Scarlett Johansson Movies: Top 12 Roles in Her Film Career

Scarlett Johansson’s 12 Best Performances

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Scarlett Johansson is back in kick-ass mode this weekend, as she stars in a remake of the Japanese anime classic “Ghost in the Shell.” Johansson plays The Major, a cyborg counter-cyberterrorist field commander who leads a task force to fight hackers and terrorists.
Johansson is, of course, no stranger to action roles, having played the title character in Luc Bresson’s “Lucy” and superhero Black Widow in the Marvel series of films, such as “Iron Man 2,” two films in “The Avengers” series and another two in the “Captain America” films.
But Johansson has demonstrated a wide range of acting skills in a wide range of roles, from a bathing beauty, a seductive alien and even as a disembodied voice. Let’s take a look at Johanssen’s range by focusing on a dozen of her best performances.
‘HAIL, CAESAR!’ (2016) Writers/Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen. Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlet Johansson, Alden Ehrenreich, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill.

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Johansson is often at her best when acting in an ensemble, and she has quite an ensemble to blend in with in the Coen Brothers’ “Hail, Caesar!” As bathing beauty extraordinaire DeeAnna Moran, Johansson channels Esther Williams as the epitome of style and grace as a mermaid in a musical aquacade. But when DeeAnna opens her mouth, she’s pure Queens. She’s every bit as good in a later bit as a femme fatale trying to seduce a nerdy surety agent (Jonah Hill) with a slew of double entendres. “Hail, Caesar!” offered Johansson the opportunity to display her comedy chops, and she made the most of it.
‘LUCY’ (2014) Writer/Director: Luc Bresson. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-Sik, Amr Waked.

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One of Johansson’s more interesting action roles, “Lucy” finds Johansson as a drug mule who is captured, and a bag of the drug is sewn into her abdomen. When the bag explodes and enters her bloodstream, she suddenly finds herself with enhanced powers, such as telepathy, telekinesis and the ability not to feel pain. Under the direction of Luc Bresson, Johansson runs with the character of Lucy, and with her powers growing exponentially, she works with famed scientist Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) to try to use these powers in the most beneficial way.
‘UNDER THE SKIN’ (2014) Director: Jonathan Glazer. Writers: Walter Campbell, Jonathan Glazer. Starring Scarlett Johansson.

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In one of her most unusual roles, Johansson plays an alien being in Scotland who takes on human form and seeks to learn more about human beings by picking up and seducing lonely men, whom she then leads to their deaths in a trough of black goo. The incongruity of having an American movie star walking around small Scottish towns only adds to the feeling that her character really is alien to her surroundings and lends gravitas to a performance that is one of Johansson’s most acclaimed in the past decade.
‘HER’ (2013) Writer/Director: Spike Jonze. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Rooney Mara.

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Though Spike Jonze’s film is completely live-action, Johansson’s role in the film is strictly a vocal performance, one that brought her enormous critical acclaim, rare for an off-screen performance. In “Her,” Johansson gives voice to Samantha, an artificial intelligent computer operating system (OS), which whom the nerdy Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love. Samantha proved to be a particularly challenging role for Johansson for several reasons, not the least of which was that she was cast after production on the film was complete, replacing Samantha Morton, and Johansson had to completely imagine what it would have been like to interact with Phoenix.
‘THE AVENGERS’ (2012) Writer/Director: Joss Whedon. Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston.

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Although she first introduced the character of Natasha Romanoff (aka Black Widow) in the extremely popular “Iron Man 2,” Johansson’s return to the character in “The Avengers” truly solidified her place as a bona fide international movie star, as “The Avengers” grossed a staggering $1.5 billion around the world. What’s striking about Johansson’s Black Widow is that she is every very much a part of the team of superheroes, and despite the fact that she has no supernatural powers like some of her cohorts, she earns her place at the table by her ferocious fighting skills, and Johansson makes her skills believable every step of the way.
‘VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA’ (2008) Writer/Director: Woody Allen. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz.

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In her third collaboration with Woody Allen, Johansson plays Cristina, an American tourist in Barcelona, who, on a summer holiday, falls in love with an artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who helps to unleash her uninhibited side. The only problem is the presence of Juan Antonio’s unstable wife Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz in her Oscar-winning performance), with whom Cristina eventually bonds. The tone of the romance is light and sunny, and Johansson takes the same approach in her performance.
‘MATCH POINT’ (2005) Writer/Director: Woody Allen. Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode.

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Woody Allen’s psychological thriller is set in London’s tennis scene, where an aspiring American actress (Johansson) who is engaged to a well-to-do Brit, who lays eyes on a handsome retired tennis pro (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) and an affair begins, with tragic consequences. Johansson carefully calibrates her performance so that you’re never quite sure of her character’s motivations, skillful work that brought Johansson her fourth Golden Globe nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture.
‘A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG’ (2004) Writer/Director: Shainee Gabel. Starring John Travolta, Scarlett Johansson, Gabriel Macht.

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Johansson earned her third Golden Globe nomination (Best Actress in a Drama) playing Pursy, a teenage girl who travels back to her hometown New Orleans and finds two strangers (John Travolta & Gabriel Macht) living in her late mother’s rundown home. Though the men initially want Pursy gone from the house, each begins to take a liking to her, and the three soon become a working dysfunctional family. “Bobby Long” brought Johansson into a very different setting than her previous work, and Globe voters certainly took notice.
‘GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING’ (2003) Director: Peter Webber. Writer: Olivia Hetreed. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson.

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One of two Golden Globe nominations she received in 2003 (Best Actress in a Drama), Johansson portrays Griet, a maid in the home of famed painter Johannes Vermeer, who opens up to the maid emotionally in a way that he could never do with his wife. When a wealthy patron tries to poach Griet to be his own maid, Vermeer refuses but accepts a commission to paint a portrait of Griet for his patron, a portrait that became Vermeer’s masterpiece “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” As men bicker over her, it is the stalwart performance of Johansson that is the heart and soul of “Girl With a Pearl Earring.”
‘LOST IN TRANSLATION’ (2003) Writer/Director: Sofia Coppola. Starring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi.

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In one of her very best performances (which brought Johansson her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical), Johansson plays Charlotte, a college graduate who is becoming disillusioned with her often-absent celebrity photographer husband. She strikes up a friendship with an older American film star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) who is in Japan to film a liquor commercial. The pair regularly seem to run into each other at their Tokyo hotel’s bar, and a platonic relationship develops that has a depth of feeling that neither one is currently receiving in their own marriages. Brilliant work all around.
‘GHOST WORLD’ (2001) Director: Terry Zwigoff. Writers: Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwigoff. Starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi.

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“Ghost World” marked Johansson’s first real (co)-lead role as she plays Rebecca, who, with her best friend Enid (Thora Birch), faces an empty summer after graduating from high school. The girls decide to play a cruel prank on an older lonely man (Steve Buscemi) but after regretting their actions, they decide to befriend him. When it becomes apparent that Enid is really clicking with him, Rebecca drifts away, working at a coffee shop and turning her attention to boys. “Ghost World” gave Johansson enormous credibility in the independent film world, cred that she still maintains in her later career, as she often returns to indies in between filming blockbusters.
‘THE HORSE WHISPERER’ (1998) Director: Robert Redford. Writers: Nicholas Evans, Eric Roth, Richard LaGravenese. Starring Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Neill.

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Johansson was only 14 when this Robert Redford extravaganza (he starred, produced and directed) was released in 1998, but even then, there was a certainly camera-savvy presence that she displayed that made her a young actress to watch. Johansson plays Grace, a teenager who is severely injured in an accident with her horse. Though initially reluctant, Grace agrees to work with a horse whisperer (Redford) who tries to nurse both Grace and her horse back to health. Although she had appeared in six films before this one, “The Horse Whisperer” was her career breakthrough and put the name Scarlett Johansson on the Hollywood map.

Scarlett Johansson’s 12 Best Performances

‘HAIL, CAESAR!’ (2016) Writers/Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen. Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlet Johansson, Alden Ehrenreich, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill.

‘LUCY’ (2014) Writer/Director: Luc Bresson. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-Sik, Amr Waked.

‘UNDER THE SKIN’ (2014) Director: Jonathan Glazer. Writers: Walter Campbell, Jonathan Glazer. Starring Scarlett Johansson.

‘HER’ (2013) Writer/Director: Spike Jonze. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Rooney Mara.

‘THE AVENGERS’ (2012) Writer/Director: Joss Whedon. Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston.

‘VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA’ (2008) Writer/Director: Woody Allen. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz.

‘MATCH POINT’ (2005) Writer/Director: Woody Allen. Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode.

‘A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG’ (2004) Writer/Director: Shainee Gabel. Starring John Travolta, Scarlett Johansson, Gabriel Macht.

‘GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING’ (2003) Director: Peter Webber. Writer: Olivia Hetreed. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson.

‘LOST IN TRANSLATION’ (2003) Writer/Director: Sofia Coppola. Starring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi.

‘GHOST WORLD’ (2001) Director: Terry Zwigoff. Writers: Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwigoff. Starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi.

‘THE HORSE WHISPERER’ (1998) Director: Robert Redford. Writers: Nicholas Evans, Eric Roth, Richard LaGravenese. Starring Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Neill.