--- description: Find out why Scarlett Johansson is one of the 100 most influential people of 2021. title: Scarlett Johansson: The 100 Most Influential People of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77da7914679f833b/698a1cb7db2987ccc2266df2/scarlett-johansson-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 15, 2021 # Scarlett Johansson by Jamie Lee Curtis  Scarlett Johansson Luca Carlino—LUZ/Redux Scarlett Johansson Luca Carlino—LUZ/ReduxLuca Carlino—LUZ/Redux I always felt a kinship with Scarlett Johansson because she was born on my birthday, in the year I was married. Then she was cast to play Janet Leigh, my mother, in the movie _Hitchcock_. We spoke—she wanted to understand my mother’s interior life. There were obvious touch points: they shared Danish roots, a passion for acting and multiple talents. There’s a moment in that movie that startles me, where I look at Scarlett and she is my mother. I recently watched her own the screen as the [Black Widow](https://time.com/6077666/black-widow-scarlett-johansson/ "undefined"), who exacts revenge on a powerful figure who manipulates (emphasis on man) women to fight for him. And then I saw her brilliant response to a real-life manipulation (same emphasis), when she filed a [breach-of-contract lawsuit](https://time.com/6085578/scarlett-johansson-black-widow-lawsuit-disney/ "undefined") against the studio, alleging its decision to release the film simultaneously in theaters and on streaming cost her substantial losses in pay. Whether as an assassin with a conscience, an actor with an emotional center or, having just given birth to her second child, a fierce mother, the message is clear: Don’t f-ck with this mama bear. _Curtis is an actor and author_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095932/scarlett-johansson-3/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095932/scarlett-johansson-3/"},"headline":"Scarlett Johansson","datePublished":"2021-09-15T11:15:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:14.815Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095932/scarlett-johansson-3/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","T100 2021","T100 2021 Artists"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77da7914679f833b/698a1cb7db2987ccc2266df2/scarlett-johansson-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77da7914679f833b/698a1cb7db2987ccc2266df2/scarlett-johansson-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095932/scarlett-johansson-3/","name":"Scarlett Johansson"}}]}] ```