Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (born November 22, 1984 in New York City, New York) is an American actress.
Her father was born in Denmark; her mother is a Polish-Russian immigrant of Ashkenazi Jewish descent (Johansson identifies as Jewish as well). She started acting at a young age, debuting in North, then later got attention for roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World. She then broke through in 2003 with both Lost in Translation (which she won a BAFTA for) and the adaptation of Girl with a Pearl Earring. She has developed a close working relationship with Woody Allen, appearing in major roles in three of his films. She also won a Tony Award for her performance in the 2010 revival of A View from the Bridge.
Starting with Iron Man 2, she became Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a role that single-handedly made her the highest-grossing female actor of all time and the highest-paid female actor in the world for a time.
Scarlett also has a music career goin' on. She first gained attention from indie kids for appearing onstage during the first concert of a reunited The Jesus and Mary Chain to sing backing vocals on "Just Like Honey." She then proceeded to make an album full of Dream Pop covers of Tom Waits songs, and managed to bring David Bowie to sing on one of the songs. She also appears on the compilation album Unexpected Dreams: Songs From the Stars
and on the song soundtrack for He's Just Not That into You; she's also performed the Oscar-nominated "Before My Time" for Chasing Ice (in which she doesn't appear) and "The Moon Song" with Joaquin Phoenix for her (in which she does appear...sort of).
She has herself a Villain Song in The Jungle Book (2016) when, as a Gender Flip version of "Kaa" she does "Trust In Me." Interestingly, although her singing is over the end credits, she had the second track on the soundtrack album.
Scarlett's directorial debut, unlike that of her one-time co-star Natalie Portman, was cut from the anthology film New York, I Love You; but fans of Miss Johansson (and Kevin Bacon, who stars in the short) can see it on the DVD as an extra. She was set to make her feature directing bow in 2014 with an adaptation of Truman Capote's Summer Crossing (as with the aforementioned short, she also scripted), but production was delayed (see the next paragraph for the most likely reason). She also co-directed the filming of an Ellie Goulding concert for American Express in November 2015.
In 2017, the live-action remake of the anime Ghost in the Shell (2017) starring Johansson was released, a project that had long been in Development Hell and received harsh criticism during its production for her casting, which received accusations of "white-washing". After nearly getting cast as the real-life trans man "Tex" Gill, it's become something of a running joke to theoretically cast her in the most inappropriate roles imaginable.
She was married to Ryan Reynolds between 2008 and 2011, and in November 2012, began dating French advertising executive Romain Dauriac. In September 2014, Scarlett gave birth to a daughter, Rose Dorothy, and she and Dauriac married on October 1, 2014 in Philipsburg, Montana. They divorced in 2017. In 2020, she married Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update Anchor Colin Jost. She gave birth to their son in August 2021.
Her Films Include:
- North (1994) as Laura Nelson
- Just Cause (1995) as Kate Armstrong
- Home Alone 3 (1997) as Molly Pruitt
- The Horse Whisperer (1998) as Grace MacLean
- Ghost World (2001) as Rebecca Doppelmeyer
- The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) as Rachel "Birdy" Abundas
- Eight Legged Freaks (2002) as Ashley Parker
- Lost in Translation (2003) as Charlotte
- Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) as Griet
- The Perfect Score (2004) as Francesca
- The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) as Princess Mindy
- The Island (2005) as Jordan Two Delta, Sarah Jordan
- Match Point (2005) as Nola Rice
- Scoop (2006) as Sondra Pransky
- The Black Dahlia (2006) as Kay Lake
- The Prestige (2006) as Olivia Wenscombe
- The Nanny Diaries (2007) as Annie Braddock
- The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) as Mary Boleyn
- The Spirit (2008) as Silken Floss
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) as Cristina
- He's Just Not That into You (2009) as Anna
- Marvel Cinematic Universe as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow:
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Captain Marvel (2019) note
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Black Widow (2021)
- We Bought a Zoo (2011) as Kelly Foster
- Hitchcock (2012) as Janet Leigh
- Don Jon (2013) as Barbara Sugarman
- her (2013) as Samantha
- Under the Skin (2013) as the alien
- Lucy (2014) as Lucy
- Chef (2014) as Molly
- Hail, Caesar! (2016) as DeeAnna Moran
- The Jungle Book (2016) as Kaa
- Sing (2016) as Ash
- Sing 2 (2021) as Ash
- Ghost in the Shell (2017) as the Major / Motoko Kusanagi
- Rough Night (2017) as Jessica Thayer
- Isle of Dogs (2018) as Nutmeg
- Jojo Rabbit (2019) as Rosie Betzler
- Marriage Story (2019) as Nicole Barber
- Asteroid City (2023) as Midge Campbell
- StoryBots: Answer Time (2023) as Ms. Astronaut Lady
- Fly Me to the Moon (2024) as Kelly Jones
- Transformers One (2024) as Elita-1
Discography
- Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008)
- Break Up (with Pete Yorn) (2009)
Theatre
- A View from the Bridge (2010) as Catherine
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2013) as Margaret
Video games
- The Sponge Bob Movie Game (2004) as Princess Mindy
Provides examples of:
- Action Girl: As Black Widow, obviously, but see also Lucy. She also was The Major.
- Actor Allusion: In Hail, Caesar! she plays an actor who has to hide her pregnancy while filming a physical movie. She had just done that for real on Avengers: Age of Ultron (see below).
- Berserk Button: She does not like her name being shortened to "ScarJo," by either the media or her fans. As these interviews outline, she thinks the nickname is lazy, insulting, and even disrespectful.
- Boyish Short Hair: She's sported short hair (including the picture you see above) as much as she's had long hair despite playing feminine characters.
- The Cast Showoff: Can, and will, burst into song at every chance. Even in The Other Boleyn Girl. Lampshaded in He's Just Not That into You in that, although we get to see her singing in one of the final scenes, we don't actually hear it (although her song is on the soundtrack album).
- Celebrity Voice Actor: She's lent her husky tones to Princess Mindy in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Samantha in her, Kaa in The Jungle Book, Ash in Sing, is part of the All-Star Cast of Wes Anderson's Isle Of Dogs, and voices various characters on Robot Chicken.
- Character Tic: In films she has a habit of putting her feet up on whatever surface is in front of her, as seen in He's Just Not That into You and Avengers: Endgame among others.
- Covered in Gunge: Courtesy of her husband Colin Jost during the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards, mixing it up with the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.
- Deadpan Snarker: Several of her roles, Black Widow especially, exhibit a dry and snappy wit.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Katy Perry and Lois Griffin are among those who love her.
- Fake Brit:
- In The Prestige and The Other Boleyn Girl.
- Girl with a Pearl Earring too, although she's playing a Dutch character.
- In-story in Under the Skin; she plays an alien who pretends to be a British woman.
- Fake Russian: Played with, as Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, as she doesn't have an accent. Agent Carter reveals that Black Widows are taught English by watching American films, explaining why this is the case.
- Gender Flip:
- The character she voices in The Jungle Book (2016) is Kaa, who was originally male in both the Rudyard Kipling book and the animated Disney movie (and was voiced by a man, Sterling Holloway, in the latter).
- An odd case in Rug & Tug, where she was meant to star as the real-life massage parlor owner and steroid dealer Dante "Tex" King, who was assigned female at birth but lived as a man and would be considered a trans man today, though such terms didn't exist at the time. The casting garnered a good deal of controversy for not casting an actual trans man, especially in the wake of Ghost in the Shell. Johansson quickly realized how bad a look this was for her and backed out of the role.
- Going Commando: According to her, the Spy Catsuit for The Avengers was so tight, she ended up having to do this to be comfortable.
- Hide Your Pregnancy: While filming Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Irony of revealing that Natasha is sterile in said movie notwithstanding. CGI was used to edit out the bump in many scenes, but some telltale tricks are used. In the party in Tony's loft, she's standing behind the bar; she's sitting down in a lot of scenes where others are standing; and Ultron capturing her allows the bars in the cell to hide it as well.
- Hollywood Hype Machine: An example that held up. Thanks to some varying roles to avoid typecasting and establishing respect among critics with some independent film roles, she has become one of the highest paid female actors in Hollywood. As part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this only increased and she headlined Lucy to earn well over $100 million at the Box Office.
- Meta Casting: Scarlett is a big fan of the Golden Age of Hollywood and is often compared to the stars of that era. She gets to play them in Hail, Caesar! (as the fictional De-Anna Morgan) and Hitchcock (as Janet Leigh).
- Ms. Fanservice: See Lost in Translation, Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Iron Man 2, He's Just Not That into You, The Spirit, The Avengers and Don Jon. Not to mention Panty Shots in The Perfect Score and The Nanny Diaries. And then there's Under the Skin, which according to at least one reviewer may wind up becoming Best Known for the Fanservice.
- No Export for You: Unusually for Scarlett (and for Woody Allen), Scoop didn't get a British theatrical release, going straight to television (A Love Song For Bobby Long is the only other film with Johansson in recent memory not to get cinema release - or any other kind of release - in the UK, although it is available on Region 2 DVD from the Netherlands. Unsurprisingly, it's frequently bought from Amazon.co.uk in conjunction with Scoop).
- The Other Marty: To Samantha Morton in her.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Given she's only 5' 3" (1,6 m), and since the Avengers are all One Head Taller (even the average-sized Robert Downey Jr. and Jeremy Renner), that makes Black Widow's feats more impressive.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Chris Evans. She has stated in interviews that her close friendship with him contributed very much to their onscreen chemistry in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
- Promoted Fanboy: She's a huge Woody Allen fan and has starred in three of his films — Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Match Point and Scoop.
- Reclusive Artist: One of the few high profile millennial celebrities that doesn't have any verified social media accounts. She's also the only MCU star to not have any since the people in charge of the franchise are well known to want them to be present to fans. She also lives in New York where it's easier to blend in, although she has no problem with talking to fans.
- Star-Making Role: Despite Ghost World not being a Box Office success, it's recognised as her breakout role. Lost in Translation solidified it.
- Those Two Actors:
- Starred with Chris Evans in eight films: The Perfect Score, The Nanny Diaries, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
- She also made two movies with Eva Mendes, My Brother The Pig and The Spirit.
- She turns up alongside Samuel L. Jackson fairly frequently, too. The Spirit and The Avengers, for starters.
- Throw It In!: In The Island, her donor is meant to be a famous model, and a commercial featuring her plays at one point. They used an actual commercial Scarlett had filmed for Calvin Klein.
- Typecasting: Post Black Widow, rather a lot of roles for her have been as Femme Fatale Action Girls — Lucy, Under the Skin, Ghost in the Shell for example. Notable because she rarely played Action Girls before.
- What Could Have Been:
- Apparently, she insisted on going topless in The Island but director Michael Bay wouldn't let her. Somewhat justified since the film had a PG-13 rating and Michael Bay doesn't like R-Rated nudity.Scarlett: He wanted me to wear a bra during a sex scene! What is this, France?
- She auditioned to play Lisbeth Salander for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but was turned down for being "too attractive".
- She was initially cast as spy Sadie in Ghosted. She dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and Ana de Armas got the part.
- Apparently, she insisted on going topless in The Island but director Michael Bay wouldn't let her. Somewhat justified since the film had a PG-13 rating and Michael Bay doesn't like R-Rated nudity.
