Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Her achievements include being among the world's highest-paid actresses from 2014 to 2016, multiple appearances in the Forbes Celebrity 100, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Born and raised in Manhattan, New York City, she aspired to be an actress from a young age, and first appeared on stage in an Off Broadway play as a child. She made her film debut in the fantasy comedy North (1994) and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Manny & Lo (1996). Johansson rose to fame with her role in The Horse Whisperer (1998); her breakthrough role was as Rebecca, an outcast in Ghost World (2001).
Johansson shifted to adult roles in 2003 with her performances in Lost in Translation (for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress) and Girl with a Pearl Earring. She was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for these films, and for playing an estranged teenager in the drama A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004), and a seductress in the psychological thriller Match Point (2005). Other films during this period include the mystery thriller The Prestige (2006) and the comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). She also released two albums Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008) and Break Up (2009), both of which charted on the Billboard 200.
In 2010, Johansson debuted on Broadway in a revival of A View from the Bridge, which won her a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress. Later that year, she began portraying Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She voiced an intelligent computer operating system in the 2013 comedy-drama Her, and played an alien in the 2013 science fiction film Under the Skin, as well as a woman with psychokinetic abilities in the 2014 science fiction action Lucy. The highest-grossing actress of 2016, she is also, as of May 2017, the highest-grossing actress of all time in North America.
A prominent celebrity brand endorser, Johansson also supports various charities and causes. She has been married twice, to the Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2011 and the French businessman Romain Dauriac (with whom she has a daughter) from 2014 to 2017.
Video Scarlett Johansson
Early life
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born in Manhattan, New York City. Her father, Karsten Olaf Johansson, is an architect originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, and her paternal grandfather, Ejner Johansson, was an art historian, screenwriter and film director, whose own father was Swedish. Johansson's mother, Melanie Sloan, a producer, comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family, of Polish Jewish and Belarusian Jewish descent; the family surname was originally "Szlamberg". She has an older sister, Vanessa, also an actress; an older brother, Adrian; and a twin brother, Hunter. Johansson also has an older half-brother, Christian, from her father's first marriage. She holds both American and Danish citizenship.
Johansson attended PS 41, an elementary school in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Growing up, her family had limited financial means. Her parents divorced when she was 13. Johansson was particularly close to her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Sloan, a bookkeeper and schoolteacher; they often spent time together and Johansson considered Sloan her best friend. Interested in a career in the spotlight from an early age, Johansson often put on song-and-dance routines for her family. She was particularly fond of musical theater, describing herself as "one of those jazz-hands kids".
I always had the chance to do whatever I wanted to do, my parents were very open about that [...] Acting has been a passion of mine. I wanted to be in musicals as a kid, and took tap dance, so for me it's a dream come true, my childhood was filled with things that I loved to do, and also very normal things: I lived in New York, I have a family life and went to a regular school. If anything, I look back and think, 'Wow, I did a lot of things that a lot of people don't get to do in their lifetime'.
As a child, Johansson practiced acting by staring in the mirror until she made herself cry, wanting to be Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis. At age seven, she was devastated when a talent agent signed one of her brothers instead of her. Determined, she decided to become an actress anyway. She enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, and began auditioning for commercials, but soon lost interest: "I didn't want to promote Wonder Bread." She shifted her focus to film and theater, and made her first stage appearance in the Off Broadway play Sophistry with Ethan Hawke, in which she had only two lines. Around this time, she began studying at Professional Children's School (PCS), a private educational institution for aspiring child actors in Manhattan. At age nine, Johansson made her film debut as John Ritter's daughter in the fantasy comedy North (1994). She remembers being on the set of the film, recalling, "for some reason, I just knew what to do, instinctively. It was like, I don't know ... fate." Johansson later played minor roles of the daughter of Sean Connery and Kate Capshaw's characters in the mystery thriller Just Cause (1995), and an art student in If Lucy Fell (1996).
Maps Scarlett Johansson
Acting career
Early roles (1996-2002)
Johansson's first leading role was as Amanda, the younger sister of a pregnant teenager who runs away from her foster home in Manny & Lo (1996) alongside Aleksa Palladino and her brother, Hunter. Her performance received positive reviews; one for the San Francisco Chronicle noted, "[the film] grows on you, largely because of the charm of ... Scarlett Johansson," while critic Mick LaSalle, writing for the same paper, commented on her "peaceful aura," and believed, "If she can get through puberty with that aura undisturbed, she could become an important actress." Johansson earned a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female for the role.
After appearing in minor roles in Fall and Home Alone 3 (both 1997), Johansson garnered wider attention for her performance in the film The Horse Whisperer (1998), directed by Robert Redford. The drama film, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nicholas Evans, tells the story of a talented trainer with a remarkable gift for understanding horses, who is hired to help an injured teenager (played by Johansson). The actress received an "introducing" credit on this film, although it was her seventh role. On Johansson's maturity, Redford described her as "13 going on 30". Todd McCarthy of Variety commented that Johansson "convincingly conveys the awkwardness of her age and the inner pain of a carefree girl suddenly laid low by horrible happenstance". Nominated for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress for the film, Johansson believed that it "changed things for me in a lot of ways [...] I went through this realization that acting, at its heart, is the ability to manipulate your own emotions."
Johansson later appeared in My Brother the Pig (1999) and in the neo-noir, Coen brothers film The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). Her breakthrough came playing a cynical outcast in Terry Zwigoff's black comedy Ghost World (2001), an adaptation of Daniel Clowes' graphic novel of same name. Johansson auditioned for the film via a tape from New York and Zwigoff believed her to be "a unique, eccentric person, and right for that part". The film premiered at the 2001 Seattle International Film Festival; it was a box office failure, but has since developed a cult status. Credited with "sensitivity and talent [that] belie her age" by an Austin Chronicle critic, Johansson won a Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
With David Arquette, Johansson appeared in the horror comedy Eight Legged Freaks (2002), which tells the story of a collection of spiders that are exposed to toxic waste, causing them to grow to gigantic proportions and begin killing and harvesting. After graduating from PCS that year, she applied to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but decided to focus on her film career when she was rejected.
Transition to adult roles (2003-2004)
Johansson transitioned from teen to adult roles, with two films in 2003, the romantic comedy-drama Lost in Translation and the drama Girl with a Pearl Earring. She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress for both films, winning the former for Lost in Translation. In this film, directed by Sofia Coppola, she plays Charlotte, a listless and lonely young wife, opposite Bill Murray. Coppola had first noticed Johansson in Manny & Lo, and compared her to a young Lauren Bacall; Coppola wrote the film's story based on the relationship between Humphrey Bogart and Bacall in The Big Sleep (1946). Johansson immediately accepted the part and found the experience of working with a female director different because of Coppola's ability to empathize with her. Made on a budget of $4 million, the film earned $119 million at the box-office and received positive reviews from critics. Roger Ebert was pleased with the film and described the lead performances as "wonderful," and Entertainment Weekly wrote of Johansson's "embracing, restful serenity". The New York Times praised Johansson, then 18, for playing an older character.
In Peter Webber's Girl with a Pearl Earring, which is based on the novel of same name by Tracy Chevalier, Johansson played Griet, a young 17th-century servant in the household of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (played by English actor Colin Firth). Webber interviewed 150 girls for the part before Johansson was cast for the part. He felt the actress "just stood out. She had something distinctive about her." While Johansson found the character moving, she did not read the novel, as she thought it was better to approach the story with a fresh start. Girl with a Pearl Earring received positive reviews and was profitable. In his review for The New Yorker, Anthony Lane thought that her presence kept the film "alive," 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." Owen Gleiberman, of Entertainment Weekly similarly noted her "nearly silent performance," observing, "The interplay on her face of fear, ignorance, curiosity, and sex is intensely dramatic."
In Variety's opinion, Johansson's roles in these two films established her as "one of her generation's most versatile young actresses". Johansson had five releases in 2004, three of which--the teen heist film The Perfect Score, the drama A Love Song for Bobby Long and the drama A Good Woman, adapted from Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan--were critical and commercial failures. Co-starring with John Travolta, Johansson played a discontented and suspicious teenager in A Love Song for Bobby Long, which is based on the novel Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps. Variety's David Rooney opined that Johansson's and Travolta's portrayals rescued the film. Johansson earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama nomination for the film.
In her fourth release in 2004, the live-action animated comedy The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Johansson voiced the role of Princess Mindy, the daughter of King Neptune. She agreed to do the film because of her love for cartoons and the animated series The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991-1995). The film was her most commercially successful work that year. She followed it with In Good Company, a comedy-drama about a middle-aged man (Dennis Quaid), whose life becomes complicated after the arrival of a new boss (Topher Grace) who is nearly half his age and dates his daughter (Johansson). Reviews of the film were generally positive, describing it as "witty and charming". Roger Ebert was impressed with Johansson's portrayal, writing that she "continues to employ the gravitational pull of quiet fascination".
Films with Woody Allen (2005-2009)
Johansson played Nola, an aspiring actress who begins an affair with a married man (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in Woody Allen's drama Match Point (2005). After replacing Kate Winslet with Johansson for the role, Allen changed the character's nationality from British to American. As an admirer of Allen's films, Johansson liked the idea of working with him, but felt nervous her first day on the set. The New York Times saw some of the best acting from Johansson and Rhys Meyers in an Allen film in a long time, and Mick LaSalle writing in the San Francisco Chronicle said that Johansson "is a powerhouse from the word go," with a performance that "borders on astonishing". The film, a box-office success, earned Johansson nominations for the Golden Globe and the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress. Also that year, Johansson underwent a tonsillectomy, after which she starred with Ewan McGregor in Michael Bay's science fiction film The Island, in dual roles as Sarah Jordan and her clone, Jordan Two Delta. Filming the production was exhausting for Johansson: she had to shoot for 14 hours a day, and she hit her head and injured herself. The film was a commercial failure and received mixed reviews.
Two of Johansson's films in 2006 explored the world of stage magicians, both opposite Hugh Jackman. Allen cast her opposite Jackman and himself in the film Scoop (2006), in which she played a journalism student. The film was a modest worldwide box office success, but polarized critics. Ebert was critical of the film, but found Johansson "lovely as always," and Mick LaSalle opined that she "brings deftness and freshness" to her part. She also appeared in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, a film noir shot in Los Angeles and Bulgaria. Johansson later said she was a fan of De Palma and had wanted to work with him on the film. Nevertheless, she thought that she was "physically wrong" for the part, and Anne Billson of The Daily Telegraph likewise found her miscast. CNN noted that she "takes to the pulpy period atmosphere as if it were oxygen".
Also in 2006, Johansson starred in the short film When the Deal Goes Down, directed by Bennett Miller, set to Bob Dylan's song "When the Deal Goes Down...", released to promote his album, Modern Times. Johansson had a supporting role of assistant and lover of Jackman's character, an aristocratic magician, in Christopher Nolan's mystery thriller The Prestige (2006). Nolan, who was interested in having Johansson play the role, described her as possessing an "ambiguity" and "a shielded quality". She was fascinated with Nolan's directing methods and liked working with him. The film was both a critical and box office success, recommended by the Los Angeles Times as "an adult, provocative piece of work". Some critics were skeptical of her performance; Anne Billson referred to her as miscast and Dan Jolin in Empire magazine criticized her English accent, writing that she "forgets to engage her audience, trilling the film's only bum note".
Johansson's only work in 2007 was in the critically panned comedy-drama The Nanny Diaries alongside Chris Evans and Laura Linney, in which she has the role of a college graduate working as a nanny. Reviews of her performance were mixed; Variety wrote, "[She] essays an engaging heroine," and The New Yorker criticized her for looking "merely confused" while "trying to give the material a plausible emotional center". In 2008, Johansson starred in The Other Boleyn Girl, with Natalie Portman and Eric Bana, a film which garnered mixed reviews. Promoting the film, Johansson and Portman appeared on the cover of W, discussing with the magazine the public's reception of them. Writing for Rolling Stone, Pete Travers criticized the film for "[moving] in frustrating herks and jerks," but thought that the duo were the only positive aspect of the production. Variety credited the cast as "almost flawless ... at the top of its game," citing "Johansson's quieter Mary ... as the [film's] emotional center".
In her third collaboration with Woody Allen, the romantic comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), which had been filmed in Spain, Johansson plays one of the love interests of Javier Bardem's character alongside Penélope Cruz. The film was one of Allen's most profitable and received favorable reviews. A reviewer in Variety labelled Johansson "open and malleable" which "serves as a nice contrast to the [other actors]". She also played the femme fatale Silken Floss in The Spirit, based on the newspaper comic strip of the same name by Will Eisner. It received poor reviews from critics, who deemed it melodramatic, unoriginal and sexist. Johansson's only role in 2009 was as Anna Marks, a yoga instructor, in the ensemble comedy-drama He's Just Not That Into You (2009). The film was released to tepid reviews, but was a box office success.
Marvel Cinematic Universe and stage roles (2010-2013)
Johansson had aspired to appear on Broadway since her childhood. She made her debut in a 2010 revival of the drama A View from the Bridge, written by Arthur Miller. Set in the 1950s, in an Italian-American neighborhood in New York, it tells the tragic tale of Eddie (played by Liev Schreiber), who has an inappropriate love for his wife's orphaned niece, Catherine (played by Johansson). Johansson was initially uncomfortable playing a teenage character, but later agreed to do the play after a friend convinced her to take on the part. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote of Johansson's performance that she "melts into her character so thoroughly that her nimbus of celebrity disappears". Variety's David Rooney was impressed with the play and Johansson in particular, describing her as the play's chief performer. She won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. Some critics and Broadway actors criticized the award committee's decision to award the work of mainstream Hollywood actors, including Johansson. In response, she said that she understood the frustration, but had worked hard for her accomplishments.
Johansson signed on to play Black Widow in Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 (2010), a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Before she secured the role, she dyed her hair red to convince Favreau that she was right for the part, and undertook stunt and strength training preparing for the role. Johannsson said the character resonated with her, and she admired the superhero's human traits. The film earned $623.9 million against its $200 million budget, and received generally positive reviews from critics, but she was mostly criticized for her performance. Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph believed that she "gets nothing to do but pout [and] perform a few swivel kicks" and Matt Goldberg similarly thought that she had little to do but look attractive. In 2011, Johansson played the role of Kelly, a zookeeper in the family film We Bought a Zoo alongside Matt Damon. The film garnered mainly favorable reviews, and Anne Billson praised Johansson for bringing depth to a rather uninteresting character. Johansson earned a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress: Drama nomination for her performance.
Johansson learned some Russian from a former teacher on the phone for her role of Black Widow in The Avengers (2012), another entry from the MCU. The film received positive reviews, and broke many box office records, becoming the third highest-grossing film both in the United States and worldwide. For her performance, she was nominated for two Teen Choice Awards and three People's Choice Awards. Later that year, Johansson portrayed the actress Janet Leigh in Sacha Gervasi's Hitchcock, a behind-the-scenes drama about the making of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. Roger Ebert believed that Johansson did not look much like Leigh, but conveyed her spunk, intelligence and sense of humor.
In January 2013, Johansson starred in a Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Rob Ashford. Set in the Mississippi Delta, it examines the relationships among members of the family of Big Daddy (played by Ciarán Hinds), primarily between his son Brick (played by Benjamin Walker) and Maggie (played by Johansson). Her performance received mixed reviews from critics. Entertainment Weekly's Thom Geier wrote, "Scarlett Johansson brings a fierce fighting spirit" to her part, but Joe Dziemianowicz from Daily News called her performance "alarmingly one-note". The 2013 Sundance Film Festival hosted the premiere of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut, Don Jon. In this romantic comedy-drama, she plays a woman perplexed by the pornography-addicted title character. Gordon-Levitt wrote the role specifically for Johansson, who admitted to being a fan of his acting work. The film received positive reviews; Johansson's performance was highlighted by critics. Claudia Puig of USA Today stated that she "gives one of her best performances as the bossy, gum-chewing Jersey girl".
In 2013, Johansson voiced the character Samantha, an intelligent computer operating system, in Spike Jonze's film Her, replacing Samantha Morton in the role. The film premiered at the 8th Rome International Film Festival, where Johansson won Best Actress; she was also nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress. Johansson was intimidated by the role's complexity, and considered her recording sessions for the role challenging but liberating. Peter Travers believed Johansson "speaks Samantha in tones sweet, sexy, caring, manipulative and scary" and that her "vocal tour de force is award-worthy". Time magazine's Richard Corliss took note of her "seductive and winning" performance. Her was deemed by critics to be among the best films of 2013.
Johansson was cast in the role of an alien who preys on men in Scotland in Jonathan Glazer's science fiction movie Under the Skin (2013). The film, an adaptation of Michel Faber's novel of the same name, took nine years to complete. For the role she learned to drive a van and speak with an English accent. Johansson improvised her conversations with non-professional actors on the street, who were unknowingly participating in the film; these scenes were filmed with hidden cameras. It was released to generally positive reviews, with particular praise for Johansson. Erin Whitney, writing for HuffPost, considered it her best performance to date, while taking note of her first fully nude role. It earned Johansson a BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film nomination.
Recent work (2014-present)
Continuing her work in the MCU, Johansson reprised her role as Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). In the film, she joins forces with the title character (Chris Evans) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to uncover a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D., while facing a mysterious assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Johansson and Evans wrote their own dialogue for several scenes they had together. Johansson was attracted to her character's way of doing her job employing her feminine wiles and not her sexuality and physical appeal. The film became a critical and commercial success, grossing over $714 million worldwide. Critic Odie Henderson saw "a genuine emotional shorthand at work, especially from Johansson, who is excellent here". The role earned her a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination.
Johansson played a supporting role in the film Chef (2014), alongside Robert Downey, Jr., Sofía Vergara, and director Jon Favreau. It grossed over $45 million at the box office and was well-received by critics. The Chicago Sun-Times writer Richard Roeper found the film "funny, quirky and insightful, with a bounty of interesting supporting characters". In Luc Besson's science fiction action film Lucy (2014), Johansson starred as the title character, who gains psychokinetic abilities when a nootropic drug is absorbed into her bloodstream. Besson discussed the role with several actresses, eventually casting Johansson due to her strong reaction to the script; he was also impressed by her discipline. Critics generally praised the film for its themes, visuals and Johansson's performance, while some found the plot nonsensical. IGN's Jim Vejvoda opined the "movie is all about Johansson, who's in almost every scene," attributing the film's success to her acting and to Besson's style. The film grossed $458 million against a budget of $40 million to become the 18th highest-grossing film of 2014.
In 2015 and 2016, Johansson again played Black Widow in the MCU films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. During filming of the former, a mixture of close-ups, concealing costumes, stunt doubles and visual effects were used to help hide Johansson's pregnancy. Both films earned more than $1.4 billion, ranking among the highest-grossing films of all time. For Captain America: Civil War, Johansson earned her second nomination for Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie and fourth for Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Analyzing Johansson's career, Vulture noted her several romantic onscreen pairings with men older than her, including Mark Ruffalo in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Earlier in 2016, Johansson featured in Coen brothers' critically acclaimed comedy film Hail, Caesar! about a "fixer" working in the classical Hollywood cinema, trying to discover what happened to a cast member who vanished during the filming of a biblical epic; Johansson played an actress who becomes pregnant while her film is in production. She also voiced the character Kaa in Disney's live-action remake of The Jungle Book, and ash in the animated comedy film Sing (both 2016).
Johansson played the cyborg, supersoldier Motoko Kusanagi in Rupert Sanders's 2017 film adaptation of the Ghost in the Shell franchise. The film received mixed reviews; it was praised for its visual style, acting and cinematography, but was controversial for whitewashing the cast, particularly Johansson's character. Responding to the criticism, she said she would never play a person of another race, but wanted to use this rare opportunity to star in a franchise with a female protagonist. The film grossed $169.8 million worldwide against a production budget of $110 million. In March 2017, Johansson hosted Saturday Night Live for the fifth time, making her the 17th person, and the fourth woman (after Candice Bergen, Drew Barrymore and former cast member Tina Fey) to enter the NBC sketch comedy series' prestigious Five-Timers Club. In the black comedy film Rough Night (2017), Johansson played Jess Thayer, one of the five friends--alongside Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer and Zoë Kravitz--whose bachelorette party goes wrong after a male stripper dies. Despite mixed critical reception for the film, it had moderate box-office returns.
Upcoming projects
In October 2014, it was announced that Johansson will star in, and executive produce, the upcoming eight-episode period series The Custom of the Country, based on Edith Wharton's 1913 novel of the same name. She is set to play Undine Spragg, a young woman from the Midwest who tries to climb her way up the New York City social ladder. Johansson will continue playing Black Widow in Avengers: Infinity War scheduled for release in May 2018, and the untitled sequel scheduled for May 2019.
Music career
In 2006, Johansson sang the track "Summertime" for Unexpected Dreams - Songs From the Stars, a non-profit collection of songs recorded by Hollywood actors. She performed with the Jesus and Mary Chain for a special Coachella reunion show in Indio, California, in April 2007. The following year, Johansson appeared as the leading lady in Justin Timberlake's music video, for "What Goes Around... Comes Around", which was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year.
In May 2008, Johansson released her debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head, which consists of one original song and ten cover versions of Tom Waits' songs, and features David Bowie, members from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Celebration. Reviews of the album were mixed. Spin was not particularly impressed with Johansson's singing. Some critics found it to be "surprisingly alluring," "a bravely eccentric selection," and "a brilliant album" with "ghostly magic". NME named the album the "23rd best album of 2008"; it peaked at number 126 on the Billboard 200. Johansson later spoke of the opportunity she had to record the album, adding, "I thought I would do maybe an album of standards, because I'm not a songwriter. I'm a vocalist." She started listening to Waits when she was 11 or 12 years old. Johansson said of Waits in an interview, "His melodies are so beautiful, his voice is so distinct and I had my own way of doing Tom Waits songs."
In September 2009, Johansson and singer-songwriter Pete Yorn released a collaborative album, Break Up, inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's duets with Brigitte Bardot. The album reached number 41 in the US. In 2010, Steel Train released Terrible Thrills Vol. 1, which includes their favorite female artists singing songs from their self-titled album. Johansson is the first artist on the album, singing "Bullet". Johansson sang "One Whole Hour" for the 2011 soundtrack of the documentary film Wretches & Jabberers (2010). In 2012, she added her voice to a J. Ralph track entitled "Before My Time" to the end credits of the climate documentary Chasing Ice (2012).
In February 2015, Johansson formed a band called the Singles. It is made up of Este Haim from HAIM, Holly Miranda, Kendra Morris and Julia Haltigan. The first single released by the group was called "Candy". Johansson was issued a cease and desist order from the lead singer of the Los Angeles-based rock band the Singles, demanding she stop using their name. In 2016, she performed "Trust in Me" for The Jungle Book soundtrack and "The Promise & The Prize," "Universal Fanfare" and "My Happy Ending" for Sing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
Personal life
Johansson is reluctant to discuss her personal life saying , "It's nice to have everybody not know your business." Regarding her religious affiliation, she has described herself as Jewish and celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah, but has stated that she dislikes it when celebrities thank God or Jesus in their award acceptance speeches.
While attending PCS, Johansson dated classmate Jack Antonoff from 2001 to 2002. She dated her Black Dahlia co-star Josh Hartnett for about two years until the end of 2006, with Hartnett citing their busy lives as the reason for their split. Johansson began a relationship with Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds in 2007, and in May 2008, they became engaged. In September 2008, the couple married in a quiet ceremony near Tofino, British Columbia. In December 2010, the couple announced their separation; their divorce was finalized in July 2011.
In November 2012, Johansson started dating Frenchman Romain Dauriac, the owner of an independent advertising agency. In September 2013, it was announced that Johansson and Dauriac were engaged. They divided their time between residences in New York City and Paris. She gave birth to their daughter, Rose Dorothy Dauriac, in 2014. Johansson and Dauriac married in October 2014, in Philipsburg, Montana. In January 2017, it was revealed they had separated in the summer of 2016. Johansson filed for a divorce that was finalized in September 2017.
Johansson has criticized the media for promoting an image that causes unhealthy diets and eating disorders among women, believing "that being ultra-thin is not sexy at all". In one article she wrote for HuffPost, Johansson encouraged the reader to maintain a healthy body. She appeared nude on the cover of the March 2006 issue of Vanity Fair alongside actress Keira Knightley and fully clothed fashion designer Tom Ford. This caused some controversy as it was believed the photo demonstrated that women are forced to flaunt their sexuality more often than men. In September 2011, nude photographs of Johansson hacked from her cell phone were published online. Following an FBI investigation, the perpetrator was arrested, pled guilty, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Johansson said the photos had been sent to her then-husband, Reynolds, three years before the incident. In 2014, Johansson won a lawsuit against French publisher, JC Lattès, for using her name and featuring a look-alike model of her in the novel The First Thing We Look At by Gregoire Delacourt. Johansson was awarded $3,400, a fraction of the $68,000 she had claimed.
Public image
Johansson is described as a sex symbol by the media, which considers her lips, green eyes, and voice among her trademarks. The Sydney Morning Herald describes Johansson as "the embodiment of male fantasy". During the filming of Match Point, director Woody Allen said he found it "very hard to be extra witty around a sexually overwhelming, beautiful young woman who is wittier than you are". In 2014, New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane wrote that "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". Regardless, Johansson dislikes being "super-sexualised" as "the new Marilyn Monroe" and "always be[ing] an object of desire. Because it doesn't last." Johansson's sex appeal also cost her the lead role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) as its director David Fincher thought she was "too sexy" for the part.
Johansson ranks highly in several beauty listings. Maxim included her in their Hot 100 from 2006 to 2014. She is the only woman to be named "Sexiest Woman Alive" twice by Esquire (2006 and 2013), and has been included in similar listings by Playboy (2007), Men's Health (2011), and FHM (since 2005). She was named GQ's Babe of the Year in 2010. Madame Tussauds New York museum installed a wax sculpture of her in 2015.
Johansson is commonly called "ScarJo" by the media and fans, but dislikes being referred to as such, deeming it "awful" and "terrible". In the May 2014 issue of Glamour, she stated, "I associate that name [ScarJo] with, like, pop stars. It sounds tacky. It's lazy and flippant. And there's something kind of violent about it. There's something insulting about it."
Johansson was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2004. In 2006, Johansson appeared on Forbes' Celebrity 100, a list she was featured in again in 2014 and 2015. Johansson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2012. From 2014 to 2016, she was one of the highest-paid actresses, with annual earnings of $17 million, $35.5 million and $25 million, respectively. She was the highest-grossing actor of 2016, with a total of $1.2 billion. As a result, IndieWire called her among "the most daring talents in the business with one risky role after the next". As of May 2017, Johansson is the highest-grossing actress of all time in North America, with her films making over $3.6 billion.
Endorsements
Johansson has appeared in advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, L'Oréal and Louis Vuitton, and has been the face of Spanish brand Mango since 2009. After appearing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala with Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, Johansson was announced as the face of the new Dolce & Gabbana make-up collection in early 2009. She made a personal appearance at the London store, Selfridges, in July 2009, to help launch and promote the line. Johansson was also the first Hollywood celebrity to become an ambassador for a champagne producer as the spokesperson for Moët & Chandon.
In January 2014, the Israeli company SodaStream, which makes home-carbonation products, hired Johansson as its first global brand ambassador, a relationship that commenced with a television commercial during Super Bowl XLVIII on February 2, 2014.
Other ventures
Philanthropy
Johansson has supported various charitable organizations, including Aid Still Required, Cancer Research UK, Stand Up To Cancer, Too Many Women (which works against breast cancer), and USA Harvest to provide food for people in need. In 2005, Johansson became a Global Ambassador for the aid and development agency Oxfam. In 2007, Johansson took part in social advocacy as part of the anti-poverty campaign ONE, which was organized by U2 lead singer Bono. In March 2008, a UK-based bidder paid £20,000 on an eBay auction to benefit Oxfam, winning a hair and makeup treatment, a pair of tickets and a chauffeured trip to accompany Johansson on a 20-minute date to the world premiere of He's Just Not That Into You.
In January 2014, Johansson resigned from her Oxfam position after facing criticism for her promotion of SodaStream, whose main factory was based in Mishor Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, as Oxfam opposes all trade with such Israeli settlements. Her spokesman said she and Oxfam "have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards [sic] to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement". In response to her resignation, Oxfam stated that it was "grateful for her many contributions ... [in] helping to highlight the impact of natural disasters and raise funds to save lives and fight poverty".
Politics
Johansson was registered as an independent, at least through 2008, and campaigned for Democratic candidate John Kerry in the 2004 United States presidential election. Of George W. Bush's 2004 reelection, she said, "[I am] disappointed. I think it was a disappointment for a large percentage of the population."
Johansson also campaigned for Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Her endeavors included appearances in Iowa during January 2008, where her efforts were targeted at younger voters, an appearance at Cornell College, and a speaking engagement at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota on Super Tuesday, 2008. Johansson appeared in the music video for rapper will.i.am's song, "Yes We Can" (2008), directed by Jesse Dylan, a song inspired by Obama's speech following the 2008 New Hampshire primary. In February 2012, Johansson and Anna Wintour hosted a fashion launch of pro-Obama clothing, bags and accessories, whose proceeds went to the President's re-election campaign. She addressed voters at the Democratic National Convention in September 2012, calling for Obama's reelection and for more engagement from young voters. She specifically encouraged women to vote for Obama and condemned Mitt Romney for his opposition to Planned Parenthood.
Johansson publicly endorsed and supported Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's 2013 run for New York City Comptroller by hosting a series of fundraisers. To encourage people to vote in the US election of 2016, Johansson appeared in a commercial alongside her Marvel Cinematic Universe co-star Robert Downey Jr. and Joss Whedon. In 2017, she spoke at the Women's March on Washington, addressing Donald Trump's presidency and stating that she would support him if he works for women's rights and stops withdrawing federal funding for Planned Parenthood. She elaborated, "Once the heaviness [of the election] began to subside, an opportunity has presented itself to make real long-term change, not just for future Americans, but in the way we view our responsibility to get involved with and stay active in our communities. Let this weight not drag you down, but help to get your heels stuck in."
Footnotes
References
Further reading
- Roberts, Chris (2007). Scarlett Johansson: Portrait of a Rising Star (Hardcover ed.). London: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84442-399-6. OCLC 440517789.
External links
- Scarlett Johansson on IMDb
- Scarlett Johansson at the Internet Broadway Database
- Scarlett Johansson at AllMovie
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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