Scarlett Johansson (Sexiest women actress)

Scarlett Johansson, born on the 22nd of November, 1984, in New York City, has an older brother and sister and a twin brother. She divides her time between New York with her father, a building contractor and Los Angeles with her mother, who looks out for her interests there. She's the only actor in the family, something she's wanted to be since she was three. Her acting career began when she was eight in the off-Broadway production of Sophistry with Ethan Hawke at New York's Playwrights Horizons.

Scarlett has been in seven movies, the first was North. For her role as Manny in Manny & Lo she was nominated as Best Actress by the Independent Spirit Awards (1997).

She attained worldwide recognition for her performance as Grace MacLean, the teen traumatized in a riding accident in Robert Redford's hit feature The Horse Whisperer, a role for which she won a YoungStar award and was nominated for a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. She has most recently been spotlighted for her performances in the acclaimed films Ghost World, An American Rhapsody and the Coen Brothers film The Man Who Wasn't There. Johansson's additional credits include Rob Reiner's comedy North, the role of Sean Connery's daughter in Just Cause, as well as notable appearances in If Lucy Fell and Home Alone 3. She is currently lensing Brian Robbins' The Perfect Score for Paramount Pictures.

Scarlett I. Johansson (born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Johansson made her film debut in the 1994 film North and was subsequently nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female for her performance in 1996's Manny & Lo. Johansson rose to fame with her role in 1998's The Horse Whisperer and subsequently gained critical acclaim for her breakout performance in Ghost World in 2001, for which she won the Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She made the transition to adult roles with her critically acclaimed performance in Sofia Coppola's film Lost in Translation opposite Bill Murray, for which she won a BAFTA Award, and Girl with a Pearl Earring, the latter two earning her Golden Globe Award nominations in 2003. A role in A Love Song for Bobby Long earned her a third nomination for Golden Globe for Best Actress. Following an appearance in The Island, Johansson again garnered critical acclaim and a fourth Golden Globe nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Woody Allen's Match Point. She followed that with another Allen film, Scoop, with Hugh Jackman. A role in Brian de Palma's film noir The Black Dahlia was followed by a second role opposite Hugh Jackman in The Prestige, also starring Christian Bale.

Following a 2007 appearance in the critical flop The Nanny Diaries, Johansson's career experienced a resurgence of critical reception with the 2008 films The Other Boleyn Girl opposite Natalie Portman and Eric Bana and the Woody Allen directed film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. She received positive reviews for her appearance in He's Just Not That into You (2009) and will appear as anti-heroine Black Widow in Iron Man 2 with Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson.

On May 20, 2008, Johansson debuted as a vocalist on her first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, which included cover versions of Tom Waits songs. An upcoming album, Break Up, with Pete Yorn is scheduled for release in September, 2009.

Early life
Johansson was born in New York City. Her father, Karsten Johansson, is a Danish-born architect, and her paternal grandfather, Ejner Johansson, was a screenwriter and director. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, a producer, comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family from the Bronx. Johansson's parents met in Denmark, where her mother lived with Johansson's maternal grandmother, Dorothy, a former bookkeeper and schoolteacher. Johansson has an older sister, Vanessa, who is an actress; an older brother, Adrian; a twin brother, Hunter (whose only film, Manny & Lo, starred Scarlett); and a half-brother, Christian, from her father's re-marriage.

Johansson grew up in a household with "little money", with a mother who was a "film buff".She and brother Hunter attended P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village in elementary school. Johansson began her theater training by attending and graduating from Professional Children's School in Manhattan in 2002.


Early roles
Johansson began acting during childhood, after her mother began taking her to auditions.She made her film debut at age nine as John Ritter's daughter in the 1994 fantasy comedy North. Following minor roles in the 1995 film Just Cause, as the daughter of Sean Connery and Kate Capshaw, and If Lucy Fell in 1996, she landed the role of Amanda in the Lisa Krueger-helmed film Manny & Lo. Her performance garnered a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female, and positive reviews, one noting that the film "grows on you, largely because of the charm of ... Scarlett Johansson", while San Francisco Chronicle critic Mick LaSalle praised her "peaceful aura", predicting that "if she can get through puberty with that aura undisturbed, she could become an important actress."

After appearing in minor roles in Fall in 1997 and Home Alone 3, Johansson garnered widespread attention for her performance in the 1998 film The Horse Whisperer, directed by Robert Redford.She received a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Newcomer for the film.In 1999, she appeared in both My Brother the Pig and the neo-noir Coen brothers film The Man Who Wasn't There, as well as a very brief appearance in the Mandy Moore video for her single "Candy".Although the film was not a box office success, she received praise for her breakout role in the critically acclaimed 2001 film, Ghost World. Credited with "sensitivity and talent [that] belie her age", Johansson went on to win the Chlotrudis and Toronto Film Critics Association Awards for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress.


Personal life Johansson rarely discusses her personal life with the press, saying "it's nice to have everybody not know your business." Johansson's ex-boyfriend and member of the band Steel Train, Jack Antonoff, wrote lyrics that refer to Johansson in the song "Better Love." She has been linked to many famous men, including Benicio del Toro,Jared Leto, Justin Timberlake, and her Black Dahlia co-star Josh Hartnett, though Johansson denies she had a relationship with del Toro. Johansson and Hartnett dated for about two years until the end of 2006, with Hartnett citing their busy lives as the reason for the split. She started dating Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds in 2007, and on May 5, 2008, it was reported that the two were engaged. On September 27, 2008, Johansson and Reynolds were married at a quiet ceremony on Vancouver Island in Tofino, British Columbia. Earlier, Johansson expressed a concern about the potential conflict between the nature of human beings and the concept of monogamy. However, she has stated "contrary to popular belief... [I am] not promiscuous" and that she works "really hard" when she's in a relationship "to make it work in a monogamous way." She gets tested for HIV twice a year, and has said "it's part of being a decent human" and it is "just disgusting behavior when people don't. It's so irresponsible." She has criticized the media and Hollywood for promoting an image that causes unhealthy diets and eating disorders among women, saying "that being ultra-thin is not sexy at all. Women shouldn't be forced to conform to unrealistic and unhealthy body images that the media promote." Johansson is considered to be a modern sex symbol, and she regularly appears at the top of lists of the sexiest women in the world. Johansson appeared on the cover of the March 2006 issue of Vanity Fair in the nude alongside actress Keira Knightley and fashion designer Tom Ford. Maxim named Johansson in their Hot 100 Issue in 2006; in 2007 and in 2008. In November 2006, Johansson was named "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire. In February 2007, she was named the "Sexiest Celebrity" of the year by Playboy. During the filming of Match Point, director Woody Allen described Johansson as "sexually overwhelming", saying that he found it "very hard to be extra witty around a sexually overwhelming, beautiful young woman who is wittier than you are." About her religious affiliation, Johansson described herself as Jewish when she was talking about Woody Allen. "I just adore Woody," she says. "We have a lot in common. We're New Yorkers, Jewish. We have a very easygoing relationship." She celebrates a "little of both" referring to Christmas and Hanukkah. She has stated that she dislikes it when celebrities thank God or Jesus in their award acceptance speeches. Johansson is a Global Ambassador for the aid and development agency, Oxfam. In March 2008, a UK-based bidder paid £20,000 on an eBay auction to benefit Oxfam, winning a hair and makeup treatment, a pair of tickets and a chauffered trip to accompany Johansson on 20-minute date to the world premiere of He's Just Not That Into You.


Political advocacy
Johansson is a Democrat and campaigned for John Kerry in the 2004 United States presidential election. About George W. Bush's reelection she said, "[I am] disappointed. I think it was a disappointment for a large percentage of the population. Johansson campaigned for Barack Obama, including appearances in Iowa on January 2, 2008, where her efforts were targeted at small groups of younger voters, and an appearance at Cornell College. and students at Central High School in St. Paul, Minnesota on Super Tuesday. Johansson appeared in the 2008 music video for Black Eyed Peas front man Will.i.am's song, "Yes We Can", directed by Jesse Dylan, a song inspired by Obama's speech following the 2008 New Hampshire primary. In addition to her political advocacy, Johansson has taken part in social advocacy as part of the anti-poverty campaign ONE which was organized by U2 lead singer Bono.