What is the best Scarlett Johansson performance of all time?

From a lonely newlywed drifting through Tokyo to a lethal alien prowling Glasgow to the voice of an AI you fall in love with — Scarlett Johansson has never stopped surprising. Which role defines her?

1

Lost in Translation

The 2003 Sofia Coppola film that established Johansson as a sophisticated talent, playing a neglected young wife who forms an unlikely bond with a fading actor in Tokyo.

2

Under the Skin

The 2013 Jonathan Glazer sci-fi film in which Johansson delivers an eerie, largely wordless performance as an alien predator driving through Scotland luring men to their doom.

3

Her

The 2013 Spike Jonze romance in which Johansson won the Rome Film Festival Best Actress award for her voice-only performance as Samantha, a disembodied AI operating system.

4

Marriage Story

The 2019 Noah Baumbach drama that earned Johansson a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her devastating portrayal of an actress navigating a painful divorce.

5

Jojo Rabbit

The 2019 Taika Waititi film that earned Johansson a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination as the warm, courageous mother secretly hiding a Jewish girl during World War II.

6

Girl with a Pearl Earring

The 2003 period drama in which Johansson embodies Vermeer's iconic painting subject with a luminous, largely silent performance as a servant who becomes the artist's muse.

7

The Avengers

The 2012 Marvel ensemble blockbuster in which Johansson cemented Black Widow as a fan-favorite Avenger, holding her own alongside gods and super-soldiers with lethal precision.

8

Ghost World

The 2001 Terry Zwigoff cult classic that announced Johansson's arrival, playing a disaffected teenager drifting apart from her best friend in the aimless summer after high school.

9

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

The 2008 Woody Allen romantic drama in which Johansson plays an adventurous American drawn into a passionate love triangle with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz in Barcelona.

10

The Prestige

Christopher Nolan's 2006 thriller about dueling magicians, in which Johansson plays a stage assistant caught between Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale's escalating rivalry.

11

Lucy

The 2014 Luc Besson action film in which Johansson carries the movie as a woman who gains superhuman abilities after a drug is absorbed into her bloodstream.

12

Black Widow

The 2021 Marvel solo film in which Johansson finally gets to explore Natasha Romanoff's origins, confronting her surrogate family and the Red Room that made her.

13

Don Jon

The 2013 Joseph Gordon-Levitt comedy-drama in which Johansson steals scenes as a Jersey girl whose superficial allure masks a sharply drawn commentary on modern relationships.

14

Avengers: Endgame

The 2019 Marvel epic in which Johansson delivers arguably her most emotional turn as Black Widow, culminating in a devastating sacrifice to save the universe.

15

A Love Song for Bobby Long

The 2004 indie drama in which Johansson plays a young woman who returns to New Orleans after her mother's death, discovering two eccentric squatters living in the family home.