Scarlett Johansson has been acting since she was a child, and she has managed something very few stars pull off: success in small independent dramas and in the biggest blockbusters at the same time. Best known as Black Widow, she is also an Oscar nominee, a Tony winner and, since 2025, a film director.
Early life
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 1984, in Manhattan, New York City. Her father, Karsten Johansson, is a Danish architect, and her mother, Melanie Sloan, is a producer. She has a twin brother, Hunter, plus older siblings Vanessa and Adrian. She went to the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan and made her film debut in North in 1994.
Rise to fame
Her first big moment came in Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer in 1998. In 2003 she starred in two acclaimed films, Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring. Lost in Translation won her the BAFTA for Best Actress when she was still a teenager. She went on to work with Woody Allen in Match Point and won a Tony Award in 2010 for the Broadway play A View from the Bridge.
Black Widow and blockbusters
In 2010 she first played Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow, in Iron Man 2. She played the role across many Marvel films, including the Avengers series, and led her own film, Black Widow, in 2021. She also starred in the hit Lucy and voiced the computer system in Her.
In 2019 she received two Oscar nominations in the same year, for Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit. In 2025 she led Jurassic World Rebirth as covert operative Zora Bennett. The film was a big global hit, and reports say she will return for the next one.
Director
She made her feature directing debut with Eleanor the Great, a warm drama starring June Squibb about an older woman who starts a new life in New York. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025 and reached cinemas later that year.
Business
In 2022 she launched The Outset, a clean skincare brand. She was named the highest paid actress in the world by Forbes in 2018 and 2019.
Personal life
Johansson was married to actor Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2011 and to journalist Romain Dauriac from 2014 to 2017. They have a daughter, Rose. She married comedian Colin Jost, a writer on Saturday Night Live, in 2020. Their son, Cosmo, was born in 2021.
