Scarlett Johansson is getting candid about the challenges working as a young actress in the early 2000s, saying it was “socially acceptable” for women to be “pulled apart for how they looked.”
The Oscar-nominated actress, who scored her breakout roles in 2003’s Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring, said during a recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning that it was a “really harsh time” during that period.
“It was tough. There was a lot placed on how women looked,” Johansson explained. “What was offered at that time for women my age, as far as acting roles or opportunities, was much slimmer than it is now.”
More than two decades later, the Jurassic World: Rebirth star is happy to see “much more empowering roles available” for young women now compared to when she was in her 20s, as it was “Slim Pickens” during her early days.
“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 recalled. “That was the archetype that was prevalent when I was that age.”
Though the Black Widow actress found it “tricky to navigate” at times, she eventually found comfort in the New York theater scene, away from the Hollywood chaos. That break and “quieter moments” also helped Johansson learn to wait for “the right roles,” rather than succumb to the industry pressure to “work constantly.”
“It’s something that I learned over time, but it’s hard,” she said. “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, that you can learn from and challenge yourself with.”
When asked if she ever personally felt like “if I don’t take this job, maybe this will be the last offer,” Johansson replied, “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.”
“Then at some point I realized, oh yeah, I’ve got a foothold and it’s OK. I can work on the things that challenge me, and stuff will come out when it comes out, and people won’t forget about the work I did before,” she added. “But it took a while to get there.”
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