» Scarlett Johansson - Critically Acclaimed Seductress

Who’s young, beautiful, and can inspire creativity in Woody Allen? Thirty years ago, the answer would have been Diane Keaton. Today, it’s Scarlett Johansson.

The smart, pretty actress, born in 1984 in New York City, routinely makes the Sexiest Woman Alive lists in the glossy magazines, while eschewing the craziness that other actresses her age indulge in. No rehab or teen-bubblegum movies for Scarlett! Instead, her private life is uneventful, and she appears in prestigious films such as Ghost World, Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Lost in Translation.

She’s been nominated for four Golden Globes, including two in one year. She’s been the young, soulful muse in two Woody Allen movies, Match Point and Scoop; thankfully, she does not play Allen’s love interest in either film, perhaps because Allen has realized he should not cast 20-year-olds as his lovers now that he himself is 150.

With her talent and looks, Johansson could easily become the star of blockbusters. She could be headlining a Spider-Man or a Pirates of the Caribbean. Instead, she takes the quiet route. No film she’s appeared in has made more than $75 million — and that was The Horse Whisperer, in 1998. Her movies are critically acclaimed and beloved by the small audiences who see them, but they’re not the record-breakers, or the kind of movies that show up on McDonald’s cups.

Johansson enjoys keeping audiences guessing. While most of her films suggest a certain classiness, she also appeared in the summer action flick The Island — and offered to go topless in it, too, which seems like the opposite of what you’d expect from a refined actress such as herself. (Director Michael Bay declined the offer because he wanted to keep the film’s PG-13 rating. Clearly someone needs to examine Michael Bay’s head.)

Yet in her off hours, she’s not out partying at clubs or getting herself arrested for drunk driving, or behaving in a scandalous way like many of her peers do. She’s involved with socially responsible programs like Bono’s humanitarian efforts. She doesn’t talk about her dating life much or let it become exploited by the tabloids. (For the record, she’s been linked with names like Jared Leto, Justin Timberlake, Derek Jeter, and Josh Hartnett, whom she dated off and on for two years.) Her mother is Jewish, but Johansson won’t talk about her own religious practices, except to say she celebrates a little of both when it comes to Christmas and Hanukkah.

She’s recently started a singing career, showing off her talents during a Saturday Night Live sketch and recording an album of Tom Waits songs. Yes, Tom Waits songs. I know you didn’t think it would be covers of Madonna’s greatest hits. After all, that would be way too predictable. “I never heard of such bad taste,” to quote another famous Scarlett (O’Hara).