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Scarlett Johansson’s Early Life

Scarlett Johansson and her twin brother Hunter were born to a Danish father and a Polish mother on November 22, 1984, in New York City. During her childhood, Johansson, her parents, and her four siblings had a humble life, residing in financial allocations and relying on food stamps. Despite auditioning numerous times for commercials and having been turned down by a talent agent (her brother was signed before her) at an early age, it was only at eight that the actress scored her first role alongside Ethan Hawke in an off-Broadway production called “Sophistry”. She only had two lines in the play, but it was a small step toward pursuing her dream. It was around this time that Johansson got enrolled in the Professional Children’s School, a private institution for youth interested in performing arts.

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Breaking Into Acting as a Child Star:

After her first play, Johansson continued to pursue a career in acting and had her onscreen debut a year later in North, a comedy about a boy who travels the world in search of better parents. After that, more projects started heading her way, such as Just Cause and If Lucy Fell. These minor roles led Johansson to become one of the leads in Manny & Lo, in which she played the younger sibling of a pregnant teenager (played by Aleksa Palladino) that flees from foster care. Garnering positive reviews and an Independent Spirit Award nomination, she quickly became a promising child star. Yet, it was the 1988 Western drama The Horse Whisperer that consolidated Johansson’s name in the industry, even receiving a compliment from her co-star Robert Redford about her maturity as a young professional, describing her as “13 going on 30”. Before transitioning from teenager to early adulthood, the actress starred in films like My Brother the Pig, Ghost World, and Eight Legged Freaks.

Early Adult Roles:

After graduating from the Professional Children’s School, Johansson applied to New York University but was rejected for the performing arts program. However, this did not stop her from continuing her focus on building a career in cinema. 2003 was a big year for her, as she starred in Sofia Coppola‘s Lost in Translation and Peter Webber‘s Girl with a Pearl Earring. Both roles were critically acclaimed and helped her earn double nominations at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs. She ended up winning the BAFTA for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Coppola’s film. Despite her successful turnaround during this phase of her career, the actress has since spoken about her past struggle to find roles that weren’t hypersexualized.

From 2005 to 2006, Johansson collaborated with Woody Allen in three cult classic films, such as Match Point, Scoop, and Vicky Christina Barcelona. Despite the controversies related to the director ever since the #MeToo movement, the actress shared in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she “would work with him anytime.”

Becoming A Household Name as Black Widow:

As an already-established Hollywood star, the actress ventured into the MCU in 2010 in Iron Man 2, beginning her 11-year-long trajectory as Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow. She revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair that her introduction to the superhero universe came with intense combat training since she landed the role five weeks before shooting given that Emily Blunt had rejected the part. After Iron Man 2, Johansson went on to participate in eight other MCU installments: The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Widow. Although it took years for Black Widow to get a solo film, the actress propelled a wave of other MCU female heroes, such as Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen). In 2018 and 2019, she was named the highest-paid actress in Hollywood mostly due to her Marvel contributions. According to Deadline, Johansson will still be a part of an upcoming “top secret Marvel Studios project” that is unrelated to Black Widow.

The action-packed sequences in the blockbuster films led Johansson to also star in other action productions such as Lucy and Ghost in the Shell.

Developing a Career in Voice Acting:

Ever since Johansson played Princess Mindy in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie back in 2004, she ventured time and time again behind the camera, voicing characters for the big screen. A particular project stands out among her voice acting credits, which is the 2013 indie romance Her. In it, she plays Samantha, an artificial intelligence system (much like Siri) that catches a lonely writer’s (played by Joaquin Phoenix) attention. Samantha Morton was previously cast for the role, but Johansson ended up re-recording everything during post-production and shot additional scenes with Phoenix. The actress also voiced characters such as Ash the Punk-Rock Porcupine in Sing and Sing 2, as well as Kaa in The Jungle Book live-action and Nutmeg in Isle of Dogs.

Personal Life

In 2008, the actress married her first husband, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds, and the two stayed together for two years before announcing their split. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Johansson shared that she was very young and that “didn’t really have an understanding of marriage”. Fast-forward to 2014, the Black Window star and journalist Romain Dauriac tied the knot. The two share a daughter, Rose Dauriac, and they have been co-parenting ever since they divorced in 2017. After being married twice, Johansson found love a third time with Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost. The couple started dating in 2017 and got married in October 2020. The duo have welcomed a new addition to their family in August 2021, with the arrival of their son Cosmo Jost. Johansson shared about her experience as a parent in “The Skinny Confidential Him and Her Podcast”, describing it as an often “emotionally abusive relationship”.

Earning Her First Oscar Nominations:

Her first Academy Award nominations came in the same year, much like the Golden Globe and BAFTA duo nominations in 2004. Diving into two emotionally-driven films, one being a humorous take on WWII and the other being a story about a painful divorce, Johansson earned a Best Actress nomination for her work in Marriage Story and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Jojo Rabbit. Although she didn’t take home the golden statue for either of the two, the recognition fit like a glove after she dedicated years of her career to MCU installments. Both projects helped to showcase the actress’ range in navigating various genres and excelling in doing so.

What’s Next:

There are many upcoming films featuring Johansson in the near future, some of them being Wes Anderson‘s Asteroid City, My Mother’s Wedding, The Jungle Book 2, Sebastián Lelio‘s Bride, and the Little Shop of Horrors remake. The actress is also expected to team up with Channing Tatum for the Apple TV+ film, Project Artemis.

Accolades: