Russian Scarlett Johansson, a Russian Scarlett Johansson impersonator with 10.2 millions followers has talked about the downsides to being famous as a double’.
Yekaterina Shumskaya, 25, or simply Kate Shumskaya as she is known on TikTok, from Moscow, attracted 1.5 million views within hours of posting her first ‘Scarlett video’ on the platform in February.
Her likeness to the glamorous star of Avengers has enabled her to quit her £6,250 job as a construction company sales manager and move from her home town, Maykop, to the Russian capital, Moscow, in May.
However she revealed there are downsides to the likeness, saying she has received death threats from followers after she dressed up as the actress in Ghost in the Shell.
She stated that Scarlett Johannsson was charged with ‘whitewashing” an Asian character in Ghost in the Shell. Some of the criticism focused on me as I am a close lookalike. People from around the globe dress as the character in Ghost in the Shell. It was extremely unpleasant.
Yekaterina Shumskaya, 25, or simply Kate Shumskaya as she is known on TikTok, has quit her job and moved cities to pursue her work as a Scarlett Johansson lookalike (left, Yekaterina, and right, Scarlett)
A keen athlete, the young woman spent her childhood training to play professional handball. At 17 she was injured and lost his career. She was told by friends that she looked just like Hollywood stars.
She explained: ‘Some schoolfriends came up to me when I was around 12 years old and showed me a photo and I was like, “Is that me?”
I was shocked when they said “No, Scarlett Johansson was her child.” Although I knew I looked like her for some time, I never really thought much about it.
She tried her hand at modeling in the town she grew up in, and gave up after a while.
A keen athlete, the young woman spent school training to be a professional player of handball. Her classmates first said that she looked just like Hollywood stars.
She continued: ‘I first started on the predecessor of TikTok when I was 17.
“I used to be quite well-known in Russia’s Russian region, however I was so annoyed by all the messages and comments that I decided to delete my page within two weeks.
In the end, she decided to find a job at an office. She quickly rose up to become a sales manager and bought an apartment as well as a car before age 22.
However, she began to feel something wasn’t right in her life in 2020. She said that she was beginning to get tired of working and felt it was not bringing in enough income.
“As a woman recognition and compliments matter to me.”
Her likeness to the glamorous star of Avengers has enabled her to quit her £6,250 job as a construction company sales manager and move from her home town, Maykop, to the Russian capital, Moscow,
‘Crudely speaking I woke awake one morning thinking, “My youth is going by fast and no one will ever notice me.”
Kate quit her job to pursue her dream of being a model, even though her parents disapprove.
She said: ‘My parents even now don’t understand. They wanted me to keep my job. They believed that I would not be able earn enough to model for advertisements.
‘I had a stable $700 dollars (£521) a month and my parents didn’t want me to turn my back on that.
“But, but I made my own decision and quit. It was worth it.”
Kate wants to harness her celebrity as a way of launching her career in modelling. Not as Scarlett Johansson impersonator.
And before Kate had even worked her notice, she had shot to online fame, saying: ‘At that time all everyone was talking about was TikTok.
“So I set out to find out what the hype was all about. At that point, there was a very common hashtag called “Who do I Look Like?” Russia.
“People recorded videos of themselves, with a voiceover saying: “People claim I look like Connor MacGregor. What do you think?”
The video was simple and featured my face. In just a matter of hours I was noticed by major Russian bloggers and had more than a million hits for my very first TikTok.
“There were many followers from America, Colombia and Brazil. They all commented on my posts, asking me if Scarlett had ever spoken with them or if they knew that I was there.”
Kate was a happy camper and enjoyed all the attention she received at first. She began to be offered lucrative advertising deals and was eventually asked to move to Moscow.
Kate was a happy camper and enjoyed all the attention she received. She began to be offered lucrative advertising deals and was eventually asked to move to Moscow.
However, Kate stated that despite her being supported by an agency advertising, she did not receive the overwhelming reception she expected.
“When I was so well-known online, I decided to move to Moscow as a model. But I don’t know much about the world.
“An advertisement agency brought me to Russia, but they are not sure what to do about me in Russia.”
“I would love to one day film a series about me traveling to America in order to meet Scarlett Johansson.”
“My friends always question if Scarlett ever spoke to me, or if Scarlett even knows I exist. And I don’t know the answer.
Scarlett Johannsson was charged with ‘whitewashing a Asian character in Ghost in the Shell’. Kate claimed she received death threats.
Kate, who’s video of her eating sushi in Black Widow costume received 108,000,000 views, seems unaffected by all this and wants to make it a way for people to see that she is modeling – not like Scarlett Johansson.
Scarlett said that she wanted to lead her own life.
“It is a mystery how much I earn now, but I cannot afford to send money to my family when I worked for the construction firm. Now I can, every month. Although they don’t like it, it is their choice.
However, online fame is not without its problems.
In 2017, Scarlett was met with accused of ‘whitewashing’ for taking on the role of Major, a crime-fighting machine powered by a human brain, usually portrayed as Asian, in the film Ghost In The Shell.
Kate hopes to find a job as an international lookalike because this industry is ‘not really there’ in Russia.
Kate tried to portray Scarlett in the movie’s role, but was criticised for her costume.
Kate sees a bright future as a cosplayer. This is another term for lookalikes that dress up in popular characters. She does so more in America, Europe, or South America than her native country because she has more options abroad.
She stated that a career in Russia as a cosplayer is not possible, and she would love to travel the world, even though I might not be able to live permanently there.
“Once in a while, all my friends from all over the world encouraged us to go to Moscow’s premiere of Black Widow: Scarlett. She was the star.
“I dressed up in a costume and went into the city with a photographer. But no one saw me. “People looked at my strangeness as though I were a freak!”
“I was so ashamed that I broke down and ran to a café to get my clothes changed.”
“Ironically,” I said, “At the toilets, after I had removed my Black Widow costume, she approached me and asked, Do people sometimes tell you that you look like Scarlett Johansson?” I couldn’t stop screaming!