Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on the 22nd of November 1984, in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Her father Karsten Olaf Johansson is an architect originally from Copenhagen Denmark. Through him she is a granddaughter of Ejner Johansson an art historian screenwriter and film director whose own father was Swedish. Her mother Melanie Sloan has worked as a producer. She comes from a Jewish family who fled Poland and Russia originally surnamed Schlamberg. Johansson has referred to herself as Jewish. She has an older sister named Vanessa who is also an actress an older brother named Adrian and a twin brother named Hunter. Johansson also has an older half-brother named Christian from her father's first marriage. She holds dual American and Danish citizenship. On a 2017 episode of PBS's Finding Your Roots she discovered that her maternal great-grandfather's brother and extended family died in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust.
Johansson attended PS 41 an elementary school in Greenwich Village Manhattan. Her parents divorced when she was thirteen. She was particularly close to her maternal grandmother Dorothy Sloan a bookkeeper and schoolteacher. They often spent time together and Johansson considered Dorothy her best friend. Interested in a career in the spotlight from an early age Johansson often put on song-and-dance routines for her family. She was particularly fond of musical theater and jazz hands. Johansson took lessons in tap dance and states that her parents were supportive of her career choice. She has described her childhood as very ordinary.
As a child Johansson practiced acting by staring in the mirror until she made herself cry wanting to be like Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis. At age seven she was devastated when a talent agent signed one of her brothers instead of her but later decided to become an actress anyway. After enrolling at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and auditioning for commercials Johansson soon lost interest stating I didn't want to promote Wonder Bread. She shifted her focus to film and theater making her first stage appearance with two lines in the off-Broadway play Sophistry with Ethan Hawke. Around this time Johansson began studying at the Professional Children's School a private educational institution for aspiring child actors in Manhattan.
At age nine Johansson landed her first paid role as a sketch character on an episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Later that year she made her film debut as John Ritter's daughter in the fantasy comedy North 1994. She says that when she was on the film set she knew intuitively what to do. She later played minor roles such as the daughter of Sean Connery's and Kate Capshaw's characters in the mystery thriller Just Cause 1995 and an art student in If Lucy Fell 1996. Johansson's first leading role was as Amanda the younger sister of a pregnant teenager who runs away from her foster home in Manny & Lo 1996 alongside Aleksa Palladino and her brother Hunter. Her performance received positive reviews: one written for the San Francisco Chronicle noted the film grows on you largely because of the charm of Scarlett Johansson while critic Mick LaSalle writing for the same paper commented on her peaceful aura and believed if she can get through puberty with that aura undisturbed she could become an important actress.
After appearing in minor roles in Fall and Home Alone 3 both in 1997 Johansson attracted wider attention for her performance in the film The Horse Whisperer 1998 co-starring director Robert Redford. Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nicholas Evans the drama tells the story of a talented horse trainer who is hired to help an injured teenager Johansson and her horse back to health. Johansson received an introducing credit on this film; it was her seventh role. On Johansson's maturity Redford described her as 13 going on 30. Todd McCarthy of Variety commented that Johansson convincingly conveys the awkwardness of her age and the inner pain of a carefree girl suddenly laid low by horrible happenstance. For the film she was nominated for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress. She believed that the film changed many things in her life realizing that acting is the ability to manipulate one's emotions.
Johansson later appeared in My Brother the Pig 1999 and in the Coen brothers' neo-noir film The Man Who Wasn't There 2001. Her breakthrough came playing a cynical outcast in Terry Zwigoff's black comedy Ghost World 2001 an adaptation of Daniel Clowes' graphic novel of the same name. Johansson auditioned for the film via a tape from New York and Zwigoff believed her to be a unique eccentric person and right for that part. The film premiered at the 2001 Seattle International Film Festival although a box office failure it has since developed a cult status. Johansson was credited with sensitivity and talent that belie her age by an Austin Chronicle critic and won a Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
Johansson transitioned from teen to adult roles with two films in 2003: the romantic comedy-drama Lost in Translation and the drama Girl with a Pearl Earring. In the former directed by Sofia Coppola she played Charlotte a listless and lonely young wife opposite Bill Murray. Coppola had first noticed Johansson in Manny & Lo and compared her to a young Lauren Bacall; Coppola based the film's story on the relationship between Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep 1946. Johansson found the experience of working with a female director different because of Coppola's ability to empathize with her. Made on a budget of $4 million the film grossed $119 million at the box office and received critical acclaim. Roger Ebert was pleased with the film and described the lead actors' performances as wonderful and Entertainment Weekly wrote of Johansson's embracing restful serenity. The New York Times praised Johansson aged seventeen at the time of filming for playing an older character.
In Peter Webber's Girl with a Pearl Earring which is based on the novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier Johansson played Griet a young seventeenth-century servant in the household of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer played by Colin Firth. Webber interviewed 150 actors before casting Johansson. Johansson found the character moving but did not read the novel as she thought it was better to approach the story with a fresh start. Girl with a Pearl Earring received positive reviews and was profitable. In his review for The New Yorker Anthony Lane thought that her presence kept the film alive writing She is often wordless and close to plain onscreen but wait for the ardor with which she can summon a closeup and bloom under its gaze; this is her film not Vermeer's all the way. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly noted her nearly silent performance remarking The interplay on her face of fear ignorance curiosity and sex is intensely dramatic. She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress for both films in 2003 winning the former for Lost in Translation.
Variety opined that Johansson's roles in Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring established her as among the most versatile actresses of her generation. Johansson had five releases in 2004 three of which the teen heist film The Perfect Score the drama A Love Song for Bobby Long and the drama A Good Woman were critical and commercial failures. Co-starring with John Travolta Johansson played a discontented teenager in A Love Song for Bobby Long which is based on the novel Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps. David Rooney of Variety wrote that Johansson's and Travolta's performances rescued the film. Johansson earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama nomination for the film.
Johansson played Nola an aspiring actress who begins an affair with a married man played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Woody Allen's drama Match Point in 2005. After replacing Kate Winslet with Johansson for the role Allen changed the character's nationality from British to American. An admirer of Allen's films Johansson liked the idea of working with him but felt nervous her first day on the set. The New York Times was impressed with the performances of Johansson and Rhys Meyers and LaSalle writing for the San Francisco Chronicle stated that Johansson is a powerhouse from the word go with a performance that borders on astonishing. The film a box office success earned Johansson nominations for the Golden Globe and the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Two of Johansson's films in 2006 explored the world of stage magicians both opposite Hugh Jackman. Allen cast her opposite Jackman and himself in the film Scoop 2006 in which she played a journalism student. The film was a modest worldwide box office success but polarized critics. Ebert was critical of the film but found Johansson lovely as always and LaSalle noted the freshness she brought to her part. She also appeared in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia a film noir shot in Los Angeles and Bulgaria. Johansson later said she was a fan of DePalma and had wanted to work with him on the film but thought that she was unsuitable for the part. Anne Billson of The Daily Telegraph likewise found her miscast. However CNN said that she takes to the pulpy period atmosphere as if it were oxygen.
Also in 2006 Johansson starred in the short film When the Deal Goes Down to accompany Bob Dylan's song When the Deal Goes Down... from the album Modern Times. Johansson had a supporting role of assistant and lover of Jackman's character an aristocratic magician in Christopher Nolan's mystery thriller The Prestige 2006. Nolan thought Johansson possessed ambiguity and a shielded quality. She was fascinated with Nolan's directing methods and liked working with him. The film was a critical and box office success recommended by the Los Angeles Times as an adult provocative piece of work. Some critics were skeptical of her performance: Billson again judged her miscast and Dan Jolin of Empire criticized her English accent. In her third collaboration with Woody Allen the romantic comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona 2008 which was filmed in Spain Johansson plays one of the love interests of Javier Bardem's character alongside Penélope Cruz. The film was one of Allen's most profitable and received favorable reviews.
Johansson secured the part of Black Widow in Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 2010 a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe MCU after Emily Blunt was forced to opt out due to other obligations. Before she was cast she dyed her hair red to convince Favreau that she was right for the part and undertook stunt and strength training to prepare for the role. Johansson said the character resonated with her and she admired the superhero's human traits. The film earned $623.9 million against its $200 million budget and received generally positive reviews from critics although reviewers criticized how her character was written. Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph and Matt Goldberg thought that she had little to do but look attractive.
In January 2013 Johansson starred in a Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof directed by Rob Ashford. Set in the Mississippi Delta it examines the relationships within the family of Big Daddy Ciarán Hinds primarily between his son Brick Benjamin Walker and Maggie Johansson. Her performance received mixed reviews. Entertainment Weeklys Thom Geier wrote Johansson brings a fierce fighting spirit to her part but Joe Dziemianowicz from Daily News called her performance alarmingly one-note. In 2013 Johansson voiced the character Samantha a self-aware computer operating system in Spike Jonze's film Her replacing Samantha Morton in the role. The film premiered at the 8th Rome International Film Festival where Johansson won Best Actress; she was also nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress. Johansson was intimidated by the role's complexity and found her recording sessions for the role challenging but liberating. Peter Travers believed Johansson's voice in the film was sweet sexy caring manipulative scary and award-worthy.
Johansson was cast in Jonathan Glazer's science fiction film Under the Skin 2013 as an extraterrestrial creature disguised as a human femme fatale who preys on men in Scotland. The project an adaptation of Michel Faber's novel of the same name took nine years to complete. For the role she learned to drive a van and speak in an English accent. Johansson improvised conversations with non-professional actors on the street who did not know they were being filmed. It was released to generally positive reviews with particular praise for Johansson. Erin Whitney writing for The Huffington Post considered it to be her finest performance to that point and noted it was her first fully nude role. Author Maureen Foster wrote How much depth breadth and range Johansson mines from her character's very limited allowance of emotional response is a testament to her acting prowess that is as the film goes on increasingly stunning.
In 2019 Johansson once again reprised her role as Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame which is the highest-grossing film of all time. She next starred in Noah Baumbach's Netflix film Marriage Story in which Adam Driver and she played a warring couple who file for divorce. Johansson found a connection with her character as she was amid her own divorce proceedings at the time. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian commended her brilliantly textured performance in it. She also took on the supporting role of a young boy's mother who shelters a Jewish girl in Nazi Germany in Taika Waititi's satire Jojo Rabbit. Waititi modeled the character on his own mother and cast Johansson to provide her a rare opportunity to perform comedy. The film received polarized reviews but Stephanie Zacharek labeled her the lustrous soul of the movie.
Johansson received her first two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for her performances in Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit respectively becoming the twelfth performer to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year. She also received two BAFTA nominations for these films and a Golden Globe nomination for the former. These recognitions make Johansson one of the dozen actors to have achieved two nominations at the Academy Awards in the same year. She is also one of the nine actors double-nominated in the same category in the same year at the British Academy Film Awards with her two nominations in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category for her work in the 2003 films Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring winning for the former. Her two BAFTA nominations that year also made her the first of the group not to have either performance recognized by the Academy Awards and she was also the first Best Actress winner since Maggie Smith in 1988 to not receive a nomination for the corresponding Oscar that year.
In May 2008 Johansson released her debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head which consists of one original song and ten cover versions of Tom Waits songs and features David Bowie and members from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Celebration. Reviews of the album were mixed. Spin was not particularly impressed with Johansson's singing. Some critics found it to be surprisingly alluring a bravely eccentric selection and a brilliant album with ghostly magic. NME named the album the 23rd best album of 2008 and it peaked at number 126 on the Billboard 200. Johansson started listening to Waits when she was 11 or 12 years old and said of him His melodies are so beautiful his voice is so distinct and I had my own way of doing Tom Waits songs.
In September 2009 Johansson and singer-songwriter Pete Yorn released a collaborative album Break Up inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's duets with Brigitte Bardot. The album reached number 41 in the US. In 2010 Steel Train released Terrible Thrills Vol.1 which includes their favorite female artists singing songs from their self-titled album. Johansson is the first artist on the album singing Bullet. Johansson sang One Whole Hour for the 2011 soundtrack of the documentary film Wretches & Jabberers 2010. In 2012 sang on a J.Ralph track entitled Before My Time for the end credits of the climate documentary Chasing Ice 2012 which received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
In February 2015 Johansson formed a band called the Singles with Este Haim from HAIM Holly Miranda Kendra Morris and Julia Haltigan. The group's first single was called Candy. Johansson was issued a cease and desist order from the lead singer of the Los Angeles-based rock band the Singles demanding she stop using their name. In 2016 she performed Trust in Me for The Jungle Book soundtrack and Set It All Free and I Don't Wanna for Sing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. In 2018 Johansson collaborated with Pete Yorn again for an EP titled Apart released June 1.
Johansson is described as a sex symbol by the media. As early as age seventeen when filming Lost in Translation she felt she was groomed as a bombshell-type actor as she explained in a 2022 podcast with Bruce Bozzi. The Sydney Morning Herald describes her as the embodiment of male fantasy. During the filming of Match Point director Woody Allen remarked upon her attractiveness calling her beautiful and sexually overwhelming. In 2014 The New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane wrote that she is evidently and profitably aware of her sultriness and of how much down to the last inch it contributes to the contours of her reputation. Johansson has expressed displeasure at being sexualized and argued that a preoccupation with one's attractiveness does not last. She has stated that while she is flattered to be considered sexy she finds the implication that her strength comes from her sexuality to be confining. She lost the role of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2011 because the film's director David Fincher found her too sexy for the part.
In September 2011 nude photographs of Johansson hacked from her cell phone were leaked online. She said the pictures had been sent to her husband Ryan Reynolds three years prior to the incident. In 2014 Johansson won a lawsuit against French publisher JC Lattès over libelous statements about her relationships in the novel The First Thing We Look At by Grégoire Delacourt. She was awarded $3,400; she had sued for $68,000. In January 2014 the Israeli company SodaStream which makes home-carbonation products hired Johansson as its first global brand ambassador a relationship that commenced with a television commercial during Super Bowl XLVIII on the 2nd of February 2014. This created some controversy as SodaStream at that time operated a plant in Israeli-occupied territory in the West Bank. In May 2024 Johansson criticized OpenAI for releasing a chatbot with a voice that resembled her own after she declined to formally work with the company to provide her voice for the app.
After a one-year screen absence Johansson reprised her role as Black Widow in her own solo prequel film in 2021 on which she also served as an executive producer. Also starring Florence Pugh the film is set after Captain America: Civil War with Johansson's character on the run confronting her past. Johansson felt her role was complete viewing it as a chance to showcase her character's independence and vulnerability which she thought set her apart from other Avengers. Critics were generally favorable in their reviews of the film mainly praising Johansson and Pugh's performances. The Hollywood Reporter David Rooney thought the film was a stellar vehicle for Johansson and Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood found her again a great presence in the role showing expert action and acting chops throughout.
In July 2021 Johansson sued Disney claiming the simultaneous release of Black Widow on their streaming service Disney+ breached a contract clause for exclusive theatrical release denying her additional box-office bonuses. In response Disney said her lawsuit showed an indifference to the horrific and prolonged effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also stated that Johansson already received $20 million for the film and that the Disney+ Premier Access release would only earn her additional compensation. The Hollywood Reporter called Disney's response aggressive and Creative Artists Agency co-chairman Bryan Lourd criticized Disney for attacking Johansson's character and disclosing her salary. In September the dispute was resolved with undisclosed terms though Variety later reported Johansson received over $40 million and would continue working with Disney.
Johansson has supported various charitable organizations including Aid Still Required Cancer Research UK Stand Up To Cancer Too Many Women which works against breast cancer and USA Harvest which provides food for people in need. In 2005 Johansson became a global ambassador for the aid and development agency Oxfam. In 2007 she took part in the anti-poverty campaign ONE which was organized by U2's lead singer Bono. In March 2008 a UK-based bidder paid £20,000 on an eBay auction to benefit Oxfam winning a hair and makeup treatment a pair of tickets and a chauffeured trip to accompany her on a 20-minute date to the world premiere of He's Just Not That into You. In January 2014 Johansson resigned from her Oxfam position after criticism of her promotion of SodaStream whose main factory was based in Mishor Adumim an Israeli settlement in the West Bank; Oxfam opposes all trade with such Israeli settlements.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When was Scarlett Johansson born and where?
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on the 22nd of November 1984, in the Manhattan borough of New York City. She holds dual American and Danish citizenship through her parents.
Who are Scarlett Johansson's parents and what is their background?
Her father Karsten Olaf Johansson is an architect originally from Copenhagen Denmark and a grandson of Swedish art historian Ejner Johansson. Her mother Melanie Sloan has worked as a producer and comes from a Jewish family who fled Poland and Russia.
What were Scarlett Johansson's first acting roles and breakthrough film?
Johansson landed her first paid role at age nine on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and made her film debut in North 1994. Her breakthrough came playing a cynical outcast in Ghost World 2001 which won her a Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Which films established Scarlett Johansson as a leading actress in 2003?
In 2003 she starred in Lost in Translation directed by Sofia Coppola and Girl with a Pearl Earring directed by Peter Webber. She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Lost in Translation while receiving Golden Globe nominations for both films.
When did Scarlett Johansson become Black Widow and what legal issues arose later?
She secured the part of Black Widow in Iron Man 2 released in 2010 after Emily Blunt opted out due to other obligations. In July 2021 she sued Disney over the simultaneous release of Black Widow on Disney+ claiming breach of contract regarding exclusive theatrical release.