Scarlett Johansson was born in New York City on November 22, 1984. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family, and her father, Karsten Johansson, is Danish. Scarlett showed a passion for acting at a young age and starred in many plays. She began acting as a child, and her role in the movie The Horse Whisperer brought her critical acclaim at age 13.
Johansson’s interest in acting surfaced at an early age. At the age of 8, she appeared in an off-Broadway production of Sophistry with Ethan Hawke. Johansson landed some acting roles, including her film debut in 1994’s North with Elijah Wood.
In 1999, she appeared in My Brother the Pig and in 2001 in the neo-noir Coen brothers film The Man Who Wasn’t There.
Also in 1999, she appeared in the music video for Mandy Moore’s single, “Candy” Her first leading part came two years later with Manny & Lo, an independent dramatic comedy.
Johansson played the younger sister of a pregnant teenager, both of whom were in foster care. Johansson’s twin brother, Hunter, also made an appearance in the film. In 2003, she was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, one for drama (Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) and one for comedy (Lost in Translation (2003).
She dropped out of Mission: Impossible III (2006) due to scheduling conflicts. Her next film role was in The Island (2005) alongside Ewan McGregor which earned weak reviews from U.S. critics.
Johansson is considered one of Hollywood’s modern sex symbols, and has frequently appeared in published lists of the sexiest women in the world, most notably when she was named the “Sexiest Woman Alive” by Esquire magazine in both 2006 and 2013 (the only woman to be chosen for the title twice),and the “Sexiest Celebrity” by Playboy magazine in 2007.
In 2011, Johansson played the role of Kelly, a zookeeper in the family film We Bought a Zoo. The film gained mainly favourable reviews.Johansson reprised the role of Natasha Romanoff in The Avengers in 2012.
The Avengers received positive reviewsand was highly successful at the box office, becoming the third highest-grossing film both in the United States and worldwide. In November 2011, it was reported she plans to make her directional debut by adapting Truman Capote’s novel, Summer Crossing whose screenplay will be written by playwright Tristine Skyler.
Production on the film is slated to begin in the first half of 2014.In early March 2012, it was announced that Johansson had been cast as Janet Leigh in the Sacha Gervasi-directed film Hitchcock, a behind-the-scenes drama about the making of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho.
Scarlett once dated Hollywood Latin actor Benicio Del Toro before established a love relationship with Jared Leto then her “Black Dahlia” co-star Josh Hartnett.
Despondently, she and Hartnett decided to go separate ways at the end of 2006 after nearly two years together, with the latter citing their busy lives as the reason for the split, she has also continued to make great strides in the movie industry.