Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (born January 23, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She is known for playing Olivia Benson on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present), which became the longest-running drama in American prime-time television in 2019. Her portrayal of Olivia Benson is the longest-running character in a prime-time American TV drama, and since 2013, she is among the highest-paid actresses on television. Her accolades for the role include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two People's Choice Awards. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.

The daughter of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield, Hargitay's interest in acting began while attending Marymount High School in Los Angeles. She enrolled in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. In 1982, she was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA. She left UCLA before completing her degree to pursue an acting career. Her early credits include appearing on the television series Falcon Crest (1988), Tequila and Bonetti (1992), Can't Hurry Love (1995–1996), and ER (1997–1998), and the drama film Leaving Las Vegas (1995). Asides from her SVU role, she co-produced the HBO documentary film I Am Evidence, which won the 2017 News & Documentary Emmy Award for Best Documentary.

Hargitay is also known for her philanthropic work and activism. She founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, which provides support to people who have been sexually abused, and became a certified rape counselor. She has engaged in initiatives to support domestic violence shelters, raise awareness about untested rape kits, and contributed to other causes.

Early life
Hargitay was born at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, the daughter of actress and 1950s-era sex symbol Jayne Mansfield. Her father was the Hungarian-born former Mr. Universe, Mickey Hargitay. Her first and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary Magdalene (Mariska is a diminutive of Mary). She was raised Catholic and has two older brothers, Miklós and Zoltán, as well as three half-siblings, Jayne Marie Mansfield and Antonio "Tony" Cimber (from her mother's first and third marriages, respectively) and Tina Hargitay (from her father's first marriage). Hargitay's parents divorced in May 1963, but a judge later found their Mexican divorce invalid. They reconciled a few months before Hargitay's birth in January 1964, but soon separated again. In August 1964, Hargitay's mother successfully petitioned the court to rule the Mexican divorce legal. A few weeks later, Mansfield married the director Matt Cimber, who had directed her in a 1964 production of the William Inge play Bus Stop. By the summer of 1966, however, Mansfield and Cimber had filed for divorce.

On June 29, 1967, Mansfield was in an automobile accident on a stretch of U.S. Route 90 between New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The accident ripped off the top of the car, instantly killing Mansfield, her boyfriend Sam Brody, and the driver. Asleep in the back of the vehicle, Mariska, then three-and-a-half years old, was left with a zigzag scar on one side of her head. Her brothers, Miklós and Zoltán, escaped with minor injuries. After the death of their mother, the three siblings were raised by their father and his third wife, Ellen Siano. Hargitay dislikes comparisons with her famous mother and, at age 18, said, "My dad was Mr. Universe, so it would be fun for me to be Miss Universe". Hargitay has said that the early loss of her mother left "a hole in my life that won't ever be filled. I will never get over it. I will always be a girl who lost her mom". Hargitay's father died in September 2006 from multiple myeloma in Los Angeles, California, at age 80.

While a student at her Catholic secondary school, Marymount High School, Hargitay was active in cheerleading, student government, athletics, and the theater program. She enjoyed acting and enrolled at UCLA after graduation from high school in 1982. That same year, Hargitay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA. By the time she was a freshman in college, Hargitay had an agent and several small roles to her credit. She attended UCLA School of Theater Film and Television where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She left before completing her degree. Hargitay attended Groundlings Theatre and School in Los Angeles.

Early years and roles
After Hargitay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA, she competed in the Miss California USA pageant the following year and placed fourth runner-up to Julie Hayek, who was later crowned Miss USA. In 1984, Hargitay appeared in Ronnie Milsap's music video for "She Loves My Car", the first country music video to appear on MTV. A year later she had a small role in the horror film Ghoulies. Hargitay has appeared on numerous other television programs, including: Freddy's Nightmares – A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Series, Ellen, All-American Girl, Baywatch, Cracker, Gabriel's Fire, In the Heat of the Night, The Single Guy, Wiseguy, and thirtysomething. Her voice is featured on the 2005 video game True Crime: New York City. Hargitay also had a minor role in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas.

Hargitay briefly replaced Gabrielle Fitzpatrick as Dulcea in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, although her scenes were cut from the film when Fitzpatrick recovered from her surgery and returned to the film.

In 1988, she had a recurring role as Carly Fixx in the soap opera Falcon Crest. She portrayed police officer Angela Garcia in the 1992 series Tequila and Bonetti and appeared in the two-part fourth season finale episode of Seinfeld, where they had her read for the role of Elaine Benes in "The Pilot". She was considered for the character of Elaine Benes on Seinfeld itself before it began. Two years later, Hargitay portrayed Didi Edelstein, the sexy next-door neighbor, in the 1995 sitcom Can't Hurry Love, which starred Nancy McKeon. In 1997, Hargitay played detective Nina Echeverria on the drama series Prince Street, and had a recurring role as inept desk clerk Cynthia Hooper during the fourth season of ER.

Hargitay said in 1986 that she never thought about doing television until a role on the one-hour adventure drama series Downtown was offered. In fact, she experienced difficulties in her efforts to begin a career as a Hollywood actor. Hargitay endured frequent comparisons to her mother.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Casting for the lead characters of NBC police procedural television drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit occurred in the spring of 1999. Dick Wolf, along with officials from NBC and Studios USA, was at the final auditions for the two leads at Rockefeller Center. The last round had been narrowed down to six finalists. For the female lead – Detective Olivia Benson – Samantha Mathis, Reiko Aylesworth, and Hargitay were being considered. For the male lead – Detective Elliot Stabler – the finalists were Tim Matheson, John Slattery, and Christopher Meloni. Meloni and Hargitay had auditioned in the final round together, and after the actors left, there was a moment of dead silence, after which Wolf blurted out, "Oh well. There's no doubt who we should choose – Hargitay and Meloni." The duo, who Wolf believed had the perfect chemistry from the first time he saw them together, were his first choice. Garth Ancier, then head of NBC Entertainment, agreed, and the rest of the panel assembled voiced their assent.

Hargitay trained as a rape crisis advocate to prepare for the role of Benson. She has portrayed Benson since 1999. Hargitay won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the role. She received UCLA's TFT Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011 and was honored at the school's June commencement ceremony. During the last months of her pregnancy in 2006, Hargitay took maternity leave from SVU, and was temporarily replaced by Connie Nielsen, who portrayed Stabler's temporary partner Dani Beck.

In late December 2008, Hargitay suffered a partially collapsed lung after taking a fall during a stunt on the set of SVU. She underwent surgery in January and returned to work shortly afterward. On March 3, 2009, she was hospitalized after suffering from chest pains related to the injury. She missed one episode on SVU tenth season. In May 2009, after the show's tenth season, Hargitay and Meloni's contracts expired when they were reportedly making $375,000 –$385,000 per episode. During negotiations in April for a new contract, the duo attempted to receive a percentage of the show's profits as other high-profile Law and Order actors had done in the past. It was rumored that NBC threatened to replace Hargitay and Meloni if they persisted in their demands. However, two months later it was officially reported that both their contracts had been renewed for two more years. When the thirteenth season was about to air, initial reports indicated that Hargitay would appear in only the first 13 episodes. However, NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt later clarified that she would be in every episode of the season.

As of August 2012, Hargitay was earning approximately $400,000 –$500,000 per episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2013 and 2014, she was ranked by Forbes as the second highest-paid television actress, only after Sofia Vergara of Modern Family. Hargitay continues to be considered one of the highest-paid television actresses in the world, making well over $500,000 per episode.

In 2013, Hargitay was awarded with the 2,511th star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star was placed next to the star of her mother, which is located at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard. In July 2021, Hargitay suffered a broken ankle after taking a fall in the rain while leaving the screening of Black Widow. Her injury caused minor script changes and was written into the season 23 premiere of SVU.

Other work
In January 2007, she and her older son appeared in a Got Milk? advertisement.

At the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Hargitay won the "Video of the Year" Award, shared with Taylor Swift and all of the celebrities that appeared in the music video for Swift's song "Bad Blood".

Hargitay produced a documentary, I Am Evidence released by HBO in 2018, following the thousands of untested rape kits; Hargitay called this lack of testing "the clearest and most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes in our country." The film received Best Documentary at the 40th News and Documentary Emmy Awards, winning Hargitay her second Emmy and first as a producer.

Hargitay was a guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional December 19–20, 2022.

Joyful Heart Foundation
Hargitay is the founder and former president of the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization established in 2004 to provide support to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse and human trafficking. According to Hargitay, she was inspired by an encounter with a pod of dolphins that surrounded her while she was swimming off the coast of Hawaii at the age of 15. The encounter, which had ignited profound spiritual feelings within her, was one that Hargitay hoped to share with others.

Back in November 2009, Hargitay and the Joyful Heart Foundation built healing and wellness kits for women who suffered domestic violence and were currently in the Los Angeles County's domestic violence shelters. They created enough kits to give one to each of about 600 women. In California, the domestic violence services budget was in a major crisis, and shelters were forced to turn women away. Hargitay and her foundation donated money to the cause. Hargitay has worked with Michigan Police and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to raise awareness about the statistics of untested rape kits. Hargitay appeared in the 17th season of NBC's The More You Know public service announcements in 2006, and again in the spring of 2009. She is an honorary board member director of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

As of November 2010, the Joyful Heart Foundation has sent over 5,000 women and children on therapeutic programs in New York, Los Angeles, and Hawaii, which combine yoga, meditation, massage, journaling, and swimming with dolphins.

According to Hargitay, the Foundation has raised $20 million and helped approximately 5,000 survivors as of April 2011. Reference to the Joyful Heart Foundation was worked into episodes of Special Victims Unit, via a necklace containing two pendants representing the Foundation that Hargitay's character began wearing in the show's 13th season. The Foundation works with several brands to create products supporting the cause, including Me&Ro, Michael Stars, and AZIAM's Wife Lover Tanks.

Continued activism and rape counseling
On September 27, 2011, Hargitay donated $100,000 to her alma mater, the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television for scholarship. In 2012, Hargitay campaigned for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

Hargitay's character, Olivia Benson, was heavily involved in rape and domestic violence cases in New York; in many episodes she defended the women, because she knew the trauma that they had experienced. Some women who watched the show felt a connection with her, which led them to send Hargitay letters because they thought she could do something with them. Since Hargitay received these letters from women, she knew that she had to use her platform to do something meaningful. She, in fact, did; Hargitay became a certified rape counselor. With this, she was able to talk to these women, make them feel better, and let them know that they are not alone; she helped the victims to be able to live their lives again. After disclosing herself as a survivor in 2024 in a personal essay published by People, she credits other survivors for giving her strength and calls for an end to the stigma where she said, "Tell someone you’ve survived cancer, and you’re celebrated. I want the same response for sexual assault survivors. I want no shame with the victim."

Personal life
On August 28, 2004, in Santa Barbara, California, Hargitay married Peter Hermann, an actor whom she met on the set of Law & Order: SVU, on which he plays the recurring role of defense attorney Trevor Langan. On June 28, 2006, Hargitay gave birth to their son, August, by an emergency caesarean section. In April 2011, she and her husband adopted a baby girl, Amaya, and attended her birth. In October 2011, she and her husband adopted a son, Andrew, who had been born in 2011.

Hargitay speaks five languages: English, French, Hungarian, Spanish, and Italian. She is the godmother to Sophia, one of co-star Christopher Meloni's children. Actress Hilary Swank is her daughter's godmother. In a 2010 interview with Good Housekeeping, Hargitay stated that she considers herself a Christian.