Scarlett Johansson Biography

Name

Scarlett Johansson

 

Date of Birth

November 22, 1984

 

Birth Place

New York, N.Y.

 

Relationships

Sean Penn (linked in 2011) Ryan Reynolds, husband (2007 to present; divorce pending) Josh Hartnett, ex-boyfriend (2005 to 2007) Jared Leto, ex-boyfriend (2004 to 2005)

1992-1993

Acting Too Commercial

At age 7, Johansson starts auditioning for commercials and becomes disinterested. "It was like a cattle call," she tells Allure in 2005. "[My mom and I] decided I'd just go out for film. I didn't want to promote Wonder Bread." After taking weekend acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan, an 8-year-old Johansson appears opposite Ethan Hawke in an off-Broadway production of Sophistry. "I had two lines," she tells Allure.

1994-1996

Fate Plays a Hand

In Rob Reiner's North, Johansson, 9, makes her film debut as John Ritter's daughter. "I remember going onto the set of my first film and, for some reason, I just knew what to do, instinctively. It was like, I don't know...fate," she tells New York Magazine in 2004. As fate has it, an 11-year-old Johansson draws notice – and an Independent Spirit Award nod – for her performance as one of two orphaned sisters who run away from a foster home in Manny & Lo.

1998

May 15

Stepping Up

Johansson's standout performance as a young teenager who loses her leg in a horse-riding accident in The Horse Whisperer puts her on the map. Her director and costar Robert Redford famously calls her "13 going on 30." She tells Esquire in 2005, "That film 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."

2003

September 12

Found in Translation

Johansson, fresh out of high school, stars in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, playing a lonely twentysomething who befriends Bill Murray during a trip to Tokyo. The film opens to rave reviews, catapulting Johansson onto Hollywood's A-List and earning her a Best Comedic Actress Golden Globe nomination.

December 12

Girl with a Nomination

Girl with a Pearl Earring hits theaters. Johansson earns her second Best Actress Golden Globe nod for portraying a quiet 17th century Dutch maid, the inspiration for Johannes Vermeer's famous painting. "It was emotionally draining, but not difficult," she says of the role to New York Magazine. "It's much easier to let the emotions play across your face than to have to fumble around with silly dialogue."

2004

May

Leto Love

Johansson is first spotted hanging out with actor Jared Leto in L.A. Johansson never discusses the relationship; the two are an off-and-on item for the next year.

December 29

Double Duty

Cementing her status as an A-list actress, Johansson releases two movies on the same day: In Good Company with Topher Grace and A Love Song for Bobby Long with John Travolta. She goes on to earn her third Golden Globe nod for Bobby Long.

2005

July 02

Johansson Kissing Hartnett

Johansson gets close to actor Josh Hartnett. Spotted at Live 8 in London, "They were on their own, very kissy," a backstage source tells PEOPLE. "She was on his lap and kept burying her head in his shoulder. They were clearly very loved up."

July 22

Lights, Camera, Action!

Johansson makes her action movie debut opposite Ewan McGregor in The Island. "It [was] exhausting! I've never run so much in my life," she tells PEOPLE. "We'd work 16 hours a day, and then we'd hit the gym for two hours."

December 28

Match Made in Heaven

Match Point–a Woody Allen thriller in which Johansson plays a jilted lover–hits theatres. "He lets me call him Woodrow," she tells Allure of the famous director, who describes her to Vogue as "criminally sexy." The following summer, she stars opposite Hugh Jackman in Allen's Scoop and is cast in the director's Spanish comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona with Penélope Cruz.

2006

March

Scarlett Bares All

Johansson appears on the cover of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood Issue in her birthday suit, posed next to dressed guest editor Tom Ford and a similarly clad Keira Knightley.

May

Treasured Chest

Johansson is selected for Best Cleavage in PEOPLE's Most Beautiful People issue. "I'm very proud of my body," Johansson says. "I feel very sexy and comfortable in my own skin." In 2007, she makes the list again, calling her feet "cute."

July 02

Nanny Knows Best

Johansson finishes filming The Nanny Diaries with Alicia Keys. Playing a recent college grad working as a babysitter for a rich family, Johansson learns a few things about children from her 7-year-old costar Nick Art. "You can always get a kid's attention by offering them cookies," she tells PEOPLE.

September 15

In the Black

In The Black Dahlia, Johansson plays an ex-call girl opposite then-flame Josh Hartnett. "We shot in Bulgaria. I was really nervous because everyone had told me it could be kind of lonely," she tells Interview in 2005. "So I bought all the Harry Potter books and figured I'd spend all my time reading and watching old movies, but I ended up having the most fantastic time."

2007

April

Ryan Hearts Scarlett

Johansson, 22, begins dating actor Ryan Reynolds, 30, who ended his engagement to singer Alanis Morissette in February. They get engaged in May 2008 before marrying in the great outdoors on Vancouver Island that September.

2008

March

Being Boleyn Girls

Promoting their period drama, The Other Boleyn Girl, Johansson and Natalie Portman appear on the cover of W. In the magazine, the costars discuss the public's perception of them: Portman tells Johansson, "I get branded a lot as a good girl. I'm, like, the prude, and you're more sexy, more like..." Johansson then laughingly replies, "A harlot!" In May, Johansson expands her resume, with her album of Tom Waits covers, Anywhere I Lay My Head.

2010

January 24

Broadway Babe

Johansson earns raves (and a Tony Award!) for her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge. In the revival, Johansson plays Catherine, a sheltered 17-year-old girl whose uncle, played by Liev Schreiber, is obsessed with her. The New York Times says the actress "melts into her character so thoroughly that her nimbus of celebrity disappears."

December

Scarlett & Ryan Split

After two years of marriage, Johansson and Ryan Reynolds call it quits. "After long and careful consideration on both our parts, we've decided to end our marriage," the couple says in a joint statement. "We entered our relationship with love and it's with love and kindness we leave it."

2011

January

New Year, New Romance

Just a month after her split from Ryan Reynolds, Johansson, 26, is linked to Oscar winner Sean Penn, 50, with whom she travels to Mexico. Though Johansson's rep says the actors are just friends ("nothing more, nothing less"), they're spotted around Los Angeles and even attend Reese Witherspoon's wedding together.