Scarlett Johansson felt 'groomed' into becoming 'bombshell-type' actress

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Scarlett Johansson believes the "bombshell-type" actor label she has acquired over the course of her career is actually a product of being "groomed" by the industry.

"I was kind of being groomed in a way to be this, what you call a bombshell-type of actor," she told Bruce Bozzi on his podcast "Table for Two."

"I was playing the ‘other woman’ and the object of desire," she said of her stereotyped roles in films such as "Lost in Translation" and "Girl With the Pearl Earring." "And you know I suddenly found myself cornered in this place, like I couldn't get out of it."

Scarlett Johansson discussed how she felt "groomed" into a "bombshell-type" stereotype. (Matt Winkelmeyer)

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"I kind of became, like, an ingénue," she said, before adding, "Young girls like that are really objectified, and that’s just a fact, you know? And so I think whatever box they’re put into, it sort of sets you on this trajectory for how your life will go."

By the time she was 18 or 19, Johansson felt she was "coming into my own womanhood and learning my own desirability and sexuality."

However, Johansson was determined to have longevity in her acting career, and didn't want to be confined to a certain role.

"I think for that kind of bombshell, you know that kind of burns bright and quick, and then it's done, and you don't have opportunity beyond that," she said. "And I just felt like ‘How is this burning out so quickly?'"

The 38-year-old actress noted that today women are able to more freely "choose their own path," and not be restricted to a certain type of role.

Scarlett Johansson did not want her career to be defined by playing the "bombshell." (Monica Schipper/Getty Images for David Yurman)

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At the end of the day, the acclaimed actress shared, "It really came back to doing work – working at it, and trying to carve a place in different projects and work in great ensembles."

While she says things started to shift when she landed "Iron Man 2" in 2010, co-starring alongside Robert Downey Jr., she says a play she did in New York, "A View from the Bridge," is when she really felt the greatest shift in her career. 

Scarlett Johansson acted alongside Liev Schreiber in "A View from the Bridge." They're pictured together opening night in 2010. (Ben Gabbe/Patrick McMullan)

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Johansson won a Tony Award for her performance in the play.