Mariska Hargitay
Mariska Hargitay born January 23, 1964 is an American actress. The daughter of a bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield, Hargitay made her film débute in the 1985 horror comedy film Ghoulies and her major television débute in the 1986 adventure drama series downtown. She appeared in numerous roles in film and on television throughout the late 1980s and 1990s before having her breakthrough for starring as olivia benson on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victim Unit ( 1999-present ), for which she has received several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Outside of acting, Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization that provides support to people who have been Sexually Abused.
How did Peter and Mariska meet?
These days, Peter is well known for his role as Sutton Foster’s swoon-worthy boss on the hit TV Land series Younger. (Team Charles for life!) But when Peter met Mariska on the set of SVU in 2002, he was guest starring as defense attorney Trevor Langan, while she was starring as Lieutenant Olivia Benson (duh). When Peter asked Mariska to attend church with him, it was all over.
The actress told People that she knew he was the one right then and there, and she became so “overwhelmed” by her feelings that she started crying in the middle of their date!
“I just started sobbing. Peter thought I was crying because I was so moved by the service,” she said. “No, it was because I was just overwhelmed, realizing he was the one.”
After the date, Mariska called her friend and told her, “This is it. This is the man I’m going to marry,” she recalled.Now, almost 20 years later, she knows she made the right decision. “I never knew I’d so often be reminded on this journey that I married the right one,” she said. “I waited and married the right one.”
Do they have children?
Yes! Peter and Mariska share three children: sons August Miklos, 14, and Andrew Nicolas, 9, and daughter Amaya Josephine, 10. The couple adopted Amaya and Andrew in 2011. Mariska told People that she loves nothing more than being a mom to her kids. “The thing that’s made me a better parent is my kids,” she said. “Because they taught me to really listen. My husband is my North Star, and my kids are my teachers.”
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (often abbreviated to Law & Order: SVU or just SVU) is an American crime drama television series created by Dick Wolf for NBC. It stars Mariska Hargitay as onetime lead detective and later Captain Olivia Benson, the commanding officer of the Special Victims Unit in a fictionalized version of the New York City Police Department. Christopher Meloni played the other SVU lead detective, Elliot Stabler, until departing from the series in 2011 after 12 seasons. Meloni returned to star as Stabler in 2021 in the spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows the style of the original Law & Order in that some episodes are loosely based on real crimes that have received media attention; these episodes are referred to as having been “ripped from the headlines”. The show premiered on September 20, 1999 as the second series in Wolf’s successful Law & Order franchise. After the premiere of its 21st season in September 2019, the series became the longest-running primetime U.S. live-action series in the history of television. As of April 1, 2021, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has aired 487 original episodes, surpassing the episode count of the original Law & Order series. In terms of all-time episode count for a primetime scripted series, SVU now ranks fourth behind The Simpsons (with 701 episodes), Gunsmoke (with 635 episodes), and Lassie (with 591 episodes). In February 2020, the series was renewed for its 22nd, 23rd, and 24th seasons. The 22nd season premiered on November 12, 2020. The series has received 91 award nominations, winning 33 awards. Mariska Hargitay was the first regular cast member on any Law & Order series to win an Emmy Award when she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006.
In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
ElizabethGonsalves
