'Fast & Furious' star Dwayne Johnson sends a touching tribute to his late friend Paul Walker

The late Fast & Furious star Paul Walker would have been 46 yesterday, and Dwayne Johnson decided to mark the occasion.

Dropping a rare post about the actor – they starred in three of the Fast & Furious movies together – Johnson paid a touching tribute Walker, who died in 2013 while making Furious 7.

“I never post about my friend. It’s a personal thing, but I prefer to keep our memories and bond private and quiet,” he wrote.

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“But something about today compelled me as a moving reminder of how fragile life is for all of us. It’s Paul’s birthday and rightfully so, his legacy celebrated around the world.

“Our friendship was bonded over our daughters and the pride and protection we took being their fathers. And recently, I got a scare when I almost lost another friend on the road. All this stuff got me thinking about how beautiful, yet wildly unpredictable life is.

“We never know what’s around the corner, so we gotta live as greatly as we can in the honour of our loved ones and ancestors who are no longer with us. Manuia le aso fanau, my friend.”

That friend he almost lost is, of course, his Jumanji co-star Kevin Hart, who was a passenger in his vintage muscle car when it careened off the road on the treacherous Mullholland Highway in California.

The car was written off, with its roof completely crushed, leaving Hart with extensive injuries and requiring major surgery to repair fractures on his spine.

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He was released from hospital yesterday, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Walker died in a car accident during a filming break on Furious 7 in 2013, when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a lamp post and then two trees in Valencia, California, before bursting into flames.

Earlier yesterday, Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel had made his regular tribute to Walker.

Walker’s daughter Meadow also marked the occasion.

The ninth Fast & Furious film is currently in production and scheduled for release in May, 2020.