Unless your name is Jennifer Lawrence or Jessica Chastain, the one movie star most working actresses probably wish they could switch careers with right now is Scarlett Johansson.
Within this year alone, she has two action-packed blockbusters, an arthouse sci-fi film and a slapstick comedy for 2014. The former starlet-turned-international superstar somehow managed to not only keep herself relevant in Hollywood for more than a decade but also not get typecast as the blonde bombshell.
Currently, Johansson is at the top of the box office with both “Captain America: Winter Soldier” at No. 1 and “Under the Skin” with the biggest limited release opening weekend of the year so far, and both films are getting great feedback from audiences and critics. She also has lined up the star-studded comedy called “Chef” with Jon Favreau and a supernatural action flick named “Lucy” by Luc Besson that are getting hype.
Johansson first gained attention as the 11-year-old lead in the sleeper indie feature “Manny & Lo,” but it was Robert Redford’s “The Horse Whisperer” two years later where viewers would begin to recognize her. From there she followed with Terry Zwigoff’s “Ghost World,” Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” and the title role in “Girl with a Pearl Earring” to much praise. After being crowned the new “it girl” in Hollywood, Johannson gained steady work with both indies and studio projects like “A Love Song for Bobby Long,” “In Good Company,” “The Prestige” and “The Nanny Diaries” and became Woody Allen’s then current muse with “Match Point” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”
In 2010, she won a Tony for the Broadway revival of “A View from the Bridge,” and that same year she was added to the Avengers lineup as Black Widow in “Iron Man 2, The Avengers” and “Winter Soldier.” Last year, she experimented a bit with voiceover acting in Spike Jonze’s “Her,” which gained Johansson tons of acclaim.
At 29, the actress seems to be at the prime of her star status and doesn’t look like she’ll be slowing down anytime soon. Unfortunately at her current height of success, Johannson also is experiencing the biggest controversy of her life as the spokesperson for the company SodaStream, which is located on occupied territory in Israel’s West Bank. The title cost her a position as part of the charity Oxfam and some criticism as not only a celebrity, but as a Jewish woman.
On a more optimistic personal side, the star also is presently expecting her first child with fiancé Romain Dauriac. Four movies, a baby and a scandal before she ends her 20s, and it looks like Johansson is going to continue being seen onscreen and in the media for many more years to come.
mbianco@durangoherald.com
