| Mariska Magdolna Hargitay |
| Born | January 23, 1964 (age 47) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Other names | Marishka Hargitay Mariska Hermann |
| Occupation | Actress Producer |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Spouse | Peter Hermann (m. 2004–present) |
| Children | One son, one daughter |
Mariska Hargitay is best known for her role as Detective Olivia Benson in the TV drama series, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
Born January 23, 1964, in Los Angeles, CA, to Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay, Mariska was three years old when her mother was killed in a car accident. Mariska and her two brothers were asleep in the back seat of the car when it smashed into the back of a tractor-trailer truck, instantly killing their mother, the driver, and another passenger. The children all escaped with minor bruises.
In 1982, Mariska won the Miss Beverly Hills pageant. A year later she made her screen debut in a small role in Star 80. Among the other movies she has appeared in are Ghoulies (1985), Mr. Universe (1988), Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Lake Placid (1999), and Perfume (2001).
Hargitay landed her first television series role in 1986, when she played Jesse Smith, in the series Downtown. She played Carly Fixx in Falcon Crest (1988), Officer Angela Garcia in Tequila and Bonetti (1992), and Det. Nina Echeverria in Prince Street (1997). Hargitay played in the recurring role of Cynthia Hooper, Dr. Mark Green's love interest, on E.R., and had guest roles in many other series.
Hargitay has won both a Golden Globe Award and the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
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Actress Mariska Hargitay has spoken of her delight after adopting a baby girl.
The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star and her actor husband Peter Hermann have welcomed American-born Amaya Josephine into their family.
"I'm deliriously happy. From the minute she was born, she was just surprisingly alert and so full of love," she told People.com.
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"We were considering both international and domestic adoption and we're thrilled that this is the way our prayers were answered. We talked a lot about mixed-race adoptions, and we are very excited that we are now a multi-racial family. We're just so happy she's here."
Hargitay and Hermann are already parents to a four-year-old son, August, who is excited to be a big brother.
"He is over the moon. He calls her his baby because he says the whole thing was his idea. He always talks about how he's going to protect her," she added.
"We were considering both international and domestic adoption and we're thrilled that this is the way our prayers were answered. We talked a lot about mixed-race adoptions, and we are very excited that we are now a multi-racial family. We're just so happy she's here."
Hargitay and Hermann are already parents to a four-year-old son, August, who is excited to be a big brother.
"He is over the moon. He calls her his baby because he says the whole thing was his idea. He always talks about how he's going to protect her," she added.
Early life
Hargitay was born at St. John's Hospital in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actress and 1950s-era sex symbol Jayne Mansfield. Her father was the Hungarian-born former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay. Her first and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary Magdalene (Mariska is a diminutive of Mary). Her family name means "of Hargita". Hargitay was raised Roman Catholic. She has two half-sisters, Jayne Marie Mansfield 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.
Hargitay's parents had divorced in May 1963, but a judge later found their Mexican divorce 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, who had directed her in a 1964 production of the William Inge play Bus Stop. On June 29, 1967, Mansfield was killed in an automobile accident on a stretch of U.S. Highway 90 between New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana. 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, 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 (where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma) until she left before graduating, when she began her acting career. Hargitay attended Groundlings theatre company in Los Angeles, CA. Her improv teacher was Kathy Griffin. 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. 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."
In 1982, after Hargitay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA, she then competed in the Miss California USA pageant the following year, placing fourth runner-up to Julie Hayek who was later crowned Miss USA. In 1984, she appeared in Ronnie Milsap's music video for She Loves My Car. A year later she had a small role in the horror film, 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. She portrayed police officer Angela Garcia in the 1992 series Tequila & Bonetti, and appeared in an episode of the fourth season of Seinfeld. 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 Cynthia Hooper during the fourth season of ER.
Hargitay on set of season 12 of Law & Order: SVU in August 2010.
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; 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 in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas, and briefly replaced Gabrielle Fitzpatrick in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, although the scene was later re-shot with another actress.
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 role – 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, whom Wolf believed had the perfect chemistry together 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. 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, Hargitay and Meloni's contract expired when they were reportedly making $375,000[16]–$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.[18] 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 and began filming her first scenes in June and July 2010. As of season 12 Hargitay and Meloni are making $395,000 an episode.
On August 28, 2004, in Santa Barbara, California, Hargitay married Peter Hermann, an actor and writer whom she met on the set of Law & Order: SVU. On June 28, 2006, Hargitay gave birth to their son August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, by an emergency caesarean section. She appeared in the January 2007 issue of Self 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 contracted gestational diabetes. She explained in the interview, "I was overwhelmed by my lack of energy. All I could do to survive was to eat". That same month she and August appeared in a Got Milk? advertisement. In April 2011, Hargitay and Hermann adopted a baby girl, Amaya Josephine.
Upon winning her Emmy 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 in Los Angeles, California, at age 80.
In late December 2008, she 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 after. On March 3, 2009, Hargitay 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 of season 10 of SVU. Hargitay also speaks Hungarian, French, Spanish, and Italian.
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, 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.
Hargitay appeared in the 17th season of NBC's "The More You Know" public service announcement in 2006, and again in Spring 2009. She is an honorary board member director of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Hargitay was born at St. John's Hospital in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actress and 1950s-era sex symbol Jayne Mansfield. Her father was the Hungarian-born former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay. Her first and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary Magdalene (Mariska is a diminutive of Mary). Her family name means "of Hargita". Hargitay was raised Roman Catholic. She has two half-sisters, Jayne Marie Mansfield 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.
Hargitay's parents had divorced in May 1963, but a judge later found their Mexican divorce 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, who had directed her in a 1964 production of the William Inge play Bus Stop. On June 29, 1967, Mansfield was killed in an automobile accident on a stretch of U.S. Highway 90 between New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana. 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, 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 (where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma) until she left before graduating, when she began her acting career. Hargitay attended Groundlings theatre company in Los Angeles, CA. Her improv teacher was Kathy Griffin. 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. 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."
In 1982, after Hargitay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA, she then competed in the Miss California USA pageant the following year, placing fourth runner-up to Julie Hayek who was later crowned Miss USA. In 1984, she appeared in Ronnie Milsap's music video for She Loves My Car. A year later she had a small role in the horror film, 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. She portrayed police officer Angela Garcia in the 1992 series Tequila & Bonetti, and appeared in an episode of the fourth season of Seinfeld. 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 Cynthia Hooper during the fourth season of ER.
Hargitay on set of season 12 of Law & Order: SVU in August 2010.
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; 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 in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas, and briefly replaced Gabrielle Fitzpatrick in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, although the scene was later re-shot with another actress.
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 role – 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, whom Wolf believed had the perfect chemistry together 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. 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, Hargitay and Meloni's contract expired when they were reportedly making $375,000[16]–$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.[18] 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 and began filming her first scenes in June and July 2010. As of season 12 Hargitay and Meloni are making $395,000 an episode.
On August 28, 2004, in Santa Barbara, California, Hargitay married Peter Hermann, an actor and writer whom she met on the set of Law & Order: SVU. On June 28, 2006, Hargitay gave birth to their son August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, by an emergency caesarean section. She appeared in the January 2007 issue of Self 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 contracted gestational diabetes. She explained in the interview, "I was overwhelmed by my lack of energy. All I could do to survive was to eat". That same month she and August appeared in a Got Milk? advertisement. In April 2011, Hargitay and Hermann adopted a baby girl, Amaya Josephine.
Upon winning her Emmy 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 in Los Angeles, California, at age 80.
In late December 2008, she 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 after. On March 3, 2009, Hargitay 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 of season 10 of SVU. Hargitay also speaks Hungarian, French, Spanish, and Italian.
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, 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.
Hargitay appeared in the 17th season of NBC's "The More You Know" public service announcement in 2006, and again in Spring 2009. She is an honorary board member director of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
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