Hollywood star Scarlett Ingrid Johansson came into this world on November 22, 1984. With numerous appearances on Forbes' Celebrity 100 list, she was the highest-paid actress in the world in both 2018 and 2019. For the year 2021, Time magazine ranked her among the world's 100 most important people. Johansson is the highest-grossing female film star of all time, with a total of more than $15.4 billion from her films. A Tony Award, two Oscar nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, and a British Academy Film Award are among her many honors.
As a kid performer, Johansson made her theatrical debut in an off-Broadway production. Beginning her cinematic career with the fantasy comedy North (1994), she went on to star in Manny & Lo (1996), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and Ghost World (2001), all of which brought her early success. With 2003's Lost in Translation, for which she received the BAFTA for Best Actress, she transitioned into mature roles. Her subsequent roles as a seductress in Match Point(2005), a disturbed adolescent in A Love Song for Bobby Long(2004), and a servant in the 17th century in Girl with a Pearl Earring(2003) all earned her critical acclaim. She worked with Woody Allen for the first time on the latter, and he would go on to direct her in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and Scoop (2006). During this time, Johansson also released films like The Prestige (2006) and albums like Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008) and Break Up (2009), which were both certified gold by the Billboard 200.
Before playing Black Widow in Iron Man 2 (a Marvel Cinematic Universe film), Johansson made her Broadway debut in a production of A View from the Bridge in 2010, for which she received the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. She became a household name throughout the world after playing the part in eight more films, culminating in her 2021 solo movie Black Widow. Her (2013), Under the Skin (2013), and Lucy (2014) were all science fiction features that Johansson was a part of during this time. A single mother in Nazi Germany in the satire Jojo Rabbit (2019) and an actress going through a divorce in the drama Marriage Story (2019) both earned her simultaneous nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, making her one of the few actors to accomplish this feat.
Many news sources have hailed Johansson as one of the most beautiful women in the world, while also calling her a sex icon. She has a number of philanthropic initiatives she supports and is known for endorsing brands. In 2020, Johansson wed comedian Colin Jost after divorcing actor Ryan Reynolds and businessman Romain Dauriac. Her children from her relationships with Dauriac and Jost total two.
**Early years**
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson came into this world in the Big Apple on November 22, 1984. The Danish architect Karsten Olaf Johansson is Karsten's dad. He was born and raised in Copenhagen. Ejner Johansson is a Swedish art historian, screenwriter, and director; she is his grandchild via him. Melanie Sloan, a native New Yorker, has experience in the production industry. Her family, coming from the Schlamberg surname, was a Jewish family that escaped Russia and Poland. She comes from a family of actors: her older sister Vanessa, her older brother Adrian, and her twin brother Hunter. In addition to being a citizen of both the United States and Denmark, Johansson has an older half-brother called Christian from her father's previous marriage. Her maternal great-grandfather's brother and extended family perished in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust, as she learned in a 2017 episode of PBS's Finding Your Roots.
Johansson went to Greenwich Village, Manhattan's PS 41 primary school. At the age of thirteen, she saw her parents' divorce. Her bookkeeper and teacher grandma, Dorothy Sloan, was someone she was very close to. Dorothy was Johansson's best friend, and the two of them spent a lot of time together. Johansson frequently performed musical numbers for her family, revealing an early interest in a life in the limelight. She had a special soft spot for jazz hands and musical theater. Johansson says her parents were always on board with her decision to pursue a career in tap dancing. According to her, her upbringing was really typical.
When Johansson was a little girl, she wanted to be Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis so bad that she would stare at herself in the mirror until she cried. She chose to pursue acting despite her disappointment at the age of seven when a talent agency signed one of her brothers rather than her. According to Johansson, "I didn't want to promote Wonder Bread." She changed her focus from commercial acting to film and theater after attending the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Johansson made her stage debut with two lines in the off-Broadway play Sophistry, co-starring Ethan Hawke. It was at this time that Johansson enrolled in the Manhattan-based private school for aspiring child performers, the Professional Children's School.
Johansson earned her acting chops on Late Night with Conan O'Brien when she was nine years old, playing a comic character. In the fantasy comedy North, which came out later that year (1994), she had her cinematic debut playing the role of John Ritter's daughter. According to her, she had an innate sense of direction during filming. In subsequent films, she had small parts as an art student in If Lucy Fell (1996) and the daughter of characters played by Sean Connery and Kate Capshaw in the 1995 mystery thriller Just Cause. In Manny & Lo (1996), Johansson made her acting debut as Amanda, the younger sister of a pregnant adolescent who, with Aleksa Palladino and Hunter, escapes from their foster home. According to one reviewer who wrote about her in the San Francisco Chronicle, she "grows on you, largely because of the charm of... Scarlett Johansson." Another critic who wrote about her in the same paper praised her "peaceful aura" and said, "If she can get through puberty with that aura undisturbed, she could become an important actress." For her performance, Johansson was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female.
In 1997, Johansson had small parts in both Fall and Home Alone 3. It wasn't until her 1998 performance in The Horse Whisperer, co-starring Robert Redford, that she gained greater notoriety. The dramatic film is based on Nicholas Evans's 1995 book of the same name and follows a gifted horse trainer as she helps a wounded adolescent (Johansson) and her horse recover. Johansson landed her sixth appearance in the film, which came with a "introducing" credit. Redford said of Johansson, "13 going on 30" when asked about her maturity level. Johansson "convincingly conveys the awkwardness of her age and the inner pain of a carefree girl suddenly laid low by horrible happenstance," stated Variety's Todd McCarthy, who was speaking about the actress. She was considered for the Most Promising Actress award by the Chicago Film Critics Association because of the film. After seeing the film, she felt her life had altered drastically, and she came to understand that acting is all about controlling your emotions. Johansson remarked that it was difficult for her to land excellent roles when she was a teenager because scripts were written by adults and that the characters were "portrayed like mall rats and not seriously... Kids and teenagers just aren't being portrayed with any real depth."
Johansson went on to star in a number of films, including My Brother the Pig (1999) and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), a neo-noir by the Coen brothers. Terry Zwigoff's 2001 black comedy Ghost World, based on Daniel Clowes' graphic novel of the same name, gave her her breakout role as a cynical outsider. After seeing Johansson's New York audition tape, Zwigoff cast her as "a unique, eccentric person, and right for that part" in the film. Despite its commercial failure, the film has achieved cult status since its 2001 premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival. An Austin Chronicle writer praised Johansson's performance, saying, "sensitivity and talent [that] belies her age." The actress went on to win the Best Supporting Actress award from the Toronto Film Critics Association.
In the 2002 horror comedy Eight Legged Freaks, which Johansson co-starred in with David Arquette, a group of spiders gets poisoned and grow enormous, eventually murdering humans and other animals. She resolved to devote herself fully to her film career after that year's rejection from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, which she had applied to upon graduating from Professional Children's School.
Transition to adult responsibilities: 2003–2004
Lost in Translation, a romantic comedy-drama, and Girl with a Pearl Earring, a drama, were both released in 2003 and marked Johansson's move from teen to adult roles. She co-stars with Bill Murray as the languid and lonely young wife Charlotte in Sofia Coppola's film. Coppola saw comparisons between Johansson and a young Lauren Bacall in Manny & Lo, and the film's plot was based on Bacall's connection with Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946), which is where Coppola initially noticed Johansson. Working with Coppola was unique for Johansson as a female filmmaker because of her empathy. The critically acclaimed picture, which cost just $4 million to produce, made $119 million worldwide. Entertainment Weekly praised Johansson's "embracing, restful serenity," while Roger Ebert had nothing but praise for the picture and its leading players. The New York Times lauded Johansson, who was 17 years old when filming began, for convincingly portraying an elderly persona.
Johansson portrayed Griet, a youthful servant in the home of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) in Peter Webber's adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's novel Girl with a Pearl Earring. Before selecting Johansson, Webber spoke with 150 actresses. Although Johansson found the character compelling, she decided to start again with the plot and never read the novel. Girl with a Pearl Earring was well-received and made a tidy profit. In his review for The New Yorker, Anthony Lane praised her performance, 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." Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman also praised her, calling her a "nearly silent performance" and noting, "The interplay on her face of fear, ignorance, curiosity and sex is intensely dramatic." In 2003, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress, winning the former for Lost in Translation.
According to Variety, Johansson solidified her position as one of the most adaptable actors of her time with her performances in Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring. Johansson had five films out in 2004, with three of them bombing at the box office and critics' offices: adolescent heist flick The Perfect Score, drama A Love Song for Bobby Long, and drama A Good Woman. A Love Song for Bobby Long is based on the novel Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps, and Johansson co-starred alongside John Travolta as an unhappy adolescent. Variety writer David Rooney praised Johansson and Travolta, saying they saved the picture. The picture garnered Johansson a nomination for Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Globes.
Cast as King Neptune's daughter Princess Mindy, Johansson made her film debut in 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, a live-action animated comedy. She gave her enthusiastic approval due to her deep affection for animated television, specifically The Ren & Stimpy Show. That year, the picture was her most financially successful offering. She would subsequently appear in the film's video game version, as Mindy once again. After that, she starred in the comedic-drama In Good Company, in which her character, a young woman, causes problems for her father by going out with his younger employer. "Witty and charming" was the most common way critics praised the picture. "Continually employing the gravitational pull of quiet fascination," Ebert said of Johansson's performance, expressing his impression of her performance.
Woody Allen's collaborations from 2005 to 2009
In 2005's Woody Allen thriller Match Point, Johansson as Nola, a would-be actress who starts an affair with a married man (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Upon casting Johansson in instead of Kate Winslet, Allen altered the character's citizenship from British to American. Johansson was excited about the prospect of collaborating with Allen, a filmmaker whose works she really admires, but she was anxious on her first day on site. With a performance that "borders on astonishing," Johansson "is a powerhouse from the word go," according to LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, who also praised Rhys Meyers and the New York Times for their impressive performances. Johansson received Golden Globe and Chicago Film Critics Association accolades for Best Supporting Actress for the financially successful picture. In the same year, Michael Bay's science fiction picture The Island featured Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, who played the characters of Sarah Jordan and her clone, Jordan Two Delta, respectively. Johansson hurt herself and found her filming schedule stressful, since she had to shoot for 14 hours a day. With a budget of $126 million, the picture earned $163 million despite receiving mixed reviews.
Alongside Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson delved into the realm of stage magicians in two of her 2006 flicks. Scoop (2006), in which Allen co-starred with Jackman, starred her as a journalism student. Despite reviewers' mixed reactions, the picture did somewhat well at the box office across the world. Even though the picture was bad, LaSalle praised Johansson for her "beautiful as always" performance, while Ebert praised the film for Johansson's performance. She was featured in the Bulgarian and Los Angeles-set noir The Black Dahlia, directed by Brian De Palma. Later on, Johansson said that she was a De Palma admirer who had hoped to collaborate with him on the picture but had rejected the role because she felt it was too big for her. Even the Daily Telegraph's Anne Billson thought she was miscast. She "takes to the pulpy period atmosphere as if it were oxygen," according to CNN.
Bob Dylan's 2006 album Modern Times has the song "When the Deal Goes Down..." and the short film When the Deal Goes Down, in which Johansson also stars. In Christopher Nolan's 2006 mystery thriller The Prestige, Johansson played a supporting part as the assistant and girlfriend of Jackman's character, an aristocratic magician. The director Nolan saw "ambiguity" and "a shielded quality" in Johansson. The way Nolan directed captivated her, and she enjoyed collaborating with him. The Los Angeles Times praised the picture, calling it "an adult, provocative piece of work," and it was a financial and critical smash. Billson said that she was miscast, while Empire's Dan Jolin panned her English accent. Other reviewers were less than enthusiastic about her performance.
Playing a recent college grad who takes a job as a nanny, Johansson was one of just three 2007 releases. The other two were the comedy-drama The Nanny Diaries, which starred Chris Evans and Laura Linney. Critics were not fond of the film. Variegated reviews characterized her performance as "[She] essays an engaging heroine" in Variety and "trying to give the material a plausible emotional center" in The New Yorker. A 2008 film starring Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Eric Bana called The Other Boleyn Girl had mixed reviews as well. In an interview with W magazine, Johansson and Portman discussed the positive feedback they received as they promoted the picture. Pete Travers said that the picture was "[moving] in frustrating herks and jerks" in Rolling Stone, but that the two were the film's sole redeeming qualities. Variety praised the ensemble, calling them "almost flawless... at the top of its game," and pointing to "Johansson’s quieter Mary... as the [film’s] emotional center."
Johansson co-stars with Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem as one of the love interests in the Spanish-set romantic comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), her third film with Woody Allen. Both audiences and critics loved the picture, making it one of Allen's most financially successful. Johansson was characterized by a Variety critic as being more "open and malleable" than the competition. In The Spirit, an adaptation of Will Eisner's daily comic strip of the same name, she portrayed the femme fatale Silken Floss. Critics panned it for being misogynistic, melodramatic, and lacking in originality. His Just Not That into You (2009) was the sole 2009 film in which Johansson appeared; it was an ensemble comedy-drama and she played the part of yoga instructor Anna Marks. While critics were mixed, the picture nonetheless managed to do well at the box office.
Marvel Cinematic Universe and global fame from 2010 to 2013
In 2010, Johansson debuted in a production of Arthur Miller's play A View from the Bridge, fulfilling a lifelong dream of hers to act on Broadway. Pictured here is the heartbreaking story of Eddie, played by Liev Schreiber, who falls hopelessly in love with Catherine, his wife's orphaned niece, set against the backdrop of 1950s Italian American New York. Johansson had some qualms about portraying a teen, but a friend eventually talked her into it. According to Ben Brantley of The New York Times, Johansson "melts into her character so thoroughly that her nimbus of celebrity disappears" in the character. Variety's David Rooney gushed about the play and Johansson, calling her the show-stopper. Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play was the Tony Award that she earned in 2010. Critics and Broadway performers were unhappy with the award committee's choice to recognize Johansson and other popular Hollywood celebrities. She responded by saying she could relate to the annoyance, but that she had earned her success through hard work.
Johansson played the role of Black Widow in Jon Favreau's 2010 MCU film Iron Man 2 because Emily Blunt was unable to participate because of other commitments. She did stunt and strength training in preparation for the role, and she dyed her hair red to persuade Favreau that she was the one for the job. According to Johansson, she felt a connection to the character and found the superhero's human qualities admirable. Despite some criticism of her character's writing, the picture made $623.9 million off a $200 million budget and was largely well-received by critics. Matt Goldberg and Tim Robey of the Daily Telegraph both agreed that her only real talent was her good looks. In the 2011 family picture We Bought a Zoo, Johansson co-starred with Matt Damon as zookeeper Kelly. Anne Billson lauded Johansson for giving complexity to a somewhat dull role, and the reviews for the picture were generally positive. The role was good enough to get Johansson nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress: Drama.
For her part as Black Widow in The Avengers (2012), another installment from the MCU, Johansson learnt a little Russian over the phone from a previous teacher. The picture became the third highest-grossing picture of all time in the US and throughout the world, breaking several box office records while receiving mostly good reviews. She received three People's Choice Award nominations and two Teen Choice Award nominations for her performance. Johansson went on to play Janet Leigh in Sacha Gervasi's Hitchcock, a biopic about the production of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho, later that year. Johansson exuded Leigh's sass, intellect, and wit, despite her dissimilar appearance, according to Roger Ebert.
Johansson was the leading lady in Rob Ashford's 2013 Broadway production of Cat in a Hot Tin Roof, which opened in January. The show follows Big Daddy's (Ciarán Hinds) family as they navigate life in the Mississippi Delta, focusing on the dynamics between Big Daddy's son Brick (Benjamin Walker) and Maggie (Johansson). Critics had conflicting feelings about her performance. Joe Dziemianowicz of the Daily News criticized Johansson's portrayal, calling it "alarmingly one-note," while Entertainment Weekly's Thom Geier praised her for "bringing a fierce fighting spirit" to the role. Director Joseph Gordon-Levitt's first feature film, Don Jon, had its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. She played the lead character's girlfriend in this romantic comedy/drama, who was addicted to porn. Johansson had previously appreciated Gordon-Levitt's talent, so she asked him to write the character for her. Critics praised the picture and Johansson's performance in particular. The journalist Claudia Puig of USA Today said it was a spectacular performance.
Johansson replaced Samantha Morton as the voice of Samantha in Spike Jonze's 2013 film Her. Samantha is a self-aware computer operating system. During the film's world debut at the 8th Rome International Film Festival, Johansson took home the prize for Best Actress and was also up for the Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress. The intricacy of the role scared Johansson, but she found the recording sessions for the part both freeing and demanding. Voice actor Scarlett Johansson was "sweet, sexy, caring, manipulative, terrifying, and award-worthy," according to critic Peter Travers. With a "seductive and winning" performance, she was named one of 2013's top films by Time's Richard Corliss.
As a result of her performance, she was also named Best Supporting Actress at the 40th Saturn Awards in 2014.
Under the Skin (2013), a science fiction thriller directed by Jonathan Glazer, features Johansson as a female predator from another planet who targets males in Scotland. The nine-year production was based on the same-titled novel by Michel Faber. She acclimated to an English accent and learnt to drive a van for the part. Johansson created dialogues with street performers who were unaware they were filming. Reviews were mostly good upon its debut, with many praising Johansson in particular. It was her first part in which she was completely naked, and Huffington Post writer Erin Whitney thought it was her best performance up to that moment. In a British Independent Film nomination, author Maureen Foster praised Scarlett Johansson's acting, saying, "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." The film earned Johansson a Blueberry Award for Best Performance by an Actress.
2014–2020: Critically acclaimed and box office smashes
Johansson continued her Marvel Cinematic Universe career with a 2014 return to her Black Widow role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She confronts the enigmatic Winter Soldier assassin and teams up with Captain America (Chris Evans), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and others to expose a plot within S.H.I.E.L.D. In many sequences involving one other, Johansson and Evans penned their own lines of speech. Not her physical attractiveness, but her character's approach to her work—using her feminine charms—drew Johansson to the role. The picture made nearly $714 million globally and was well-received by critics. There was "a real emotional shorthand at work, particularly from Johansson, who is superb here," according to critic Odie Henderson. a performance was good enough to get a nod for Best Supporting Actress at the Saturn Awards.
Alongside Robert Downey Jr., Sofía Vergara, and director Jon Favreau, Johansson had a supporting part in the 2014 film Chef. The critical acclaim and box office success helped it earn over $45 million. "Funny, quirky and insightful, with a bounty of interesting supporting characters" was the verdict of Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Richard Roeper on the film. Johansson portrayed the lead role of Lucy, a protagonist in the 2014 science fiction action picture Lucy by Luc Besson, who has psychokinetic powers after ingesting a nootropic medication. After talking to a number of women about the part, Besson picked Scarlett Johansson because of her intense response to the material and her self-control. Despite some critical skepticism, the majority of reviewers gave the picture high marks for its themes, cinematography, and Johansson's performance. Jim Vejvoda of IGN said that her performance and Besson's direction were the reasons the picture was successful. With a budget of $40 million, the film became the 18th highest-earning picture of 2014, grossing $458 million.
In the 2015 and 2016 Marvel Cinematic Universe features Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Age of Ultron, Johansson reprised her role as Black Widow. She was able to keep her pregnancy a secret during production of the former by making strategic use of close-ups, masks, stunt doubles, and special effects. Both films are among the highest-grossing films of all time, earning almost $1.1 billion. Johansson received four Saturn Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress and two nominations for Best Actress in an Action Movie for Civil War. The 2016 comedy Hail, Caesar!, directed by the Coen brothers and starring Scarlett Johansson, was a critical and commercial success. portrays an actress who gets pregnant while making her picture; Johansson plays a "fixer" who works in old Hollywood movies and tries to find out what happened to a cast member who disappeared while filming a biblical epic. Her voice work includes the characters Kaa and Ash in the 2016 live-action and animated musical comedies The Jungle Book and Sing, respectively, both directed by Jon Favreau. In the same year, she provided the voiceover for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, a children's book.
In the 2017 film version of Rupert Sanders's Ghost in the Shell franchise, Johansson portrayed the role of Motoko Kusanagi. Though the film's cinematography, acting, and visual style were all highly acclaimed, Johansson's portrayal as a cyborg supposed to preserve the memories of a Japanese lady sparked controversy due to the whitewashing of the characters. In response to the criticism, the actress said that she truly wanted to seize the chance to appear in a female-led franchise but would never portray a non-white character. With a production budget of $110 million, Ghost in the Shell made $169.8 million globally. Joining the esteemed Five-Timers Club of the NBC sketch comedy, Johansson became the 17th person and the fourth woman to do so in March 2017 as she presided over Saturday Night Live for the fifth time. In the 2017 comedy Rough Night, Johansson co-starred with Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and Zoë Kravitz as Jess Thayer, one of five friends whose bachelorette party goes awry following the death of a male stripper. The film's critical reaction was uneven, although it did somewhat well at the box office. Johansson returned to her Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Black Widow in Avengers: Infinity War in May of 2018, and she portrayed show dog Nutmeg in Wes Anderson's March stop-motion animated feature Isle of Dogs. Tragically, Johansson was supposed to portray the role of Dante "Tex" Gill, a transgender man who managed a massage parlor and prostitution ring in the '70s and '80s, in the biopic Rub & Tug. After receiving negative feedback about playing a transgender guy, she decided to withdraw from the project.
In 2019's Avengers: Endgame, the highest-grossing film of all time, Johansson resumed her role as Black Widow. Marriage Story, a Netflix original film by Noah Baumbach, stars Adam Driver and her as a divorcing spouse. While going through her own divorce at the time, Johansson felt a kinship to her character. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw praised her "brilliantly textured" portrayal. In Taika Waititi's parody Jojo Rabbit, she played a supporting part as the mother of a little boy who hides a Jewish girl from Nazi Germany. Casting Johansson gave her a rare chance to do humor, and director Taika Waititi based the role on his mother. Stephanie Zacharek dubbed her the "lustrous soul of the movie" despite the film's divided critical reception. Johansson became the twelfth actress to gain two Oscar nods in a single year for her roles in Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story, respectively, earning her first Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations. Both films garnered her nods at the British Academy Film Awards, while the former also earned her a Golden Globe.
Johansson returned to her role as Black Widow in her own standalone prequel picture in 2021, following a year away from the big screen. She was also an executive producer on this project. The film follows Johansson's character as she faces her history in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War; it also stars Florence Pugh. For Johansson, this was the perfect opportunity to highlight the strength and vulnerability that made her character unique among the Avengers, and she felt her role was complete. Reviewers were mostly positive, with many applauding the performances of Scarlett Johansson and Pugh in particular. "Again a great presence in the role, showing expert action and acting chops throughout" was how Deadline Hollywood's Pete Hammond described Johansson, while David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter called the picture "a stellar vehicle" for his actress. At the 47th People's Choice Awards, Johansson was named The Female Movie Star of 2021 for the picture. In the same year, she was back for Sing 2 as Ash's voice actor.
Accusing Disney of violating a contract provision for exclusive theatrical distribution and depriving her of additional box office bonuses, Johansson sued the company in July 2021 over the simultaneous release of Black Widow on their streaming serviceDisney+. Disney retorted that her legal action demonstrated a callous disregard for the "horrific and prolonged" consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. Johansson reportedly earned $20 million for the picture before the Disney+ Premier Access release, according to the studio. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Disney's reaction was characterized as "aggressive," and Bryan Lourd, co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency, blasted Disney for being critical of Johansson's role and for revealing her compensation. Unveiling the terms of the September settlement, Variety revealed that Johansson will continue to work with Disney and got over $40 million.
Wes Anderson's comedic 2023 feature Asteroid City marked Johansson's comeback to the big screen, and she was a part of an ensemble cast. Following Match Point (2005), this was her second Cannes premiere. She took a huge salary cut, receiving only $4,131 per week, for her two months of filming. "I like the sort of constraints of Wes' precision. I think in some ways, it's more liberating." Johansson described her collaboration with Anderson as, "I like the constraints of Wes' precision." The New Yorker's Anthony Lane lauded Johansson for giving her characters depth and for wittily portraying reality and imagination. As one of three sisters who reunite for their mother's wedding, Johansson starred in North Star, Kristin Scott Thomas's directorial debut. Both the picture and Johansson's "awkward British accent" were sources of dissatisfaction for Benjamin Lee of The Guardian.
Johansson co-founded These Pictures and co-starred with Channing Tatum in the romantic comedy Fly Me to the Moon (2024), which was set during the Space Race. The critics unanimously agreed that the film's shining moment was the comedic chemistry between Johansson and Tatum. In the animated prequel feature Transformers One, she provided the voice of Elita-1. Box office receipts for both films were dismal.
As an executive producer on Thunderbolts*, Johansson will make her next Marvel Cinematic Universe comeback. She is eager to return to the Jurassic Park franchise after a ten-year absence and will have a leading role in Jurassic World: Rebirth. Also, June Squibb will star in her directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, and she will be reuniting with Anderson in the ensemble adventure thriller The Phoenician Scheme.
"Summertime" was Johansson's contribution to the 2006 non-profit compilation Unexpected Dreams - Songs from the Stars, which included the musical stylings of Hollywood's A-listers. At a Coachella reunion concert in Indio, California, in April 2007, she shared the stage with the Jesus and Mary Chain. It was the following year that Johansson played the lead role in Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around... Comes Around" music video, which had a shot at an MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year nomination.
With guest appearances from David Bowie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Celebration, Johansson debuted in May 2008 with Anywhere I Lay My Head, an album that comprises eleven cover songs by Tom Waits in addition to one original composition. There were varying opinions about the album. The vocals of Scarlett Johansson did not impress Spin. Reviews ranged from "surprisingly alluring" to "a bravely eccentric selection" to "a brilliant album" that had "ghostly magic" according to certain media. There had a high position of 126 on the Billboard 200, and NME ranked it as the "23rd best album of 2008". About eleven or twelve years old, Johansson began listening to Tom Waits' music and remarked, "His melodies are so beautiful, his voice is so distinct and I had my own way of doing Tom Waits songs."
Inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's duets with Brigitte Bardot, Johansson and singer-songwriter Pete Yorn released their joint album Break Up in September 2009. In the United States, the album peaked at number 41. Steel Train's Terrible Thrills Vol. 1 came out in 2010. 1, which features the vocals of their favorite female musicians performing tracks from their name album. On the album, Johansson sings the lead single "Bullet" first. Johansson contributed her vocals to the 2011 documentary film Wretches & Jabberers' soundtrack with the song "One Whole Hour" (2010). performed the song "Jaunted" in 2012. The climate documentary Chasing Ice (2012) features Ralph's song "Before My Time" at the end of the credits.
Johansson, Holly Miranda, Kendra Morris, Julia Haltigan, and Este Haim of HAIM established a band named the Singles in February 2015. A song named "Candy" was the group's debut hit. Rock band the Singles, from Los Angeles, had its lead vocalist submit a cease-and-desist order to Johansson, telling her to stop using their name. On the 2016 soundtracks of The Jungle Book (with her performance of "Trust in Me"), Sing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (with her performances of "Set It All Free" and "I Don't Wanna"), and others.... The 2018 June 1 EP "Apart" was Johansson's second collaboration with Pete Yorn.
Public perception
The media portrays Johansson in a sexualized light. As she disclosed in a podcast with Bruce Bozzi in 2022, she felt nurtured as a "bombshell-type" performer even when she was 17 years old, when she was filming Lost in Translation. Some have called her "the embodiment of male fantasy" according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Match Point director Woody Allen gushed about her beauty while filming, describing her as "beautiful" and "sexually overwhelming." Anthony Lane, writing in 2014 for The New Yorker, said of Johansson, "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 spoken out against being sexualized and claims that someone's obsession with their beauty is fleeting. Despite her gratitude for the compliments, she feels confined by the idea that her power stems from her sexuality, as she has expressed. Director David Fincher deemed her "too sexy" for the role of Lisbeth Salander, which resulted in her casting loss in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). Johansson warned in 2016 that she might not be interested in wearing a "skin-tight catsuit" for much longer in response to the postponement of making a standalone Black Widow film.
Johansson sees the nickname "ScarJo" as demeaning, careless, and used to her in a negative way. She has no desire to "continuously share details of my everyday life" and hence has no social media accounts. Several beauty lists place Johansson in the upper echelon. From 2006 to 2014, she was a part of Maxim's Hot 100 list. Not only has Esquire named her "Sexiest Woman Alive" twice (in 2006 and 2013), but Playboy (2007), Men's Health (2011), and FHM (since 2005) have also featured her in comparable rankings. After a stellar 2010 season, GQ crowned her Babe of the Year. Along with Kate Foster, Johansson established the plant-based skincare brand The Outset in 2022.
In June 2004, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences extended an invitation to Johansson to become a member. In addition to her appearances in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019, she made an appearance on Forbes' Celebrity 100 list in 2006. The Hollywood Walk of Fame bestowed a star to her in May 2012. She was one of the 100 most important persons in the world in 2021, according to Time's annual list. Forbes listed Johansson on their yearly list of the highest-paid actresses for 2014, 2015, and 2016 with salaries of $17 million, $35.5 million, and $25 million, respectively. After that, in 2018 she made $40.5 million and in 2019 she made $56 million, putting her at the top of the list. With $1.2 billion, she surpassed all other actors in terms of 2016 earnings. IndieWire praised her for daring to do more than just appear in blockbuster after blockbuster; she did it in films like Her and Under the Skin. As of September 2019, Johansson's films have earned over $5.2 billion in North America and over $14.3 billion worldwide. This makes her the highest-grossing actress of all time in North America and the third-highest-grossing box-office star of all time globally. The 2015 unveiling of her wax figure took place at New York's Madame Tussauds museum.
Since 2009, Johansson has been the face of the Spanish brand Mango, in addition to her work with Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, L'Oréal, and Louis Vuitton's advertising campaigns. By appearing in ads for Moët & Chandon, she became the first Hollywood star to endorse a champagne maker. During Super Bowl XLVIII on February 2, 2014, Johansson began her role as the first worldwide brand ambassador for Israeli business SodaStream, which produces home-carbonation equipment. The partnership began in January 2014. There was significant uproar about this because SodaStream had a factory in the West Bank that was under Israeli occupation at the time. Johansson refused to officially collaborate with OpenAI to supply her voice for the app in May of 2024, but she later blasted the firm for launching a chatbot that sounded similar to her.
**Private life**
Johansson dated Jack Antonoff, a fellow student at the Professional Children's School, from 2001 to 2002. For over two years, ending at the end of 2006, she was in a relationship with Josh Hartnett, who co-starred with her in the film Black Dahlia. Hartnett claims that the two of them broke up because they were too busy to be together. In April 2007, Johansson started dating Ryan Reynolds, a Canadian actor. They tied the knot in a rustic Vancouver Island ceremony that took place in September 2008 after being engaged in May of that year. December 2010 saw their separation, and July 2011 saw their divorce. Vanity Fair interviewed Johansson in 2019 and she discussed her marriage. "I mean, the first time I got married I was 23 years old. I didn't really have an understanding of marriage. Maybe I kind of romanticized it, I think, in a way."
The proprietor of an advertising business from France named Romain Dauriac started dating Scarlett Johansson in November 2012. They tied the knot in September of that year. They lived in New York City and Paris, France, respectively. In 2014, she became a mother to their daughter Rose. In Montana's Philipsburg, Johansson and Dauriac exchanged wedding vows that October. Midway through 2016, they divorced. Johansson nonetheless proceeded with the divorce filing in March 2017, citing their marriage as "irretrievably broken," even though Dauriac begged her to reconsider. Her failure to do so led to the finalization of the divorce in September 2017.
In May 2017, Johansson started dating Colin Jost, who is a co-host on Weekend Update and a writer for Saturday Night Live. They tied the knot in May of this year. At their home in New York, they tied the knot in October 2020. In August of 2021, she became a mother to their boy. Johansson splits her time between the Big Apple and Hollywood.
Leaks of Johansson's naked photos from her phone surfaced online in September 2011. Ryan Reynolds, her ex-husband, had received the photos three years before the event, she added. Johansson prevailed in a 2014 case against JC Lattès, a French publisher, for publishing Grégoire Delacourt's false remarks about her relationships in the novel The First Thing We Look At. She had sought $68,000 in damages and received $3,400 instead.
The media, according to Johansson, promote an unhealthy image of women, which in turn leads to eating disorders and poor dietary habits. She penned an essay urging readers to take care of their bodies in a Huffington Post piece. Together with actress Keira Knightley and fully dressed fashion designer Tom Ford, she appeared naked for the March 2006 cover of Vanity Fair. The photo caused quite a stir because some thought it proved that women are more often than males pressured to show off their sexuality.
Johansson has donated to a number of worthy causes, including those fighting breast cancer (Too Many Women), cancer research (Cancer Research UK), aid still required, and hunger relief (USA Harvest). Johansson joined Oxfam, an organization that provides help and development, as an ambassador in 2005. She was a part of U2 lead singer Bono's anti-poverty initiative ONE in 2007. An individual from the United Kingdom won a hair and makeup session, two tickets, and a limo ride to the global premiere of He's Just Not That into You in March 2008 after bidding £20,000 on an eBay auction benefiting Oxfam. The winner also received a pair of tickets.
Johansson stepped down as Oxfam director in January 2014 following backlash over her advocacy for SodaStream, a company whose headquarters were in the West Bank settlement of Mishor Adumim (Israelism). Oxfam is opposed to doing business with Israeli settlements like this one. She helped raise cash to combat poverty, and Oxfam expressed gratitude for her efforts. Hurricane Maria victims received half a million dollars from Johansson and her Avengers co-stars.
In 2018, she joined 300 other Hollywood women in launching the anti-harassment and anti-discrimination Time's Up campaign. At the 2018 Women's March in Los Angeles, Johansson shared her own story and spoke out against abuses of power. As she had previously defended her work with Woody Allen in the face of an accusation from his daughter Dylan Farrow, she faced controversy for naming fellow actor James Franco on accusations of sexual assault.
Johansson has donated to the David Lynch Foundation's Operation Warrior Wellness, which teaches TM to veterans. Phillip Schlamberg, her grand-uncle, was the last American pilot to perish in WWII. His future co-founder of Operation Warrior Wellness, Jerry Yellin, had joined him on a bombing mission.
Positions on political issues
During the 2004 US presidential election, Johansson supported Democratic candidate John Kerry while maintaining her independent registration (at least until 2008). She expressed her disappointment in George W. Bush's re-election in 2004.
She made a number of engagements in Iowa aimed at younger people as part of her campaign for Democratic candidate Barack Obama in January 2008. She also spoke at Cornell College and Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota on Super Tuesday, 2008. After Obama's address in New Hampshire during the 2008 presidential primary, the rapper will.i.am wrote the song "Yes We Can" (2008) and had Johansson appear in the music video, which was directed by Jesse Dylan. Johansson and Anna Wintour helped fund Barack Obama's re-election campaign in 2012 by hosting a fashion launch of apparel and accessories. At the 2012 Democratic National Convention in September, she spoke to the audience and urged young people to vote and to keep Obama in office. As a result of Romney's stance against Planned Parenthood, she criticized him and urged women to vote for Obama.
By holding many fundraisers in 2013, Johansson openly backed Scott Stringer's bid for New York City comptroller, who was the president of Manhattan Borough. Johansson, who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign, starred in an ad with Robert Downey Jr. and Joss Whedon, two of her co-stars from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She addressed the Trump administration during the 2017 Women's March on Washington, saying she would back Trump provided he prioritizes women's rights and ends the government's funding cuts to Planned Parenthood. According to Johansson, Elizabeth Warren was "thoughtful and progressive but realistic" when she backed her in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Johansson sought the release of three Egyptians from prison in December 2020 after she detailed their incarceration conditions. The prisoners were members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a civil rights group. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Johansson was among several actresses who called to rally for Kamala Harris.