Scarlett Johansson Biography

Scarlett Johansson is the husky-voiced actress who first gained major stardom when she co-starred with Bill Murray in the Sofia Coppola film Lost in Translation (2003).

These days, she is more likely to be known for her role in the Marvel Comics Universe as Black Widow. She’s been in a number of feature films in that role, including Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Black Widow (2021).

Scarlett Johansson began acting when she was a kid, first on the New York stage, then in feature films, including North (1994) and Just Cause (1995). Critics raved about her performance in the independent production Manny & Lo (1996), but it was Johansson’s appearance in The Horse Whisperer (1998, starring Robert Redford) that grabbed the attention of moviegoers.

Hailed as an up-and-comer, she went on to a lead role in Ghost World (2000, with Steve Buscemi), the movie version of the comic book by Daniel Clowes. The surprise success of Lost in Translation, with Scarlet Johansson as a emotionally jet-lagged young tourist in Tokyo, made her an international celebrity and a sought-after actor.

In her busy next decade she starred in films including Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003, in which she played the model for the famous painting by Jan Vermeer); the romantic office comedy In Good Company (2004, with Topher Grace); the sci-fi adventure The Island (2005, with Ewan McGregor); the Woody Allen movies Match Point (2005, with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), Scoop (2006, with Hugh Jackman) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008, with Javier Bardem); and the costume drama The Other Boleyn Girl (2008, with Natalie Portman).

In Iron Man 2 (2010) she played the superhero Black Widow, and that made her a regular in the Marvel movie universe throughout the 2010s in films ranging from The Avengers (2012) to Captain Marvel (2019). At the same time she kept her hand in more thoughtful films, playing Janet Leigh in the 2012 biopic Hitchcock and voicing the seductive artificial intelligence unit in Her (2013, with Joaquin Phoenix).

In 2020 she was nominated for Oscars as both best actress and best supporting actress. The former for her role as part of a shattering marriage in Marriage Story (with Adam Driver); the latter was for playing the mother of a Hitler-obsessed boy in the dark comedy Jojo Rabbit.