Scarlett Johansson described feeling ‘hyper𝓈ℯ𝓍ualized’ and ‘pigeonholed’ in the early stages of her acting career in Hollywood.

The Black Widow star, 37, appeared on Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert, on Monday, and shared how people in the industry saw her as older than what she was, leading to her not getting the roles she wanted.

‘I kind of became objectified and pigeonholed in this way where I felt like I wasn’t getting offers for work for things that I wanted to do. I remember thinking to myself, “I think people think I’m 40 years old,”‘ she revealed.

Reflecting on her career: Scarlett Johansson described feeling ‘hyper𝓈ℯ𝓍ualized’ and ‘pigeonholed’ in the early stages of her acting career in Hollywood; Pictured 2020

‘Because I think everybody thought I was older and that I’d been [acting] for a long time, I got kind of pigeonholed into this weird hyper𝓈ℯ𝓍ualized thing,’ the beauty remarked.

‘The runway is not long on that. So it was scary at that time. In a weird way, I was like, “Is this it?”‘ she added.

However, the New York native noted that things in the industry appear to be changing for the better.

‘Now, I see younger actors that are in their 20s. It feels like they’re allowed to be all these different things,’ she expressed.

‘It’s another time, too. We’re not even allowed to really pigeonhole other actors anymore, thankfully, right? People are much more dynamic,’ Johansson added.

The blonde bombshell started out her career as a 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 actor, but came to prominence when she was 17-years-old, while playing Charlotte in the 2003 Sofia Coppola film, Lost in Translation, alongside Bill Murray (then 52, now 72) for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress.

Johansson was five years younger than her character – a young wife who’s left alone at the Tokyo Park Hyatt by her photographer husband, played by Giovanni Ribisi.

In the romantic comedy she goes on to befriend a middle-aged movie star (Murray) who’s there shooting a Whiskey commercial, as they consolidate in their loneliness together and even share a kiss at one point.

The young beauty then went on to play a seductress in the 2005 psychological thriller Match Point, when she was just 19-years-old, starring alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who was 27 at the time.

The film’s controversial director, Woody Allen, 86, later caught flack after he referred to her as ‘𝓈ℯ𝓍ually radioactive’ in his memoir Apropos of Nothing.

She has since starred in a number of other notable films, and will next be seen in a new drama movie called, My Mother’s Wedding, which will be the directorial debut of the Oscar-nominated actress Kristin Scott Thomas.

Thomas is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as The English Patient, starring alongside Ralph Fiennes and Four Weddings And A Funeral with Hugh Grant.

Very young: The beauty then went on to play a seductress in the 2005 thriller Match Point, when she was just 19, starring alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who was 27 at the time; Pictured in a still from Match Point