded.

It has alsobeen announced that blonde model and actress Kelly Rohrbach will be joining thecast of the Baywatch remake. The Sports Illustrated star was thrilled to havesecured the role of C.J. Parker, the character that was originally played by PamelaAnderson. Overjoyed about her first major acting role, she took to her Instagrampage to say, “it’s official! So excited to finally announce that I’ll bejoining @the rock in the upcoming #BAYWATCH movie!”