Scarlett Johansson was born on November 22, 1984 in New York City, New York to parents Melanie and Karsten (divorced in 1998). She has a twin brother (Hunter – younger by 3 minutes), an older sister (Vanessa) and an older brother (Adrian) she also has an older half-brother (Christian). Her grandfather is writer Ejner Johansson (d. 2001). She knew she wanted to be an actress at a very young age and began to dream so at the age of seven. She attended the Lee Strasberg Institute to learn about acting, and soon began to perform live on stage.V celovečernom filme debutovala malou úlohou dievčaťa o rok neskôr vo filme Sever ( North, 1994 ).

Her first professional acting job, at the tender age of eight, was in an off Broadway play entitled Sophistry (opposite Ethan Hawke). Her first big screen debut came soon two years after (in 1994) with a small role as Laura Nelson in the movie North.

Other small parts in movies came afterwards in such movies as Just Cause and If Lucy Fell. However, it was not until 1996 that the movie community began to take notice of her and she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead in the movie Manny and Lo. Her big break came in 1998, with the release of The Horse Wisperer, in which she won the Young Star Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film and was nominated for the Young Star Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress (nominated).

Over the next few years, she took on various roles in a variety of movies which enhanced her reputation as a serious actress. The movies included Ghost World (2000) where she won the TFCA Award for Best Supporting Performance, Female and was nominated for OFCS Award for Best Supporting Actress) and An American Rhapsody (2001) in which she was given Young Artist Awards for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress (tied w/Emma Watson) and Young Artist Award for Best Ensemble in a Feature Film (shared w/ Mae Whitman & Kelly Endresz-Banlaki). Believe it or not, she did all of this while attending High School (Manhattan's Professional Children's School), which she graduated in 2002. Although she was accepted to the film school at Purchase University, she decided that she needed to concentrate on her career.

Her rise to fame came in 2003 with the critically acclaimed and international box office hit Lost in Translation with Bill Murray. She was praised for her acting abilities as well as the memorable sexy opening scene of the movie. For this role she was awarded the Venice Film Festival’s Upstream Award for Best Actress, the Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actress and the BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. She was nominated for many awards, including: Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy; the Teen Choice Award for Choice Breakout Movie Star – Female; OFCS Award for Best Actress; MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance; IFTA Audience Award for Best International Actress; the Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting; the BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role; the BFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress; and the CFCA Award for Best Actress, the Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress.

She also had a critically acclaimed role in the movie A Pearl Earring, which was also released in 2003 For this role she was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress, and the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama. In the same year she also won the Hollywood Film Festival Hollywood Discovery Award for Breakthrough Acting – Female.2004 was another good year for Scarlett, who was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her role in A Love Song for Bobby Love (2004). Let’s also not forget lending her voice to the movie adaptation of SpongeBob SquarePants. In 2004 she was also awarded the Palm Springs Int’l Film Festival Rising Star Award and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association New Generation Award.She is currently working on a few more movies and expect to see her soon in Black Dahlia, A View From the Bridge and an untitled Woody Allen project. She is also spending her time doing charity work and is currently helping out the The Make Poverty History campaign. She has also stated in an interview in the January 2005 issue of Harpers Bazaar that she has no problem with showing her breasts and is quoted as saying "I'm proud of my girls. They're my charms, my feminine wiles."