Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay (born Mariska Magdolna Hargitay; January 23, 1964) is an American actress, best known for her role as New York City sex crimes. Detective Olivia Benson on the NBC television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a role that has earned her multiple awards and nominations, including an Emmy and Golden Globe. The daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield and actor/bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, Hargitay is a former beauty queen who made her film debut in the 1985 horror-comedy film Ghoulies, and her major television debut in the 1986 adventure drama series Downtown. She appeared in numerous roles in film and television shows throughout the late 1980s and 1990s before being cast as Olivia Benson, a role that led to her founding the Joyful Heart Foundation, which provides support to women who have been sexually abused.
Hargitay was born at St. John's Hospital in Los Angeles, California,. Her first and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary Magdalene (Mariska is a diminutive of Mary). Her family name means "of Hargita". She has two older brothers.


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 began her acting career. Hargitay attended Groundlings theatre company in Los Angeles, CA.

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, were 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 role – 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 together 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.
During the last months of her pregnancy in 2006, she took maternity leave from SVU, and was temporarily replaced by Connie Nielsen.
In May 2009, after the show's tenth season, Hargitay and Meloni's contract expired when they were reportedly making $375,000
–$385,000 per episode. During negotiations in April for a new contract, the duo attempted to go after back-end 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.Hargitay returned for a twelfth season and began filming her first scenes in June and July 2010. On May 14, 2011, Hargitay closed a new deal for her thirteenth season. Initial reports indicated that she would appear in only the first 13 episodes,but NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt clarified later that August that she would be in every episode of the season.
Hargitay has said she would return to the show for its 14th season, stating to Harry Connick, Jr., "I can't leave this show, I'm having too much fun''. On April 20, 2012; Hargitay officially signed a new deal with Universal Television to continue on Law & Order: SVU a 14th season, pending renewal of the series by NBC, and will earn $500,000 per episode.

Health problems

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 after. On March 3, 2009, she was hospitalized after suffering chest pains related to the injury. It was disclosed that she would probably need more surgery. Despite this, she missed only one episode on SVU's tenth season.