Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 1984, in Manhattan, New York. She has two older siblings and an older half-brother from her father’s first marriage, as well as a twin brother. Johansson is a dual citizen; she holds both American and Danish citizenship. She received her Danish citizenship through her father, an architect originally from Copenhagen, Denmark.
Her big breakthrough came in 2001 with the black comedy “Ghost World.” Despite the film’s poor box office performance, Johansson’s acting earned widespread praise. After graduating from Professional Children’s School and being rejected from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2002, Johansson decided to focus full-time on her film career and transition from teen to more adult roles.
She made the leap to adult roles with “Lost in Translation,” opposite Bill Murray, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a BAFTA. She followed the performance with “The Girl With the Pearl Earring,” for which she was again nominated for both a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. In 2004, she had five film releases: “The Perfect Score,” “A Love Song for Bobby Long,” “A Good Woman,” the live-action animated comedy “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,” and “In Good Company.”