Scarlett Johansson

Having been noticed for possessing fine skills and elegance that transcend her young age, Scarlett I. Johansson surely has risen to be one of Hollywood's most promising young actresses of the 21st century. Born on November 22, 1984 in New York City, New York, she is a Danish, Polish, and Jewish descendant for being the youngest daughter of Karsten and Melanie Johansson. Scarlett grew up happily alongside her twin brother, Hunter; two other siblings Adrian and Vanessa, plus an older half brother named Christian. Her deep interest in acting came up when she just barely 3 years old as she told her mother that she had the fire in her brain to act. With her mother's support, she started to enter some auditions for films and managed to land her first role at the age of 8 in the off-Broadway production of "Sophistry" at New York's Playwrights Horizons Theatre.

Finally able to make her big screen debut in 1994 through a small role in "North", Scarlett afterwards appeared in "Just Cause" (1995) as Kate Armstrong, the daughter of Sean Connery's character Paul Armstrong. However, it was through "Manny & Lo" (1996) that she began to draw public attention due to the critics' praise she had received. This particular film even led her, for the first time, to be nominated as Best Female Lead at Independent Spirit Awards. Her acting career later received a boost when she acted as a troubled girl who had lost her legs because of a riding accident in "The Horse Whisperer" (1998). Despite the ironic condition of being given an "introducing" credit, she successfully gained huge praise and was acknowledged as a potential teen actress of Hollywood.

After taking part alongside Thora Birch in "Ghost World" (2000), Scarlett smoothly strove to confirm her status as a talented and serious artist by joining the casts of "An American Rhapsody" and "The Man Who Wasn't There" which both were released in 2001. Eva Gardos, the "Rhapsody" director even wholeheartedly complimented her. "When I met her, I just felt there was something very solid and strong about her," she commented. "I think she has a really interesting face and interesting responses." By 2002, Scarlett finally was graduated from Manhattan's The Professional Children's School, but being failed to enter New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2003, she then decided to focus her attention on her acting career and called off her intention to continue her study at Purchase University.

Scarlett's determination to be fully involved in acting brought a wonderful result since her star shone brightly after she took part in Peter Webber's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (2003) and Sophia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" (2003). Her performances in both films were marvelously exquisite so that she once again obtained positive reviews with critics even comparing her to the phenomenal actresses like Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe. Furthermore, she surprisingly earned two nominations at Golden Globe Awards in 2004 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy as well as Drama. Although she later was left empty-handed, the starlet could still smile as BAFTA wonderfully granted her its Best Actress Award in the same year. All of these surely gave her many opportunities to get her career a solid hold. During 2004, she was seen in some good movies, such as "A Love Song for Bobby Long," "A Good Woman," and "In Good Company."

For the next two years, Scarlett joyously saw herself get busier filming many movie projects, starring in "The Island" (2005) then appearing in a number of 2006 movies like "The Prestige," "The Black Dahlia," "Match Point" and "Scoop," the latter two being under the direction of noted filmmaker Woody Allen. Previously cast in "Mission: Impossible 3" (2006) but eventually decided to quit because of scheduling conflicts, she next toplined The Weinstein Co.'s big screen adaptation of Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus' best-selling novel "The Nanny Diaries" (2007) as well as period drama "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2008). The busy period continued as she was again picked up by Allen to lead his "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (2008) apart from her titular role in "Mary Queen of Scots" (2008) and antagonistic part as Silken Floss in "The Spirit" (2009).

As for her private life, 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. Sadly, 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. Following the break-up, the beauty often made media headlines with her being linked to pop singer Justin Timberlake and actor Mark Wahlberg, but finally was found to fall into the arms of Ryan Reynolds and made their romance go public in May 2007.