Exclusive Portraits: Scarlett Johansson Receives Gene Siskel Film Center Renaissance Award

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CHICAGO – She’s conquered the box office as the top grossing female star of all time, and she’s had a series of big superhero and prestige films. The Gene Siskel Film Center honored Scarlett Johansson with their Renaissance Award, at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago on June 20th, 2016.

Scarlett Johansson on the Red Carpet on June 20th, 2016
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Johansson was born in New York City, and studied acting at the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan. She made her film debut at the age of nine in “North” (1994), and rose steadily through the ranks as a child/teenage actress in such films as “Manny & Lo” (1996), “The Horse Whisperer” (1998) and “Ghost World” (2001).

She made the transition to more adult roles with the unforgettable “Lost in Translation” (2003), opposite Bill Murray, and further stole the screen in the Woody Allen-directed “Match Point” in 2005. Other notable films in this period included “The Black Dahlia” (2006), “The Prestige” (2008) and another go-around with Woody Allen in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008).

Scarlett Johansson Received the Gene Siskel Film Center’s ‘Renaissance Award’
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

The third and most current phase of her career began with “Iron Man 2” (2010) as the superhero Black Widow, a role for Marvel Studios that she has played in four other films. Since then, she has mixed commercial with independent roles, and has broken out as a formidable performer in films like “Her” (2013) “Under the Skin” (2013) and “Lucy” (2014). She will appear in the film “Ghost in the Shell” in 2017, and has a flourishing stage and music career as well.

The Renaissance Award is presented by the Gene Siskel Film Center at their annual fundraising dinner. The evening on June 20th included a Red Carpet – where Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com shot these Exclusive Portraits – a dinner and a career retrospect of Scarlett Johansson moderated by Chicago Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper.

The Top Grossing Female Star of All Time, Scarlett Johansson
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com