Scarlett Johansson was born in New York City. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family, and her father, Karsten Johansson, is Danish. She has a sister, Vanessa Johansson, who is also an actress, a brother, Adrian, a twin brother, Hunter Johansson, born three minutes after her, and a paternal half-brother, Christian. Scarlett showed a passion for acting at a young age and starred in many plays. She began her acting career starring as Laura Nelson in the comedy film L'irrésistible North (1994). The acclaimed drama film L'homme qui murmurait à l'oreille des chevaux (1998) brought Johansson critical praise and worldwide recognition. Following the film's success, she starred in many other films including the critically acclaimed cult film Ghost World (2001) and then the hit Lost in Translation (2003) with Bill Murray in which she again stunned critics. Later on, she appeared in the drama film La jeune fille à la perle (2003).
In 2003, she was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, one for drama (La jeune fille à la perle (2003)) and one for comedy (Lost in Translation (2003)). She dropped out of Mission: Impossible III (2006) due to scheduling conflicts. Her next film role was in The Island (2005) alongside Ewan McGregor which earned weak reviews from U.S. critics. After this, she appeared in Woody Allen's Match Point (2005) and was nominated again for a Golden Globe Award.
Since then, she has appeared as part of an ensemble cast in the romantic comedy Ce que pensent les hommes (2009), the action superhero film Iron Man 2 (2010), the comedy-drama Nouveau départ (2011) and started as the original scream queen, Janet Leigh, in Hitchcock (2012). She then played her Iron Man 2 character, Black Widow, in the blockbuster action films Avengers (2012), Captain America: Le soldat de l'hiver (2014), and Avengers: L'ère d'Ultron (2015), and also headlined the science-fiction thriller Lucy (2014), a box office success.
Scarlett and Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds were engaged in May 2008 and married in September of that year. In 2010, the couple announced their separation, and subsequently divorced in 2011. In 2013, she became engaged to French journalist Romain Dauriac, and the couple, who have a daughter, married in 2014.
