Scarlett Johansson
From Strength to Strength
Written by: Kat

At the young age of 21 Scarlett Johansson is already a formidable talent on the Hollywood Scene. She's a BAFTA award winning actress and Golden Globe Nominee. In her eleven years of acting she's earnt the respect of critics and costars alike.

Scarlett's breakthrough came at the age of thirteen, playing Grace in Robert Redford's 'The Horse Whisperer'. Her performance as a young girl who last part of her leg in a riding accident won her aYoungStar and Young Artist Award for best performance in a feature film.

In recent years Scarlett has risen from the ranks of numerous teen stars to a young women much sought after for mature and sophisticated films. Much of her success can be acredited to the fact that she never went down the teen movie path (with the exception of 'The Perfect Score') that so many of her fellow young actresses did. "Tons of that stuff comes to me, but a lot of it is awful. All these teenage slaying movies, and movies about girls that have deformities that become cheerleaders and then marry the prom king!"

Since 2003 Scarlett has starred in Lost in Translation playing a lost young woman who finds herself befriending an older man in Tokyo. The same year she starred in Girl with a pearl earring a film about Johannes Vermeer's relationship with the young made in his picture 'Girl with a pearl earring'. The two roles were polar opposites and all of a sudden people couldn't stop talking about this rising star.

So what do fans think of Scarlett? We asked Mel, the webmaster of the fantastic fansite Dedicated to Scarlett what it was about the young star she liked so much. "I have been a huge fan of Scarlett since I first saw her in "Lost In Translation", which is one of my favourite movies. I absolutely fell in love with the actress who played Charlotte, and when I watched her other films I was blown away by her talent, complexity and versatility. Until today, not one of her major movies was a disappointment to me, and Scarlett continues to surprise me with her sense for roles, and also for fashion. I believe she is one of the best actresses of her generation, and I created the website to share my love for her with other fans who feel the same way about her. "

Scarlett in 'The Island'

In 2004 Scarlett lent her voice to Mindy in 'The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie', she also played Dennis Quaid's daughter in 'In Good Company'. In 2005 she starred in the action thriller 'The Island' which did dismally in the box office but this writer greatly enjoyed. She also starred in the film 'A Good Woman' which will be relased in limited release this February and the Woody Allen film 'Match Point' which opened on the 28th of December.

Many new projects have been announced over the last couple of months. Scarlett is signed to star in 'Scoop', 'The Nanny Diaries' (based on the popular books), 'The Black Dahlia', 'Borgia', 'Amazon' (in which she will play an Amazonian warrior) and just recently 'The Prestige'.

Scarlett is determined not to let her success get to her. "I don't know if I've got swept up. It's so shocking when you hear that Calvin Klein wants you for their new campaign. You're like, 'who me?'. I guess you have to decide where you draw the line between you saying, this is fun, pretty and fabulous, and being over-exposed."

With seemingly limitless talent, good looks, a likeable personality and wisdom beyond her years: "It's a great thing to get older and learn. I don't feel bound in any way by how many years I've lived. I identify just as much with my 86-year-old grandmother as I do with my sister." Scarlett is set to someday be as huge as Julia Roberts, if not bigger. We're just waiting for the announcement of her Oscar Nomination.