Scarlett Johansson

1.1. Birth and family

Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 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 the granddaughter of Ejner Johansson, an art historian, screenwriter, and film director, whose own father was Swedish. Johansson holds dual American and Danish citizenship. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, a New Yorker, has worked as a producer. Sloan comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family who fled Poland and Russia, originally surnamed Schlamberg. Johansson has described herself as Jewish. Her maternal great-grandfather's brother and extended family tragically died during the Holocaust in the Warsaw Ghetto. Johansson's parents met in Denmark, where her mother lived with her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Sloan, a bookkeeper and schoolteacher, whom Johansson considered her best friend.

Johansson has an older sister, Vanessa, who is also an actress, an older brother, Adrian, and a twin brother, Hunter, who was born three minutes after her and also appeared in Manny & Lo. She also has an older half-brother named Christian from her father's first marriage. The family experienced periods of financial difficulty, described as living with "almost no money."

1.2. Childhood and education

Johansson attended PS 41, an elementary school in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Her parents divorced when she was thirteen. From an early age, Johansson showed a strong interest in a career in the spotlight, often performing song-and-dance routines for her family. She was particularly fond of musical theater and jazz hands. She took lessons in tap dance and stated that her parents were supportive of her career choice, describing her childhood as "very ordinary" despite her early aspirations.

As a child, Johansson practiced acting by staring in the mirror until she could make herself cry, aspiring to be like Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis. At age seven, she was deeply disappointed when a talent agent signed one of her brothers instead of her, but she remained determined to become an actress. After enrolling at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and initially auditioning for commercials, Johansson quickly lost interest, stating she "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 alongside Ethan Hawke. Around this time, Johansson began studying at the Professional Children's School, a private educational institution for aspiring child actors in Manhattan. After graduating in 2002, she applied to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts but was rejected, leading her to concentrate fully on her film career.

2.1. Early work and breakthrough (1994-2002)

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 stated that when she was on the film set, she intuitively knew what to do. She subsequently 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), co-starring Aleksa Palladino and her brother, Hunter. Her performance garnered positive reviews, with the San Francisco Chronicle noting that the film "grows on you, largely because of the charm of... Scarlett Johansson." Critic Mick LaSalle commented on her "peaceful aura," believing that "If she can get through puberty with that aura undisturbed, she could become an important actress." Johansson earned a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female for the role.

After appearing in minor roles in Fall and Home Alone 3 (both 1997), Johansson attracted wider attention for her performance in The Horse Whisperer (1998), co-starring and directed by Robert Redford. Based on Nicholas Evans's 1995 novel of the same name, the drama tells the story of a talented horse trainer hired to help an injured teenager (Johansson) and her horse heal. Redford, noting Johansson's maturity, described her as "13 going on 30." Varietys Todd McCarthy praised her for "convincingly convey[ing] 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. Johansson believed the film changed many things in her life, realizing that acting involved the ability to manipulate one's emotions. She found it challenging to find good roles as a teenager, as adult screenwriters often "portray kids like mall rats and not seriously... Kids and teenagers just aren't being portrayed with any real depth."

Johansson later appeared in My Brother the Pig (1999) and the Coen brothers' neo-noir film The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). Her breakthrough came with her portrayal of a cynical outcast in Terry Zwigoff's black comedy Ghost World (2001), an adaptation of Daniel Clowes's graphic novel. Johansson, who auditioned via tape from New York, was considered by Zwigoff to be "a unique, eccentric person, and right for that part." The film premiered at the 2001 Seattle International Film Festival; despite being a box office failure, it has since developed a cult status. an Austin Chronicle critic lauded her with "sensitivity and talent [that] belie her age." She won a Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. She next appeared with David Arquette in the horror comedy Eight Legged Freaks (2002), about gigantic spiders exposed to toxic waste.

2.2. Transition to adult roles (2003-2004)

Johansson successfully 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 Lost in Translation, 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, basing the film's story on the relationship between Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946). Johansson found working with a female director different due to Coppola's empathetic approach. Made on a budget of 4.00 M USD, the film grossed 119.00 M USD at the box office and received critical acclaim. Roger Ebert described the lead actors' performances as "wonderful," and Entertainment Weekly noted Johansson's "embracing, restful serenity." The New York Times praised Johansson, then 17, for playing an older character.

In Peter Webber's Girl with a Pearl Earring, based on Tracy Chevalier's novel of the same name, Johansson portrayed Griet, a young 17th-century servant in the household of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (played by Colin Firth). Webber interviewed 150 actors before casting Johansson. Johansson found the character moving but opted not to read the novel, preferring a fresh approach. The film received positive reviews and was profitable. The New Yorker's Anthony Lane felt her presence kept the film "alive," stating, "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," observing, "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 BAFTA for Lost in Translation. Variety recognized her roles in these two films as establishing her among the most versatile actresses of her generation.

Johansson had five releases in 2004. Three-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. In A Love Song for Bobby Long, co-starring John Travolta and based on Ronald Everett Capps's novel Off Magazine Street, Variety's David Rooney noted that Johansson's and Travolta's performances saved the film. She earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama nomination for the film.

Her fourth release in 2004 was the live-action animated comedy The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, in which she voiced Princess Mindy, the daughter of King Neptune. She accepted the role due to her love of cartoons, particularly The Ren & Stimpy Show. This film was her most commercially successful release that year, and she later reprised her role as Mindy in its video game adaptation. She then starred in In Good Company, a comedy-drama where she played a young woman who complicates her father's life by dating his much younger boss. The film received generally positive reviews, described as "witty and charming." Roger Ebert was impressed, noting her continued use of "the gravitational pull of quiet fascination."

2.3. Collaborations with Woody Allen and genre expansion (2005-2009)

In 2005, 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. Allen replaced Kate Winslet with Johansson, changing the character's nationality from British to American. An admirer of Allen's films, Johansson was nervous on her first day. The New York Times praised the performances of Johansson and Rhys Meyers, and Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called Johansson "a powerhouse from the word go," with an "astonishing" performance. The film was a box office success, earning Johansson nominations for the Golden Globe and the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress. Also that year, Johansson underwent a tonsillectomy. She then starred with Ewan McGregor in Michael Bay's science fiction film The Island, playing dual roles as Sarah Jordan and her clone, Jordan Two Delta. Johansson found the filming exhausting, shooting for 14 hours a day and sustaining injuries. The film received mixed reviews and grossed 163.00 M USD against a 126.00 M USD budget.

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 Scoop (2006), where she played a journalism student. The film was a modest worldwide box office success but polarized critics. Roger Ebert, despite criticizing the film, found Johansson "lovely as always," and Mick LaSalle noted her fresh portrayal. She also appeared in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, a film noir shot in Los Angeles and Bulgaria. Johansson, a De Palma fan, felt she was unsuitable for the part. While some critics, like Anne Billson of The Daily Telegraph, found her miscast, CNN said 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 as the assistant and lover of Jackman's aristocratic magician character in Christopher Nolan's mystery thriller The Prestige (2006). Nolan felt Johansson possessed "ambiguity" and "a shielded quality." Johansson was fascinated with Nolan's directing methods and enjoyed 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, however, were skeptical of her performance, with Anne Billson again judging her miscast and Dan Jolin of Empire criticizing her English accent.

Johansson's sole release of 2007 was the critically panned comedy-drama The Nanny Diaries, alongside Chris Evans and Laura Linney, where she played a college graduate working as a nanny. Reviews were mixed; Variety found her an "engaging heroine," but The New Yorker criticized her for looking "merely confused" while "trying to give the material a plausible emotional center." In 2008, Johansson starred with Natalie Portman and Eric Bana in The Other Boleyn Girl, which also received mixed reviews. Promoting the film, Johansson and Portman appeared on the cover of W magazine, discussing public reception. In Rolling Stone, Pete Travers criticized the film's "frustrating herks and jerks," but found the duo the only positive aspect. Variety credited the cast as "almost flawless... at the top of its game," citing "Johansson's quieter Mary... as the [film's] emotional center."

In her third collaboration with Woody Allen, the romantic comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), filmed in Spain, Johansson played one of Javier Bardem's love interests alongside Penélope Cruz. The film was one of Allen's most profitable and received favorable reviews. A reviewer in Variety described Johansson as "open and malleable." She also played the femme fatale Silken Floss in The Spirit (2008), based on Will Eisner's newspaper comic strip of the same name. It received poor reviews, deemed melodramatic, unoriginal, and sexist. Johansson's only role in 2009 was as Anna Marks, a yoga instructor, in the ensemble comedy-drama He's Just Not That into You (2009). The film received tepid reviews but was a box office success.

2.4. Global recognition and Marvel Cinematic Universe (2010-2013)

Aspiring to appear on Broadway since childhood, Johansson made her debut in a 2010 revival of Arthur Miller's drama A View from the Bridge. Set in the 1950s in an Italian American neighborhood in New York, it tells the tragic tale of Eddie (Liev Schreiber), who harbors an inappropriate love for his wife's orphaned niece, Catherine (Johansson). Initially hesitant about playing a teenage character, Johansson was convinced by a friend to take the part. Ben Brantley of The New York Times noted Johansson "melts into her character so thoroughly that her nimbus of celebrity disappears." Variety's David Rooney was impressed with the play and Johansson, describing her as the chief performer. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play in 2010. Some critics and Broadway actors criticized the award committee's decision to reward mainstream Hollywood actors, including Johansson, to which she responded that she understood the frustration but had worked hard for her accomplishments.

Johansson secured the part of Black Widow in Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 (2010), part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), after Emily Blunt withdrew due to other commitments. Before casting, she dyed her hair red to convince Favreau and undertook stunt and strength training. Johansson felt the character resonated with her, admiring the superhero's human traits. The film grossed 623.90 M USD against its 200.00 M USD budget and received generally positive reviews, though critics often criticized her character's writing and found she had little to do but look attractive. In 2011, Johansson played Kelly, a zookeeper in the family film We Bought a Zoo alongside Matt Damon. The film received favorable reviews, with Anne Billson praising Johansson for adding depth to an otherwise uninteresting character. She earned a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Movie Actress: Drama.

Johansson learned some Russian from a former teacher over the phone for her role as Black Widow in The Avengers (2012), another MCU entry. The film received mainly positive reviews and broke many box office records, becoming the third highest-grossing film worldwide at the time. For her performance, she was nominated for two Teen Choice Awards and three People's Choice Awards. Later that year, Johansson portrayed actress Janet Leigh in Sacha Gervasi's Hitchcock, a drama about the making of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. Roger Ebert noted that while Johansson did not resemble Leigh much, she conveyed her spunk, intelligence, and sense of humor.

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 Big Daddy's family, primarily between his son Brick (Benjamin Walker) and Maggie (Johansson). Her performance received mixed reviews; Entertainment Weekly's Thom Geier praised her "fierce fighting spirit," but Joe Dziemianowicz of Daily News called her performance "alarmingly one-note." The 2013 Sundance Film Festival hosted the premiere of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut, Don Jon. In this romantic comedy-drama, she played the girlfriend of the pornography-addicted title character. Gordon-Levitt wrote the role for Johansson, who had admired his acting. The film received positive reviews, and Johansson's performance was highlighted by critics, with Claudia Puig of USA Today deeming it one of her best.

In 2013, Johansson voiced Samantha, a self-aware computer operating system, in Spike Jonze's film Her, replacing Samantha Morton. The film premiered at the 8th Rome Film Festival, where Johansson won Best Actress; she was also nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress. Johansson found the role's complexity intimidating and her recording sessions challenging yet liberating. Peter Travers believed Johansson's voice was "sweet, sexy, caring, manipulative, scary [and] award-worthy." Time's Richard Corliss called her performance "seductive and winning," and Her was rated one of the best films of 2013. She won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 40th Saturn Awards in 2014.

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 were unaware they were being filmed. The film was released to generally positive reviews, with particular praise for Johansson. Erin Whitney of The Huffington Post considered it her finest performance to that point and noted it was her first fully nude role. Author Maureen Foster stated, "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." It earned Johansson a BIFA for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film nomination.

2.5. Blockbuster films and critical acclaim (2014-2020)

Continuing her work in the MCU, Johansson reprised her role as Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). In the film, she joins forces with Captain America (Chris Evans) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to uncover a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D., while facing the mysterious assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Johansson and Evans wrote their own dialogue for several scenes together. Johansson was attracted to her character's method of operation, employing her feminine wiles rather than merely her physical appeal. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over 714.00 M USD worldwide. Critic Odie Henderson saw "a genuine emotional shorthand at work, especially from Johansson, who is excellent here." The role earned her a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Johansson played a supporting role in Chef (2014), alongside Robert Downey Jr., Sofía Vergara, and director Jon Favreau. It grossed over 45.00 M USD at the box office and was well-received. Chicago Sun-Times writer Richard Roeper found the film "funny, quirky and insightful, with a bounty of interesting supporting characters." In Luc Besson's science fiction action film Lucy (2014), Johansson starred as the title character, who gains psychokinetic abilities when a nootropic drug is absorbed into her bloodstream. Besson discussed the role with several actresses and cast Johansson based on her strong reaction to the script and her discipline. Critics generally praised the film's themes, visuals, and Johansson's performance, though some found the plot nonsensical. IGN's Jim Vejvoda attributed the film's success to her acting and Besson's style. The film grossed 458.00 M USD on a budget of 40.00 M USD, becoming the 18th highest-grossing film of 2014.

In 2015 and 2016, Johansson again played Black Widow in the MCU films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. During the filming of Age of Ultron, a mixture of close-ups, concealing costumes, stunt doubles, and visual effects were used to hide her pregnancy. Both films earned more than 1.10 B USD, ranking among the highest-grossing films of all time. For Civil War, Johansson earned her second nomination for Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie and her fourth for Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Earlier in 2016, Johansson featured in the Coen brothers' well-received comedy film Hail, Caesar! about a "fixer" in classical Hollywood cinema; Johansson played an actress who becomes pregnant during her film's production. She also voiced Kaa in Jon Favreau's live-action adaptation of Disney's The Jungle Book, and Ash in the animated musical comedy film Sing (both 2016). That year she also narrated an audiobook of Lewis Carroll's children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Johansson played Motoko Kusanagi in Rupert Sanders's 2017 Ghost in the Shell film adaptation of the Ghost in the Shell franchise. The film was praised for its visual style, acting, and cinematography, but was the subject of controversy for whitewashing the cast, particularly Johansson's character, a cyborg who was meant to hold the memories of a Japanese woman. Responding to the backlash, the actress asserted she would never play a non-white character, but wanted to take the rare opportunity to star in a female-led franchise. Ghost in the Shell grossed 169.80 M USD worldwide against a production budget of 110.00 M USD. In March 2017, Johansson hosted Saturday Night Live for the fifth time, making her the 17th person and the fourth woman to enter the NBC sketch comedy's prestigious Five-Timers Club. Johansson's next 2017 film was the comedy Rough Night, where she played Jess Thayer, one of five friends whose bachelorette party goes wrong after a male stripper dies. The film had a mixed critical reception and moderate box office returns. In 2018, Johansson voiced show dog Nutmeg in Wes Anderson's stop-motion animated film Isle of Dogs, released in March, and reprised her MCU role as Black Widow in Avengers: Infinity War, which followed the next month.

Johansson was due to star in Rub & Tug, a biographical film in which she would have played Dante "Tex" Gill, a transgender man who operated a massage parlor and prostitution ring in the 1970s and 1980s. She dropped out of the project following backlash to the casting of a cisgender woman to play a transgender man, reflecting a growing awareness of the need for authentic representation in Hollywood.

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 she and Adam Driver played a warring couple filing for divorce. Johansson found a deep 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. 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 one of the few actors 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.

2.6. Professional expansion and legal issues (2021-present)

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, mainly praising Johansson and Pugh's performances. The Hollywood Reporter's 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." For the film, Johansson won The Female Movie Star of 2021 at the 47th People's Choice Awards. Also that year, she reprised her voice role as Ash in the sequel Sing 2.

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 stated her lawsuit showed an indifference to the "horrific and prolonged" effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also claimed Johansson already received 20.00 M USD 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 40.00 M USD and would continue working with Disney. This legal action highlighted the complex issues of artist compensation and studio distribution strategies in the evolving digital landscape, particularly from the perspective of an artist advocating for fair compensation.

Johansson returned to the screen with Wes Anderson's comedy Asteroid City (2023), in which she led an ensemble cast. It was her second film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival after Match Point (2005). For her two months of work on the film, she took a substantial pay cut, earning 4.13 K USD a week. Describing her collaboration with Anderson, she said, "I like the sort of constraints of Wes' precision. I think in some ways, it's more liberating." Anthony Lane of The New Yorker praised Johansson's ability to add depth to her character and for skillfully portraying both reality and imagination with wit. In Kristin Scott Thomas's directorial debut North Star (2023), Johansson played one of three sisters reuniting for their mother's wedding. The Guardian's Benjamin Lee was displeased by the film and Johansson's "awkward British accent."

Founding the production company These Pictures, Johansson produced and starred in Fly Me to the Moon (2024), a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the Space Race, opposite Channing Tatum. Critics considered the screwball chemistry between Johansson and Tatum to be the film's highlight. She voiced Elita-1 in Transformers One, an animated prequel to the Transformers film series. Both films had poor box-office returns. Johansson will next return to the MCU as an executive producer on Thunderbolts*. Keen to join the Jurassic Park franchise for a decade, she will star in the upcoming instalment Jurassic World Rebirth. In addition, she will reunite with Anderson in the ensemble adventure film The Phoenician Scheme and will make her directorial debut with the drama Eleanor the Great, starring June Squibb in the title role.