Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Magdolna Hargitay was born at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California,^[1][5] to actress Jayne Mansfield. The biological father was later found to be singer Nelson Sardelli. She was conceived during her mother's marriage to Mickey Hargitay, so he was the legal father,^[6][7][8][9] and Mariska grew up believing he was her biological father as well.^[2][10] Her first and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary Magdalene (Mariska is a diminutive of Mary).^[5] She was raised Catholic. Jayne Mansfield had four other children: Jayne Marie Mansfield, Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay, Jr., Zoltán Hargitay, and Antonio "Tony" Cimber.^[11][12]

In 1962, troubles arose in Mansfield and Hargitay's marriage after Mansfield had an affair with an Italian filmmaker.^[13] Mansfield and Hargitay divorced in May 1963, but a judge later found their Mexican divorce invalid. After Mansfield realized she was pregnant with Mariska, she and Hargitay reconciled in January 1964. However, they soon separated again.^[14] In August 1964, Hargitay's mother successfully petitioned the court to rule the Mexican divorce legal.^[15]

On June 29, 1967, Mariska, her mother, and Mansfield's boyfriend Sam Brody were in an automobile crash 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,^[16] Brody, and the driver, Ronnie Harrison. Asleep in the back of the vehicle, three-and-a-half-year-old Mariska and her brothers, Miklós and Zoltán, escaped with minor injuries.^[17] The accident left Mariska with a zig-zag scar on her head.^[18]

After the death of their mother, Hargitay and her brothers were raised by Mickey Hargitay and his third wife, Ellen Siano.^[19][1] 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."^[20] 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."^[16]

While a student at her Catholic secondary school, Marymount High School, Hargitay was active in cheerleading, student government, athletics, and the theater program.^[21] She enjoyed acting and enrolled at UCLA after graduation from high school in 1982. That same year, Hargitay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA.^[22] 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.^[23][24] She left before completing her degree.^[1] Hargitay attended Groundlings Theatre and School in Los Angeles.^[25]

After Hargitay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA,^[22] 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.^[26] In 1984, Hargitay appeared in Ronnie Milsap's music video for "She Loves My Car", the first country music video to appear on MTV.^[27] A year later she had a small role in the horror film Ghoulies.^[28] 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 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.^[29] In 1988, she had a recurring role as Carly Fixx in the soap opera Falcon Crest.^[27] Hargitay played Jill Banner in the Japanese-American co-production Strawberry Road in 1991. 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.^[30] 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.^[31]

Hargitay said in 1986 that she never thought about doing television until a role on the one-hour adventure drama series Downtown was offered.^[28] In fact, she experienced difficulties in her efforts to begin a career as a Hollywood actor.^[16] Hargitay endured frequent comparisons to her mother.^[16]

Hargitay is best known for her portrayal of Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU.^[32][33] Benson is the longest-running character on the longest-running American primetime drama in history.^[34]

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.^[35]

Hargitay trained as a rape crisis advocate to prepare for the role of Benson.^[36] She has portrayed Benson since 1999.^[37] 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.^[38] 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.^[39][40]

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.^[41] On March 3, 2009, she was hospitalized after suffering from chest pains related to the injury.^[42] She missed one episode on SVU's 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.^[43][44] 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.^[45] However, two months later it was officially reported that both their contracts had been renewed for two more years.^[44] When the thirteenth season was about to air, initial reports indicated that Hargitay would appear in only the first 13 episodes.^[46] However, NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt later clarified that she would be in every episode of the season.^[47]

As of August 2012, Hargitay was earning approximately $400,000^[48]–$500,000 per episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.^[49] 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.^[50] In 2013 and 2014, she was ranked by Forbes as the second-highest-paid television actress, after only Sofía Vergara of Modern Family.^[51] In the following years, Hargitay continued to be considered one of the highest-paid television actresses in the world,^[52] making well over $500,000 per episode.^[53]

In July 2021, Hargitay suffered a broken ankle after taking a fall in the rain while leaving the screening of Black Widow.^[54] Her injury caused minor script changes and was written into the season 23 premiere of SVU.^[55] In 2025, Forbes named Hargitay as the 11th highest-paid actor of 2024, 2nd highest-paid actress after Nicole Kidman, and the highest-paid actor on television by a wide-margin, earning an estimated $750,000 per episode between acting, producing, and syndication profits from 26 seasons of SVU.^[56]

In January 2007, she and her older son appeared in a Got Milk? advertisement.^[57] 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".^[58][59]

Hargitay has produced a documentary, I Am Evidence. Released by HBO in 2018, the documentary discusses the thousands of untested rape kits in the United States. Hargitay called the reality of untested rape kits "the clearest and most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes in our country."^[60] The film received Best Documentary at the 40th News and Documentary Emmy Awards, winning Hargitay her second Emmy and first as a producer.^[61]

Hargitay was a guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional on December 19 and 20, 2022.^[62] In 2025, Hargitay announced the launch of Mighty Entertainment, a production company with her feature film directorial debut My Mom Jayne, released in the United States in June 2025, which delves into the life and death of her mother Jayne Mansfield, as the first project.^[63] That same year, she served as an executive producer on Nuns vs. The Vatican directed by Lorena Luciano.^[64]

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.^[65][66] 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.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2009, Hargitay and the Joyful Heart Foundation built healing and wellness kits for women who suffered domestic violence and were living in the Los Angeles County's domestic violence shelters.^[67] They created enough kits to give one to each of about 600 women.^[67] 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.^[67] 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,^[68] and again in the spring of 2009.^[69] She is an honorary board member director of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.^[70]

As of November 2010, the Joyful Heart Foundation had 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.^[36] According to Hargitay, the Foundation had raised $20 million as of April 2011.^[71] 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.^[72] The Foundation works with several brands to create products supporting the cause, including Me&Ro, Michael Stars, and AZIAM's Wife Lover Tanks.^[73]

On September 27, 2011, Hargitay donated $100,000 to her alma mater, the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television for scholarship.^[74] In 2012, Hargitay campaigned for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).^[75] In 2025, Hargitay was included on the inaugural TIME100 Philanthropy list for her work.^[76]

Hargitay is a certified rape counselor, as reported in 2004.^[16] As a rape survivor, she has called for an end to the stigma surrounding sexual assault. In a 2024 essay for People, she wrote, "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."^[77]

On August 28, 2004, in Santa Barbara, California, Hargitay married Peter Hermann, an actor she met on the set of Law & Order: SVU.^[78][79] Hermann plays the recurring role of defense attorney Trevor Langan on Law & Order: SVU. On June 28, 2006, Hargitay gave birth to their son by an emergency caesarean section.^[80][81] In April 2011, she and her husband adopted a baby girl.^[79][82] In October 2011, she and her husband adopted a son.^[83][84]

Hargitay speaks five languages: English, French, Hungarian, Spanish, and Italian.^[85] She is the godmother to Sophia, one of co-star Christopher Meloni's children.^[86] Actress Hilary Swank is her daughter's godmother.^[87] In a 2010 interview with Good Housekeeping, Hargitay stated that she considers herself a Christian.^[88][89] In 2025, Hargitay publicly disclosed that her biological father was not Mickey Hargitay, but rather Nelson Sardelli, who had been involved with her mother Jayne Mansfield in 1963. Mansfield's publicist Raymond Strait had also claimed that Sardelli was her biological father in his 1992 Mansfield biography Here They Are, Jayne Mansfield.^[90][91] Hargitay revealed she learned the identity of her biological father in her 20s and met Sardelli for the first time at the age of 30.^[10]