Scarlett Johansson told CBS Sunday Morning that the early 2000s were a “really harsh time” to be a young woman in Hollywood. The “Lost in Translation” star said during that period, it was “socially acceptable” for female actors to be “pulled apart for how they looked.”
“It was tough. There was a lot placed on how women looked,” Johansson said. “What was offered at that time for women my age, as far as acting roles or opportunities, was much slimmer than it is now.”
Johansson added that there are “much more empowering roles” for young women in 2026 than when she was “in my 20s.” When Johansson was coming up in the industry, she said it was “Slim Pickens.”
“You would get really pigeon-holed and offered the same [roles]. It would be like the other woman, or the side piece, the bombshell,” she said. “That was the archetype that was prevalent when I was that age.”
Johansson found solace from typecasting in the New York theater scene. Taking a break from Hollywood also taught her to wait for “the right role” rather than give in to the pressure to “work constantly.”
“It’s something that I learned over time, but it’s hard,” she explained. “Once you start working, you really feel like every job is going to be your last and that if you get opportunities to work, you have to keep taking them. Even though they might not be as varied as the jobs that really give you pleasure.”
She continued. “Every actor feels like that, because it is so competitive, and I think once you do have the spotlight, you want to keep it on you. I mean, that’s the instinct I think for a young actor, or any actor.”
Johannson was just 17 years old when she made her breakout debut in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 drama “Lost in Translation.” Some of her other early film credits include “The Perfect Score,” “Match Point,” “The Prestige,” “The Other Boleyn Girl” and “Iron Man 2.”
