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Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (born January
23, 1964) is a Golden Globe- and Emmy Award- winning
American actress known for her role as Det. Olivia
Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Early life: Hargitay is the fourth of five
children born to Jayne Mansfield, an actress and sex
symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. She was born at St.
John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. Her first
and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary
Magdalene (Mariska is a diminutive of Maria and
therefore Mary). Her family name has Hungarian
references too.
It means: "of Hargita"
(Hargita was a Hungarian mountain). She has two
half-sisters, Jayne Marie Mansfield and Tina Hargitay;
two brothers, Miklós and Zoltan Hargitay; and a
half-brother, Antonio Ottaviano (a.k.a. Tony Cimber), a
former film director whose works include the female
wrestling show G.L.O.W.
Hargitay's mother had divorced Hungarian-born former Mr.
Universe Mickey Hargitay, in May 1963, but a judge later
found their Mexican divorce invalid. They had reconciled
a few months before Mariska's birth in January 1964 but
soon separated again; and in August 1964, the Mexican
divorce was ruled 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.
On June 29, 1967, Jayne Mansfield was killed in an
automobile accident on a stretch of U.S. Highway 90
between New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana. Jayne's
boyfriend Sam Brody and the driver were also killed.
Asleep in the back of the car, Mariska, then
three-and-a-half years old, was left with a zig-zag scar
on one side of her head. Mariska's brothers Miklós and
Zoltan were also in the car, but they escaped with minor
injuries. After the death of their mother, the three
siblings were raised by Mickey Hargitay and his third
wife, Ellen Siano.
Mariska Hargitay was active in the theater program of
her secondary school Marymount High School; she
graduated in 1987 from the UCLA School of Theater Film
and Television with a major in theatre. She is also a
member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
Career: In 1983, a year after she was crowned
Miss Beverly Hills, Hargitay made her screen debut with
a small role in Star 80, a Mariel Hemingway feature film
about the murdered Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten.
Within a few years she had landed recurring roles in the
television series Downtown and Falcon Crest, in which
she played the character Carly Fixx.
She was police officer Angela Garcia in
the 1992 series Tequila & Bonetti and appeared in an
episode of the fourth season of Seinfeld. Two years
later, she portrayed Didi Edelstein, the sexy next-door
neighbor, in the 1995 sitcom Can't Hurry Love, which
starred Nancy McKeon. In 1997, Hargitay was detective
Nina Echeverria on the dramatic series Prince Street,
and she had a recurring role as Cynthia Hooper during
the fourth season of ER.
Hargitay has appeared on numerous other television
programs, including Freddy's Nightmares, Ellen,
All-American Girl, Baywatch, Cracker, Gabriel's Fire, In
the Heat of the Night, JoJo's Circus, 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 ("Hooker in Bar") in the
1995 film Leaving Las Vegas, and briefly replaced
Gabrielle Fitzpatrick in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers:
The Movie, though the footage was deemed unusable.
Since 1999, Hargitay has portrayed Det. Olivia Benson,
the female lead on Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit. “As a woman, it’s gratifying to play such a
multilayered part," the actress stated on her
official website. "Olivia is not only a competent,
street-smart cop, she’s also an empathetic woman who
can respond emotionally to victims of terrible crimes
without compromising her professionalism.”
Awards: In the 1999 first season of SVU, Hargitay
earned nominations from the Viewers for Quality
Television for Best Actress, from the TV Guide Awards
for Favorite Actress in a New Series, and from the
International Press Academy for Best Performance by an
Actress in a Drama Series. She was also a Screen Actors
Guild nominee in 2004, 2005, 2006 and in 2007.
Hargitay's portrayal of Olivia Benson on SVU garnered
her Emmy Award nominations in the category of
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2004,
2005, and 2006, the year she won the award for her role.
She also received a Golden Globe in 2005 for the role as
Best Actress in a Drama Series.
Hargitay was named by People magazine in 2005 as one of
the 50 Most Beautiful People and in 2006 as one of
People's World's Most Beautiful People.
Personal life: Hargitay speaks Hungarian, French,
and Italian. On August 28, 2004, in Santa Barbara,
California, she married Peter Hermann, an actor and
writer who has often appeared on SVU as Trevor Langan.
On June 28, 2006, Hargitay gave birth to August Miklos
Friedrich Hermann, by caesarean section. During the last
months of her pregnancy, Hargitay took a maternity leave
from SVU and was temporarily replaced by Connie Nielsen.
In March, 2007, Hargitay and her son August were
featured in a full-page "Got Milk?"
advertisement in People Magazine.
Upon winning her Emmy on August 27, 2006, she made a
point of thanking her father for everything he had done
for her in her life. Hargitay's father died from
multiple myeloma on September 14, 2006, in Los Angeles,
California, at the age of 80.
Hargitay co-founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, an
organization that provides support to women who have
been sexually assaulted. The Joyful Heart Foundation is
a proponent of the idea that swimming with dolphins
promotes healing after major psychological traumas such
as rape, and has provided this opportunity for many
victims.
The actress also has worked with the Mount Sinai Sexual
Assault and Violence Intervention program, NBC's “The
More You Know” campaign, Safe Horizon, Santa Monica
Rape Crisis Treatment Center, Project ALS, Girl Scouts
of the USA, and the James Redford Institute for
Transplant Awareness. She is a certified rape crisis
counselor. |
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