Profile of the Day: Scarlett Johansson

Happy birthday to Scarlett Johansson! Today the star turns 37.

Image: Scarlett Johansson / Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Johansson was born on November 22, 1984 in New York City, New York to Karsten Olaf Johansson and Melanie Sloan. She and her twin brother, Hunter, are the youngest of four siblings. Coming from a creative family, it seemed natural for Johansson to follow in her family’s footsteps. Her father is an architect originally from Copenhagen, Denmark and her paternal grandfather, Ejner Johansson, was an art historian, screenwriter, and film director. Her mother worked as a producer and came from an Ashkenazi Jewish family. She began acting at an early age, making her film debut at the age of nine in the 1994 film North.

In 2003, Johansson earned much critical acclaim for her breakthrough performance in the Sophia Coppola film, Lost in Translation, opposite Bill Murray. Throughout her career, Johansson has tacked a variety of roles on stage and film. She earned a Tony award in 2010 and two Academy Award nominations in 2020 for her performances in Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit, making her the 12th actor to earn double nominations in the same year.

But perhaps the biggest role of her career is that of superhero Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since her character was first introduced in 2010’s Iron Man 2, Johansson has appeared in nine Marvel films, and most recently starred in her own solo film, Black Widow, earlier this year. A few months after the release of the film, Johansson and her husband, Saturday Night Live co-head writer Colin Jost, welcomed their first child, Cosmo.

Explore Scarlett Johansson’s family tree on Geni and share how you’re connected to the star!