Mariska Hargitay
Encyclopedia
Mariska Hargitay is an American actress, best known for her role as New York City sex crimes Detective Olivia Benson
Olivia Benson
Det. Olivia "Liv" Benson is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Mariska Hargitay. She is the former partner of Elliot Stabler. In Season 13, her partner will be Nick Amaro...

 on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

, a role that has earned her multiple awards and nominations, including an Emmy and Golden Globe.

The daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...

 and actor/bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay
Mickey Hargitay
Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay was an actor and Mr. Universe 1955. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he was married to Jayne Mansfield, and the father of actress Mariska Hargitay...

, Hargitay is a former beauty queen who made her film debut in the 1985 horror-comedy film Ghoulies
Ghoulies
The Ghoulies films are an American horror-comedy series released throughout the 1980s and 1990s and centered on a group of demons usually summoned by Satanic worshippers.-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
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...

.

Early life

Hargitay was born at St. John's Hospital in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, the daughter of actress and 1950s-era sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...

 Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...

. Her father was the Hungarian-born former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay
Mickey Hargitay
Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay was an actor and Mr. Universe 1955. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he was married to Jayne Mansfield, and the father of actress Mariska Hargitay...

. Her first and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...

 (Mariska is a diminutive
Diminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...

 of Mary). Her family name
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...

 means "of Hargita
Harghita County
Harghita is a county in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea-Ciuc.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 326,222 and a population density of 52/km².*Hungarians- 85%...

". Hargitay was raised Roman Catholic. She has two half-sisters, Jayne Marie Mansfield
Jayne Marie Mansfield
Jayne Marie Mansfield is the eldest daughter of 1950s Hollywood sex symbol and Playboy Playmate Jayne Mansfield, who became the first daughter of a Playmate to be a featured model. The record was made in the magazine's July 1976 issue, and, to date only one other daughter of a Playmate has been...

 and Tina Hargitay; two brothers, Miklós and Zoltán Hargitay; and a half-brother, Antonio Ottaviano (also known as Tony Cimber), a former director whose works include the female wrestling show Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling
Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling
Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, also known as GLOW or G.L.O.W., was a professional wrestling promotion for women, begun in 1986 and continued in various forms after it left television. Colorful characters, beautiful women, and over-the-top comedy sketches were integral to the series' success...

.

Hargitay's parents had divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

d in May 1963, but a judge later found their Mexican divorce
Mexican divorce
In the 1960s, many Americans traveled south to obtain a "Mexican divorce". A Mexican divorce was easier, quicker, and less expensive than a divorce in most states. Celebrities who obtained a Mexican divorce include Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Burton, Marilyn Monroe, and Don Hewitt. It...

 invalid. They had reconciled a few months before Hargitay's birth in January 1964, but soon separated again; in August 1964, the Mexican divorce was ruled legal. A few weeks later, Mansfield married the director Matt Cimber
Matt Cimber
Matt Cimber is an Italian-American film producer, director and writer. He was the last husband of Jayne Mansfield, who was the mother of his son, Antonio Raphael . Cimber directed her on stage and in one movie, Single Room Furnished...

, who had directed her in a 1964 production of the William Inge
William Inge
William Motter Inge was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s, he had a string of memorable Broadway productions, and one of these, Picnic, earned him a Pulitzer Prize...

 play Bus Stop
Bus Stop (play)
Bus Stop is a 1955 play by William Inge. The 1956 film is only loosely based upon it.-Characters:Bus Stop is a drama, with romantic and some comedic elements. It is set in a diner in rural Kansas, about 20 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri during a snowstorm from which bus passengers must take...

. On June 29, 1967, Mansfield was killed in an automobile accident on a stretch of U.S. Highway 90 between New Orleans and Slidell
Slidell, Louisiana
Slidell is a city situated on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 25,695 at the 2000 census. The Greater Slidell Community has a population of about 90,000...

, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

. Her boyfriend, Sam Brody, and the driver were also killed. Asleep in the back of the vehicle, Hargitay, then three and a half years old, was left with a zig-zag scar on one side of her head. Her brothers Miklós and Zoltán were also in the car, but 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," she says, "so it would be fun for me to be Miss Universe."

While a student at her Catholic secondary school Marymount High School
Marymount High School
Marymount High School is a private, Roman Catholic, all-girls, college-preparatory high school located in the Holmby Hills/Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. It sits across from the University of California, Los Angeles campus at 10643 Sunset Boulevard....

, 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
UCLA School of Theater Film and Television
The UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television , is one of the twelve schools within UCLA. It is located in Los Angeles, California, USA, and is unique in that it combines all three of these aspects into a single school. The graduate programs are usually ranking within the top 3 nationally,...

 (where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma is a collegiate women's fraternity, founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois, USA. Although the groundwork of the organization was developed as early as 1869, the 1876 Convention voted that October 13, 1870 should be recognized at the official Founders Day, because no...

) until she left before graduating, when she began her acting career. Hargitay attended Groundlings
The Groundlings
The Groundlings are an improvisational comedy troupe based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin to produce sketches and improvised scenes...

 theatre company in Los Angeles, CA. Her improv teacher was Kathy Griffin
Kathy Griffin
Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin is an American actress, stand-up comedienne, television personality, New York Times best-selling author and an LGBT rights advocate. Griffin first gained recognition for appearances on two episodes of Seinfeld, and then for her supporting role on the NBC sitcom...

. Griffin stated in an interview, "We started class, and in the Groundlings curriculum, one of the first exercises you do is the cliched 'trust' game. I made everyone stand in a circle, with me in the center, and I said, being onstage, you have to trust your fellow actors, especially when you're an improviser. You're going to be there for each other, and they're going to be there for you. For example, I'm going to fall back, knowing that you'll catch me. Then I let myself fall backward, and sure enough, I was caught. Everyone gets out some nervous laughter, and then they all took turns doing it. By the time it got around to Mariska Hargitay, we'd already done it with ten or eleven students, and they had clearly gotten the point. Then it was Mariska's turn. 'Okay, Mariska, cross your arms in front of you and gently fall back,' I said. She fell back and nobody caught her. She fell flat on her ass. I was horrified. This had never happened in one of my classes before."

Career

In 1982, after Hargitay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA, she then competed in the Miss California USA
Miss California USA
Miss California USA is a pageant that selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss USA pageant.The current titleholder is Katie Blair. She succeeded Alyssa Campanella on June 25, 2011 after Campanella was crowned Miss USA 2011....

 pageant the following year, placing fourth runner-up to Julie Hayek
Julie Hayek
Julie Lynne Hayek is an American beauty queen and actress who was Miss USA 1983.-Early life:Hayek is of Czech and German descent on her father's side and Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, and English on her mother's side. Her father was an airline pilot and her mother, a high school guidance counselor...

 who was later crowned Miss USA
Miss USA
The Miss USA beauty contest has been held annually since 1952 to select the United States entrant in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operates both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA...

. In 1984, she appeared in Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country’s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s...

's music video for She Loves My Car. A year later she had a small role in the horror film, Ghoulies
Ghoulies
The Ghoulies films are an American horror-comedy series released throughout the 1980s and 1990s and centered on a group of demons usually summoned by Satanic worshippers.-Ghoulies:...

. Hargitay said in 1986 that she never thought about doing television until a role for the one-hour adventure drama series Downtown was offered. In 1988, she had a recurring role as Carly Fixx in the soap opera Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....

. She portrayed police officer Angela Garcia in the 1992 series Tequila & Bonetti
Tequila and Bonetti
Tequila and Bonetti is an American comedy-drama series starring Jack Scalia. The series originally aired on CBS from January 17, 1992 to April 17, 1992...

, and appeared in an episode
The Pilot, Part 1
"The Pilot" is the two-part season finale episode of the fourth season of Seinfeld. It makes up the sixty-third and sixty-fourth episodes and first aired on May 20, 1993....

 of the fourth season of Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

. Two years later, Hargitay portrayed Didi Edelstein, the sexy next-door neighbor, in the 1995 sitcom Can't Hurry Love
Can't Hurry Love
Can't Hurry Love is a US sitcom that ran for less than five months between September 1995 and February 1996.The show starred Nancy McKeon as a 20-something placement coordinator at a New York City personnel agency. McKeon plays Annie O'Donnell, a single career woman living in New York City and...

, which starred Nancy McKeon
Nancy McKeon
Nancy Justine McKeon is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Jo Polniaczek on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life.-Early life & career:...

. In 1997, Hargitay played detective Nina Echeverria on the drama series Prince Street, and had a recurring role as Cynthia Hooper during the fourth season of ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

.

Hargitay has appeared on numerous other television programs, including: Freddy's Nightmares
Freddy's Nightmares
Freddy's Nightmares is an American horror anthology series, which aired in syndication from October 1988 until March 1990. A spin-off from the Nightmare on Elm Street series, each story was introduced by Freddy Krueger...

; Ellen
Ellen (TV series)
Ellen is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.The theme song, "So Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas...

; All American Girl; Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...

; Cracker; Gabriel's Fire
Gabriel's Fire
Gabriel's Fire is an American television series that ran on ABC in the USA in 1990–1991. A revamped version of the series, entitled Pros and Cons, aired briefly the following season.-Overview:...

; In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night (TV series)
In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...

; The Single Guy
The Single Guy
The Single Guy is an American television sitcom that ran for two seasons on NBC, from September 1995 to April 1997. It starred Jonathan Silverman as struggling New York City writer Jonathan Eliot, and followed several of his close friends The series also starred Joey Slotnick as Eliot's best...

; Wiseguy
Wiseguy
Wiseguy is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 16, 1987 to December 8, 1990 for a total of four seasons. Starring Ken Wahl, the series was produced by Stephen J...

, and thirtysomething. Her voice is featured on the 2005 video game True Crime: New York City
True Crime: New York City
True Crime: New York City is an urban sandbox-style action-adventure videogame published by Activision and developed by Luxoflux for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube consoles and Windows based computers. It is the second game of the True Crime series, released after True Crime: Streets of LA...

. Hargitay also had a minor role in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film directed and written by Mike Figgis, based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic who has ended his personal and professional life to drink himself to death in Las Vegas...

, and briefly replaced Gabrielle Fitzpatrick
Gabrielle Fitzpatrick
-Biography:Fitzpatrick was born in Brisbane, Australia. Fitzpatrick first appeared on television on a Outback Steakhouse commercial. After, she got her first professional job as a model, later becoming a successful actress...

 in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie is a 1995 American superhero action fantasy based on the television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on Fox Kids. It featured the characters and actors from the series itself, and used the zords from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger...

, although the scene was removed from the film.

In January 2007 she and her son, August, appeared in a Got Milk?
Got Milk?
Got Milk? is an American advertising campaign encouraging the consumption of cow's milk, which was created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993 and later licensed for use by milk processors and dairy farmers. It has been running...

advertisement.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Casting for the lead characters of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...

 television drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

occurred in the spring of 1999. Dick Wolf
Dick Wolf
Richard Anthony "Dick" Wolf is an American producer, specializing in crime dramas such as Miami Vice and the Law & Order franchise. Throughout his career he has won several awards including an Emmy Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.-Early life:Wolf was born in New York City, the son...

, along with officials from NBC and Studios USA, were at the final auditions for the two leads at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...

. The last round had been narrowed down to six finalists. For the female lead – Detective Olivia Benson
Olivia Benson
Det. Olivia "Liv" Benson is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Mariska Hargitay. She is the former partner of Elliot Stabler. In Season 13, her partner will be Nick Amaro...

 – Samantha Mathis
Samantha Mathis
Samantha Mathis is an American actress. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in Pump Up the Volume , opposite Christian Slater...

, Reiko Aylesworth
Reiko Aylesworth
Reiko M. Aylesworth is an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role on the television series 24 as Michelle Dessler.-Life and career:...

, and Hargitay were being considered. For the male role – Detective Elliot Stabler
Elliot Stabler
Det. Elliot "El" Stabler is a fictional character on the TV crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Christopher Meloni. He was the partner of Olivia Benson before retiring, following a shooting.-Character overview:...

 – the finalists were Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character...

, John Slattery
John Slattery
John M. Slattery, Jr. is an American actor and director, best known for his role as Roger Sterling on AMC's series Mad Men. He has been nominated for many awards, and has won two SAG Awards with the Mad Men ensemble....

, and Christopher Meloni
Christopher Meloni
Christopher Peter Meloni is an American actor. He is best known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and as inmate Chris Keller on the HBO prison drama Oz.-Early life:Meloni was born the youngest of three children in...

. 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
Garth Ancier
Garth Ancier is a media executive best known for being one of only two people to have programmed three of the five US broadcast television networks .He is the former President of BBC Worldwide America and...

, 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
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 10)
This article contains a list of episodes for season 10 of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.-Cast:*Christopher Meloni as Det. Elliot Stabler*Mariska Hargitay as Det. Olivia Benson*Richard Belzer as Sgt. John Munch...

, 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
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 12)
The 12th season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered on September 22, 2010 on NBC and concluded on May 18, 2011. The timeslot was moved from 10 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the NBC broadcast in 2010...

 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, however NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt clarified later that August that she would be in every episode of that season.

Personal life

Hargitay speaks English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

.

On August 28, 2004, in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Hargitay married Peter Hermann
Peter Hermann
Peter Hermann is a German-American actor and writer. He is married to actress Mariska Hargitay, with whom he has three children.-Career:Hermann had brief stints on a variety of television shows that include the soap opera, Guiding Light , the ABC Family show, Beautiful People and the Lifetime...

, an actor and writer whom she met on the set of Law & Order: SVU, on which Hermann plays the recurring role of Defense Attorney Trevor Langan. On June 28, 2006, Hargitay gave birth to their son, August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, by an emergency caesarean section
Caesarean section
A Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...

. She appeared in the January 2007 issue of Self
Self (magazine)
Self magazine is an American magazine for women that specializes in health, fitness, nutrition, beauty and happiness. Published by Condé Nast Publications 12 times a year, it has a circulation of 1,486,992 and a total audience of 5,541,000 readers, according to its corporate media kit. The...

magazine where she stated that the 15-hour work days on the set of SVU – combined with the stress of an increase in episodes filmed each week – caused her to resort to food for comfort and by her third trimester, she had gained 54 pounds and developed gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes is a condition in which women without previously diagnosed diabetes exhibit high blood glucose levels during pregnancy . It is widely accepted as a disease only in the United States, there is some question whether the condition is natural during pregnancy...

. She explained in the interview, "I was overwhelmed by my lack of energy. All I could do to survive was to eat". In April 2011, Hargitay and Hermann adopted a baby girl, Amaya Josephine.
In October 2011, she and her husband adopted a baby boy, Andrew Nicolas Hargitay Hermann, who had been born in mid-2011.

Upon winning her Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

on August 27, 2006, Hargitay made a point of thanking her father for everything he had done for her in her life. Just 17 days later, on September 14, 2006, her father died from multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma , also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease , is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for the production of antibodies...

 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, at age 80.

Health problems

In late December 2008, Hargitay suffered a partially collapsed lung
Pneumothorax
Pneumothorax is a collection of air or gas in the pleural cavity of the chest between the lung and the chest wall. It may occur spontaneously in people without chronic lung conditions as well as in those with lung disease , and many pneumothoraces occur after physical trauma to the chest, blast...

 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 tenth season.

Charity work

Hargitay is founder and president of the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization that was set up in 2004 to provide support to survivors of sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....

, domestic violence and child abuse. According to Hargitay, she was inspired by an encounter with a school 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. 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, maintaining journals and swimming with dolphins. According to Hargitay, "I started getting fan mail from survivors who felt a connection to Olivia. In many of these letters, people would disclose their personal stories of abuse — some for the very first time. I remember getting the sense that many were living in isolation with so much shame, but the shame belonged to the perpetrators. I wanted to help find a way to help people reclaim their lives and live them with a renewed sense of possibility and hope. And that's what we work to do every day at Joyful Heart." 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
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 13)
The 13th season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit debuted on September 21, 2011 on NBC.This season Law & Order: SVU will be broadcast without any other running U.S. Law & Order series...

.

Hargitay appeared in the 17th season of NBC's "The More You Know
The More You Know
The More You Know is a series of Emmy award-winning public service announcements broadcast on the NBCUniversal family of channels in the United States and other locations. The spots feature personalities from various NBC shows...

" public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...

 in 2006, and again in the spring of 2009. She is an honorary board member director of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to multiple myeloma, an incurable but treatable blood cancer, which afflicts over fifty thousand Americans alone...

.

On September 27, 2011, Hargitay donated $100,000 to her alma mater, the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television
UCLA School of Theater Film and Television
The UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television , is one of the twelve schools within UCLA. It is located in Los Angeles, California, USA, and is unique in that it combines all three of these aspects into a single school. The graduate programs are usually ranking within the top 3 nationally,...

 for scholarship.

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1986 Downtown Jesse Smith
1988 In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night (TV series)
In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...

Audine Higgs Episode: "...And Then You Die"
1988 Freddy's Nightmares
Freddy's Nightmares
Freddy's Nightmares is an American horror anthology series, which aired in syndication from October 1988 until March 1990. A spin-off from the Nightmare on Elm Street series, each story was introduced by Freddy Krueger...

Marsha Wildmon Episode: "Freddy's Tricks and Treats"
1988 Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....

Carly Fixx
1989 Finish Line Lisa Karsh Television film
1989 Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...

Lisa Peters Episode: "Second Wave"
1990 Wiseguy
Wiseguy
Wiseguy is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 16, 1987 to December 8, 1990 for a total of four seasons. Starring Ken Wahl, the series was produced by Stephen J...

Debbie Vitale Episode: "Romp"
1990 thirtysomething Courtney Dunn Episode: "Fathers and Lovers"
1990 Booker
Booker (TV series)
Booker is an American crime drama series starring Richard Grieco that aired on the Fox Network from September 24, 1989 to May 6, 1990. The series was a spin-off of 21 Jump Street...

Michelle Larkina Episode: "Black Diamond Run"
1990 Gabriel's Fire
Gabriel's Fire
Gabriel's Fire is an American television series that ran on ABC in the USA in 1990–1991. A revamped version of the series, entitled Pros and Cons, aired briefly the following season.-Overview:...

Carmen Episode: "Windows"
1992 Tequila and Bonetti
Tequila and Bonetti
Tequila and Bonetti is an American comedy-drama series starring Jack Scalia. The series originally aired on CBS from January 17, 1992 to April 17, 1992...

Officer Angela Garcia
1992 Grapevine
Grapevine (TV series)
-Plot Synopsis:David owned a restaurant in Miami, while his girlfriend Susan worked for a cruise line, and his brother Thumper was a sportscaster. The series was a 1990s take on Love, American Style in its couple-of-the-week format. Each episode presented the regular characters telling a story...

Katie Episode: "The Katie and Adam Story"
1993 Hotel Room
Hotel Room
Hotel Room is a three episode 1993 HBO television series produced by David Lynch . Each drama takes place in the same New York City hotel room at different times .Barry Gifford wrote, and David Lynch directed, the first and third episodes; Jay McInerney wrote, and James Signorelli...

Diana Episode: "Getting Rid of Robert"
1993 Blind Side
Blind Side (film)
Blind Side is an HBO thriller made for television movie filmed in 1992, starring Rutger Hauer, Rebecca De Mornay, and Ron Silver, and directed by Geoff Murphy. It aired on HBO in late 1993 and on NBC in early 1994...

Melanie Television film
1993 Key West
Key West (TV series)
Key West was a short-lived 1993 hour long comedy-drama television series set in Key West, Florida. Thirteen episodes aired on Fox between January and June 1993. It was created by David Beaird and Allan Marcil...

Laurel Episode: "Less Moonlight"
1993 Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

Melissa Shannon Episode: "The Pilot"
1994 Gambler V: Playing for Keeps Etta Place Television film
1995 All American Girl Jane Episode: "Young Americans"
1995 Can't Hurry Love
Can't Hurry Love
Can't Hurry Love is a US sitcom that ran for less than five months between September 1995 and February 1996.The show starred Nancy McKeon as a 20-something placement coordinator at a New York City personnel agency. McKeon plays Annie O'Donnell, a single career woman living in New York City and...

Didi Edelstein
1996 Ellen
Ellen (TV series)
Ellen is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.The theme song, "So Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas...

Dara Episode: "The Mugging"
1996 Kate Conklin/The Mounted Cop Episode: "Mounted Cop"
Episode: "Kept Man"
Episode: "The Virgin"
1997 Night Sins Paige Price Television film
1997 Prince Street Det. Nina Echeverria
1997 Cracker Det. Penny Hatfield Episode: "True Romance 1"
1997 Rendi Television film
1997–98 ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

Cynthia Hooper
1999 Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...

Wendy Segment: "Love And The Blind Date"
1999–present Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

Det. Olivia Benson
Olivia Benson
Det. Olivia "Liv" Benson is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Mariska Hargitay. She is the former partner of Elliot Stabler. In Season 13, her partner will be Nick Amaro...

Leading role
2000, 2005 Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

Det. Olivia Benson
Olivia Benson
Det. Olivia "Liv" Benson is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Mariska Hargitay. She is the former partner of Elliot Stabler. In Season 13, her partner will be Nick Amaro...

Episode: "Entitled (2)"
Episode: "Fools For Love"
Episode: "Flaw"
2004 Plain Truth Ellie Harrison Television film
2005 Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Law & Order: Trial by Jury is an American television drama about criminal trials set in New York City. It was the third spin-off from the long-running Law & Order. The show's almost exclusive focus was on the criminal trial of the accused, showing both the prosecution's and defense's preparation...

Det. Olivia Benson
Olivia Benson
Det. Olivia "Liv" Benson is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Mariska Hargitay. She is the former partner of Elliot Stabler. In Season 13, her partner will be Nick Amaro...

Episode: Day
2010 Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List is a reality show starring Kathy Griffin. The series aired on Bravo. It debuted in August 2005, and was cancelled in November 2010....

Herself Episode: "Kathy with a Z"
2011 Barefoot Contessa
Barefoot Contessa
Barefoot Contessa is a cooking show that premiered November 30, 2002 on Food Network. This popular show is hosted by celebrity chef Ina Garten. Each episode features Garten assembling dishes of varying complexity. Though her speciality is French cuisine, she occasionally prepares American, Asian,...

Herself Episode: "Sweet Charity"
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1985 Ghoulies
Ghoulies
The Ghoulies films are an American horror-comedy series released throughout the 1980s and 1990s and centered on a group of demons usually summoned by Satanic worshippers.-Ghoulies:...

Donna
1986 Welcome to 18
Welcome to 18
Welcome to 18 is a 1986 coming of age comedy-drama film starring Mariska Hargitay, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and JoAnn Willette.-Plot:...

Joey
1987 Jocks
Jocks (film)
Jocks is a 1987 teen comedy. The film was directed by Steve Carver and written by Michael Lanahan and David Oas.Jocks was shot in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Los Angeles, California.-Plot:...

Nicole
1988 Mr. Universe Herself (Mickey Hargitay's daughter)
1991 Hard Time Romance
Hard Time Romance
Hard Time Romance or Vaya con Dios is a 1991 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Lee Hancock. The film tells the story of a cowboy who goes through numerous obstables in the hopes of marrying his girlfriend. It stars Leon Rippy, Tom Everett, and Mariska Hargitay...

Anita
1991 Jennifer
1991 Strawberry Road Jill Banner
1993 Bank Robber
Bank Robber (film)
-Plot:Billy , is a well dressed bank robber who decides to do one last heist so he can sail off to a tropical island with his girlfriend, Selina . On his last robbery, he forgets to destroy a surveillance camera...

Marisa Benoit
1995 Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film directed and written by Mike Figgis, based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic who has ended his personal and professional life to drink himself to death in Las Vegas...

Hooker at Bar
1999 Lake Placid
Lake Placid (film)
Lake Placid is a 1999 American monster movie with elements of comedy, horror, bromance film, and the buddy genre. It was written and produced by David E. Kelley, directed by Steve Miner, and stars Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin Bacon, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Oliver Platt, and...

Myra Okubo
2001 Perfume
Perfume (2001 film)
Perfume is a 2001 film about the fashion industry in New York City.-Plot:Prior to a major show, the people involved find themselves embroiled in their own personal battles....

Darcy (as Marishka Hargitay)
2006 Tales from Earthsea
Tales from Earthsea (film)
is a 2006 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Gorō Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli.The film is based on a combination of plots and characters from the first four books of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore and Tehanu. The...

Tenar Voice
2008 Herself Cameo

Awards and accolades

Hargitay will get her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

in 2012. Hargitay won an Emmy and Golden Globe for role as Detective Olivia Benson
Olivia Benson
Det. Olivia "Liv" Benson is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Mariska Hargitay. She is the former partner of Elliot Stabler. In Season 13, her partner will be Nick Amaro...

. She received UCLA's TFT Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011 and was honored at the school's June commencement ceremony.

All award and nominations are for the television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

.
Year Award Category Result
2000
Golden Satellite Awards 1999
The 4th Golden Satellite Awards, given by the International Press Academy, were awarded on January 16, 2000.-Best Actor - Drama: Terence Stamp - The Limey*Russell Crowe - The Insider*Richard Farnsworth - The Straight Story...

 
Satellite Awards
Satellite Awards
The Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...

 
Best Performance by an Actress in a Series, Drama
2000 Viewers for Quality Television Awards  Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series
2000 TV Guide Awards Favorite Actress in a New Series
2004  Screen Actors Guild Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...

 
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series 
2004 Prism Awards  Performance in a Drama Series Episode
2004 Gracie Allen Awards  Individual Achievement for Best Female Lead - Drama - Series
2004
56th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held Sunday, September 19, 2004. The awards show was hosted by Garry Shandling and was broadcast on ABC...

 
Emmy Awards  Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series 
2005
62nd Golden Globe Awards
The 62nd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 2004, were held on January 16, 2005.The Aviator received the most nominations and won the most awards, with 3...

 
Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

 
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama 
2005
57th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held on September 18, 2005, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards show was broadcast on CBS....

 
Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2006  Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
2006
58th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, August 27, 2006 on NBC at 8:00pm ET with Conan O'Brien hosting the show...

 
Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2007 TV Land Awards
TV Land Awards
The TV Land Awards is an American television awards ceremony that generally commemorates shows now off the air, rather than in current production as with awards such as the Emmys. It is presented in a manner that spoofs other entertainment award ceremonies...

 
Favorite Lady Gumshoe
2007
13th Screen Actors Guild Awards
The 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony, honouring the best in film and television acting achievement for the year 2006, took place on 28 January 2007 and, for the 11th consecutive ceremony, was held at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, in Los Angeles, California. The nominees...

 
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
2007 Prism Awards Performance in a Drama Series Episode
2007
59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...

 
Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2008
60th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards was held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...

 
Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2009
15th Screen Actors Guild Awards
----Best Cast - Motion Picture: Slumdog Millionaire----Best Cast - Drama Series: Mad Men Best Cast - Comedy Series: 30 Rock ...

 
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
2009
35th People's Choice Awards
The 35th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2008, was held on January 7, 2009 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Queen Latifah in her third straight year as host, and was broadcast on CBS...

 
People's Choice Awards
People's Choice Awards
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor magnate Mark Burnett...

 
Favorite Female TV Star
2009 Gracie Allen Awards Outstanding Female Lead - Drama Series
2009
66th Golden Globe Awards
The 66th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was broadcast on January 11, 2009, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on the NBC TV network...

 
Golden Globe Awards Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
2009
61st Primetime Emmy Awards
The 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place on September 20, 2009. CBS broadcast the Primetime event and E! the Creative Arts event; both take place at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The nominations for the Awards were announced on July 16....

 
Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2010
16th Screen Actors Guild Awards
----Best Cast - Motion Picture: Inglourious Basterds----Best Cast - Drama Series: Mad Men Best Cast - Comedy Series: Glee ...

 
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
2010
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place on August 29, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT...

 
Emmy Awards Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Drama Series
2011
37th People's Choice Awards
The 37th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2010, were held on January 5, 2011 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and were broadcast live on CBS at 9:00 pm ET...

 
People's Choice Awards Favorite TV Crime Fighter
2011
17th Screen Actors Guild Awards
----Best Cast - Motion Picture: The King's Speech----Best Cast - Drama Series: Boardwalk Empire----Best Cast - Comedy Series: Modern Family...

 
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
2011
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted...

 
Emmy Awards Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Drama Series

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK