LOST IN TRANSLATION - JOHANSSON TURNED AWAY FROM TV AUDITIONS

LOST IN TRANSLATION star SCARLETT JOHANSSON moved into film acting after a series of "scary" encounters put her off auditioning for TV commercials.

The Hollywood actress, 19, was shocked at the parental pressure faced by other children auditioning - and by the lack of certainty from casting agents - and was delighted a burgeoning movie career provided her with a way out of the advertising world.

She says, "I started out on the children-in-commercials audition circuit - that was a scary place.

"My mom would be stroking my hair in the casting office while next to us another mother was shouting at her kid to deliver the lines in a certain way.

"It was crazy how the casting agents never knew what they were looking for.

"They didn't know if they wanted a blonde girl in pigtails like me, or a young Asian boy.

"Eventually my mum said I wouldn't have to go to commercial auditions anymore and would just concentrate on films, which I really liked."