Scarlett Johansson was born in New York City, New York, on November 22, 1984, to parents Melanie Sloan and Karsten Johansson. Her mother, who is also her former manager, is from a Jewish family and her father is an architect from Copenhagen. Johansson took her first steps in acting at a very young age after her mother started taking her to auditions.
Her first professional acting gig was in the off-Broadway production “Sophistry” at New York’s Playwrights Horizons, at the age of eight. Johansson’s film debut would happen a year later in the fantasy comedy “North,” which would lead her to a couple of other minor roles before scoring her first lead role as Amanda in the film “Manny & Lo.”
Johansson’s performance in “Manny & Lo” garnered several positive reviews, a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female, and the attention of the critically-acclaimed director Sofia Coppola, who cast her in the 2003 film “Lost in Translation.” In the same year, Johansson starred as a young 17th-century servant in Peter Webber’s film “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” based on the novel of the same name.