Peek into the private world of the Golden Globe-nominated star. By Serena KappesSTAYING CENTERED

Johansson (at the Venice Film Festival in September) says her success last year “was head-spinning. But I try to keep that screwed on tightly.” Only a month into the new year, she has two movies out, In Good Company and A Love Song for Bobby Long (the latter earned her a best actress Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of a young woman whose mother dies).

HANDS ON

The paparazzi’s interest in Johansson’s on-again, off-again relationship with actor Jared Leto (in Hollywood on Dec. 16), whom she was first spotted canoodling with in May, befuddles her. “Who could possibly care about that?” she says.

COMPANY PLAYERS

“You’d never know she had that meteoric rise. She takes the work very seriously, but not herself,” says In Good Company costar Topher Grace about Johansson (with Dennis Quaid at the movie’s Hollywood premiere on Dec. 6). On the set, the two joked around and challenged each other to board-game tournaments.

CLOTHES CALL

Dressing up “is a lot of fun for me,” says Johansson. Adds her stylist, Annabel Tollman: “She exudes glamor and knows what works.” A few of Johansson’s winning looks (from left): in Alberta Ferretti at the Oscars in February; casually hip at a Hawthorne, Calif., art gallery event on Nov. 13; in Calvin Klein at a Metropolitan Museum of Art gala in New York in April.

MICKEY & ME

She may be one of Hollywood’s fastest rising talents, but Johansson is still a kid at heart. On Nov. 21, to celebrate her 20th birthday (which fell a day later), the self-avowed Disney fanatic visited Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., where she got Mickey’s autograph and shopped on Main Street, USA. Later that evening, her family threw her a surprise party at Hollywood hotspot Chi.

VAMP IT UP

Johansson (whose face graces the ads for Calvin Klein’s Eternity Moment fragrance) channeled her inner vamp when she made a guest appearance with the Pussycat Dolls burlesque troop at the Viper Room in Los Angeles in March. “The reason why I did it was that it seemed like a lot of fun,” she told New York’s Daily News. “(It’s) such a great way to express your feminine wiles and charms.”

SHOW TIME

John Travolta, Johansson’s costar in A Love Song for Bobby Long, “adored” her, says director Shainee Gabel. The actors (at the Venice Film Festival in September) quickly became close friends, and when they weren’t filming would sing show tunes from Oklahoma! and Carousel together. “She knows the words to everything,” says Gabel.

FAMILY TIES

Johansson is very close with mom Melanie (at a post-Tony Awards party in June), who’s also her manager. (Melanie is divorced from Johansson’s father, Karsten, a general contractor.) When Johansson was filming Lost in Translation in Tokyo in 2003, she made sure her mother kept her company. “I was like, ‘Mom, you have to stay with me,'” she says. “‘I cannot be left here alone.'”

LONDON CALLING

Filming the Woody Allen comedy Match Point in England this summer, Johansson (with the director in July) enjoyed the London nightlife in her off hours. Freddie Windsor, who’s 28th in line to the royal throne, even threw a dinner party in her honor, according to reports. Johansson (who’s a fan of Brit designers Stella McCartney and Alice Temperley) also visited a slew of hip boutiques.

GOING MOBILE

“Don’t even dream about patronizing her because of her age,” says Johansson’s Girl with a Pearl Earring costar Colin Firth of the actress (scooting around on the In Good Company set in Pasadena, Calif., in April). Her New Year’s resolutions include becoming “more politically active,” she says, naming the war in Iraq as a particular concern.

CREATIVE STREAK

In her downtime, Johansson (with Lindsay Lohan at the MTV Movie Awards in June) has recently taken up making jewelry with her older sister, Vanessa. “It is a good thing to do together. We got sick of spending $300 on a pair of earrings,” says Johansson. “It’s a great activity for obsessive-compulsive people like me.”

FILM FANATIC

“I live for film in every way,” says Johansson (with her dog on the Venice Beach, Calif., set of the Michael Bay-directed thriller The Island on Nov. 24). “This is all I ever wanted. I don’t plan on retiring until I die.” The New York native first made a splash in the 1996 coming-of-age film Manny amp Lo, before starring in 1998’s The Horse Whisperer.

SAY CHEERS

Besides upcoming roles in The Island and Match Point, Johansson also will costar with Hilary Swank in the drama The Black Dahlia and with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 3. “I never know what to expect next, and I’m learning as I go,” says the actress (at the 2004 Golden Globes) about her career. “It feels surreal, but I’m enjoying it.”

Source: https://people.com