Mariska Hargitay
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Mariska (Ma-rish-ka) Magdolna Hargitay was born on January 23, 1964, in
Santa Monica, California. Her parents are
Mickey Hargitay and
Jayne Mansfield. She is the youngest of
their three children. In June 1967, Mariska and her brothers Zoltan and
Mickey Jr. were in the back seat of a car when it was involved in the
fatal accident which killed her mother. The children escaped with minor
injuries. Her father remarried a stewardess named Ellen, and they
raised the three children and gave them a normal childhood. They also
financially supported the children, since Jayne Mansfield's debt-ridden
estate left no money for them.
Mariska majored in theater at UCLA. Her first motion picture feature
was the cult favorite, Ghoulies (1984),
where she gave a memorable performance as Donna. Unlike her mother
Jayne, who had changed her name, her hair color, and did nude
pictorials to become a star, Mariska took a very different approach on
her journey to become a star. She rejected advice to change her name
and appearance. And she refused to copy her mother's sexy image by
turning down nude scenes in her next film Jocks (1986). She told
casting directors that she was her own person when she held onto her
dark locks and athletic figure, when they were expecting another blond,
buxom Jayne Mansfield. Mariska continued with her acting classes and
waited on tables, while she landed forgettable roles in short-lived
television shows. She appeared a few times on the nighttime soap
Falcon Crest (1981). She also appeared in the hit film
Leaving Las Vegas (1995),
credited as 'Hooker at the bar', and in the flop film
Lake Placid (1999) as Myra Okubo. Her
recurring role on the top-rated show ER (1994) in 1998 gave her career
enough of a jolt to land her the starring role of Det. Olivia Benson in
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999),
the first spin off from the excellent franchise of
Law & Order (1990). The hour-long
show deals with sex crimes and the detectives who solve these cases.
Mariska played Olivia as a tough, compassionate detective, who did
action scenes and her own stunt work. She reaped the rewards from the
hit TV show, after struggling and studying her craft for fifteen years.
She became the highest paid actress on television, and she won Emmy and
Golden Globe awards for her performance. The show also changed her
personal life, since she met her husband actor
Peter Hermann on the set and
married him on August 28, 2004. That same year, she appeared in the
television movie
Plain Truth (2004), in
which she played attorney Ellie Harrison. Mariska became an activist,
when fans of her show who were abused, would write to her, and she
founded a non-profit organization called "Joyful Heart Foundation" to
help "survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse."
Mariska gave birth to her son August in 2006. But that tremendous joy
was soon followed by tremendous sadness when her beloved father Mickey
died just two months later at the age of 80. Mariska and her husband
Peter adopted two children, a girl named Amaya, and a boy named Andrew,
within a span of few months in 2011.
Mariska speaks English, Hungarian, French, Spanish, and Italian, and
her husband also speaks several languages, including his native
language German. They divide their time between New York and Los
Angeles.
Santa Monica, California. Her parents are
Mickey Hargitay and
Jayne Mansfield. She is the youngest of
their three children. In June 1967, Mariska and her brothers Zoltan and
Mickey Jr. were in the back seat of a car when it was involved in the
fatal accident which killed her mother. The children escaped with minor
injuries. Her father remarried a stewardess named Ellen, and they
raised the three children and gave them a normal childhood. They also
financially supported the children, since Jayne Mansfield's debt-ridden
estate left no money for them.
Mariska majored in theater at UCLA. Her first motion picture feature
was the cult favorite, Ghoulies (1984),
where she gave a memorable performance as Donna. Unlike her mother
Jayne, who had changed her name, her hair color, and did nude
pictorials to become a star, Mariska took a very different approach on
her journey to become a star. She rejected advice to change her name
and appearance. And she refused to copy her mother's sexy image by
turning down nude scenes in her next film Jocks (1986). She told
casting directors that she was her own person when she held onto her
dark locks and athletic figure, when they were expecting another blond,
buxom Jayne Mansfield. Mariska continued with her acting classes and
waited on tables, while she landed forgettable roles in short-lived
television shows. She appeared a few times on the nighttime soap
Falcon Crest (1981). She also appeared in the hit film
Leaving Las Vegas (1995),
credited as 'Hooker at the bar', and in the flop film
Lake Placid (1999) as Myra Okubo. Her
recurring role on the top-rated show ER (1994) in 1998 gave her career
enough of a jolt to land her the starring role of Det. Olivia Benson in
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999),
the first spin off from the excellent franchise of
Law & Order (1990). The hour-long
show deals with sex crimes and the detectives who solve these cases.
Mariska played Olivia as a tough, compassionate detective, who did
action scenes and her own stunt work. She reaped the rewards from the
hit TV show, after struggling and studying her craft for fifteen years.
She became the highest paid actress on television, and she won Emmy and
Golden Globe awards for her performance. The show also changed her
personal life, since she met her husband actor
Peter Hermann on the set and
married him on August 28, 2004. That same year, she appeared in the
television movie
Plain Truth (2004), in
which she played attorney Ellie Harrison. Mariska became an activist,
when fans of her show who were abused, would write to her, and she
founded a non-profit organization called "Joyful Heart Foundation" to
help "survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse."
Mariska gave birth to her son August in 2006. But that tremendous joy
was soon followed by tremendous sadness when her beloved father Mickey
died just two months later at the age of 80. Mariska and her husband
Peter adopted two children, a girl named Amaya, and a boy named Andrew,
within a span of few months in 2011.
Mariska speaks English, Hungarian, French, Spanish, and Italian, and
her husband also speaks several languages, including his native
language German. They divide their time between New York and Los
Angeles.