Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson

Active - 1994 - 2023  |   Born - Nov 22, 1984 in New York, New York, United States  |   Genres - Comedy, Drama, Action

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Biography by Rebecca Flint Marx

Scarlett Johansson began acting professionally at the age of eight. A native of New York City, where she was born on November 22, 1984, Johansson was raised -- along with her twin brother -- as the youngest of four children, and she developed an interest in acting at the age of three. After enrolling in classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute for Young People, she made her stage debut opposite Ethan Hawke in the off-Broadway production of Sophistry. Her film debut followed in 1994, when she had a supporting role in North, and she subsequently appeared in the little-seen Just Cause (1995) and If Lucy Fell (1996).

Johansson had her first significant screen breakthrough with her role as one of two orphaned teenaged sisters in Manny & Lo (1996), a coming-of-age drama directed by Lisa Krueger. Johansson, who shared the screen with Aleksa Palladino and Mary Kay Place, earned an Independent Spirit Award Best Actress nomination for her work in the film, and she soon found herself being tapped by Robert Redford to star as Kristin Scott Thomas' daughter in The Horse Whisperer (1998). Although the film met with a very mixed reception, Johansson was widely praised for her portrayal of a girl who loses her leg and her best friend in a horrific accident.

In 2000, the actress signed on to play one of the heroines (alongside Thora Birch) of Terry Zwigoff's screen adaptation of Ghost World, Daniel Clowes' celebrated comic about the adventures of two teen girls grappling with post-high school life. That same year, she starred in American Rhapsody, in which she portrayed a young girl who escapes communist Hungary in the 1950s and travels to the U.S.

Though she would take a brief detour into camp with the 2002 giant spider fiasco Eight Legged Freaks, the respect Johansson had gained in the film industry as a result of her previous dramatic roles found the young actress in high demand among indie directors while quickly catching the eye of the Hollywood elite. With Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, Johansson's touching performance as a young girl who strikes a tentative friendship with a washed-up American actor (memorably portrayed by Bill Murray) left no doubts regarding her dramatic skills, and although a Best Actress Oscar nomination eluded her, she received a boatload of nods from critics' groups and the Golden Globes. The rising starlet was soon cast in the lead of such subsequent films as The Girl with the Pearl Earring (2003) and The Perfect Score (2003).

After sticking to form in 2004 with roles in In Good Company and A Love Song for Bobby Long, Johansson took her first stab at a lead role in a big budget Hollywood flick, starring opposite Ewan MacGregor in Michael Bay's futuristic actioner The Island. While the picture was panned by critics and avoided by audiences, it did nothing to slow the young star down. She closed out the year by receiving virtually unanimous praise for her performance in Woody Allen's Match Point.

She immediately reteamed with Allen, who was full of praise for the young actress after their first collaboration, for the supernatural comedy/murder mystery Scoop in 2006. Johansson would spend the next several years enjoying her status as an A-list actress, appearing in a wide range of projects, like The Nanny Diaries and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In 2012, she joined The Avengers as Natasha Romanoff, playing the character in several more films in the series.

The Avengers franchise opened the door for her to take on more action and sci-fi oriented roles, such as a curious but dangerous alien in Under the Skin, an augmented human weapon in Luc Besson's Lucy, and as the lead of a live action adaptation of the classic anime Ghost in the Shell, although her casting led to outcry over whitewashing of the character. Her distinctive smoky rasp also brought in significant voice work, notably as a rapidly developing AI in the Spike Jonze film Her, as well as in The Jungle Book, Sing, and Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs.

She earned her first two Academy Award nominations in 2019 for her visceral performance as an actress working through divorce in Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story, and for her portrayal of a Nazi-defying mother in Taika Waititi's black comedy Jojo Rabbit.

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Factsheet

  • Studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York City.
  • Made her stage debut in 1993 at New York's Playwright Horizon Theatre in Sophistry; her screen debut was the following year in Rob Reiner's North.
  • Her parents, sister and twin brother have walk-on parts in 1996's Manny & Lo, a film that garnered Johansson an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead at age 12.
  • Was cast by director Robert Redford in the pivotal part of Grace in The Horse Whisperer (1998) after losing the lead role in The Parent Trap to Lindsay Lohan.
  • Voiced the character of Mindy in 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
  • Replaced Kate Winslet in the role of Nola Rice in Woody Allen's Match Point (2005) when Winslet backed out to spend more time with her family.
  • Sang duets with Pete Yorn on the 2009 album Break Up inspired by the songs of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot.
  • Made her Broadway debut in the 2010 revival of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge, for which she won a Tony Award playing the part of Catherine.