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Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (/məˈrɪʃkə ˈhɑːrɡɪteɪ/;[2] born January 23, 1964)[3][4] is an American actress, director and philanthropist. The ******** of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Hargitay 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 film and television roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s, before landing the starring role of Olivia Benson on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present), for which she has received widespread acclaim.
Early life
Hargitay was born at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, the ******** of actress and 1950s-era sex symbol
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. Her ****** was the Hungarian-born former
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,
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. Her first and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary Magdalene (Mariska is a diminutive of Mary). She was raised Catholic. She has two older brothers, Miklós and Zoltán, and three half-********,
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and Antonio "Tony" Cimber (from her ******'s first and third marriages, respectively) and Tina Hargitay (from her ******'s first marriage).
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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 ****** 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.[6] 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 ******* Mansfield,[7] her boyfriend Sam Brody, and the driver. ****** 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 ***** injuries. After the death of their ******, the three ******** were raised by their ****** and his third wife, Ellen Siano.[8][1] Hargitay dislikes comparisons with her famous ****** and, at age 18, said, "My *** was Mr. Universe, so it would be fun for me to be Miss Universe".[9] Hargitay has said that the early loss of her ****** 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 ***".[7] Hargitay's ****** died in 2006 from multiple myeloma in Los Angeles, California, at age 80.[10][11]
Career
After Hargitay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA,[12] she competed in the
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pageant the following year and placed fourth runner-up to
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, who was later crowned
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.
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In 1984, Hargitay appeared in Ronnie Milsap's music video for "
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" (The first country music video to appear on MTV).[14] A year later she had a small role in the horror film Ghoulies.[15] 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 ***** role in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas. She 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.[16] In 1988, she had a recurring role as Carly Fixx in the soap opera Falcon Crest.[14] She portrayed police officer Angela Garcia in the 1992 series
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and appeared in the two-part
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finale
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of
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, where they had her read for the role of
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in
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.
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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
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of
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.
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Hargitay said in 1986 that she never thought about doing television until a role on the one-hour adventure drama series Downtown was offered.[15] In fact, she experienced difficulties in her efforts to begin a career as a Hollywood actor.[7] Hargitay endured frequent comparisons to her ******.[7] 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 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.[19] She has portrayed Benson since 1999.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23][24]
As of August 2012, Hargitay was earning approximately $400,000[27]–$500,000 per episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[28] 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.[29] On March 3, 2009, she was hospitalized after suffering from chest pains related to the injury.[30] 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[31]–$385,000 per episode.[32] 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.[33] However, two months later it was officially reported that both their contracts had been renewed for two more years.[32] 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 ******, which is located at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard.[34] At the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Hargitay won the "Video of the Year" Award, shared with Taylor Swift and all of the *********** that appeared in the music video for Swift's song "Bad *****".[35] On December 6, 2021, Hargitay was one of the five nominees for Person of the Year on Spotted Ratings, along with Reba McEntire, Olivia Rodrigo, Susan Lynn Rosner Rovner (the eventual winnner of Person of the Year), and Rebecca Wisocky.[36]