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MariskaThe "s" in her first name is pronounced like an English "sh", so that the middle syllable rhymes with "wish". Magdolina Hargitay (born January 23, 1964) is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning American actress best known for her role as Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

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 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 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.

Since 1999, Hargitay has portrayed Detective 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.”http://mariska.com/about/

Awards

In the 1999–2005 freshman season of SVU (for Special Victims Unit, the subtitle of the series), 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 and 2005.

Hargitay's portrayal of Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 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

Mariska 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 Magdalen (Mariska is a diminutive of Maria and therefore Mary). As a child, she was called Maria. She has a sister, Jayne Marie Mansfield, and three brothers, Miklós and Zoltan Hargitay and Antonio Ottaviano (a.k.a. Tony Cimber, a 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 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.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. on June 29, 1967, on a stretch of U.S. Highway 90, between New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana, Hargitay and her brothers Miklós and Zoltan were asleep in the back seat of the car their mother and her boyfriend, lawyer Sam Brody, were riding in when it smashed, at a reported 80 miles an hour, into the back of a slower-moving tractor-trailer. Hargitay's mother was killed instantly, as was Brody and the driver. The children escaped with minor injuries, though Hargitay, then three-and-a-half, was left with a zig-zag scar down one side of her head. After the death of their mother, the three siblings were raised by Mickey Hargitay and his third wife, Ellen Siano.

Mariska Hargitay graduated in 1987 from the UCLA School of Theater Film and TelevisionAwards and Nominees from UCLA School of TFT with a major in theatre. She is also a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She 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 Special Victims Unit as defense attorney 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.

Charity work

Hargitay co-founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization that provides support to women who have been sexually assaulted.

The actress also has worked with the Mount Sinai Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention program, NBC's “The More You Know” campaign, the Safe Horizons advocacy project, 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.

Filmography

• Freedom Dance (2006) (animated documentary)
• America Rebuilds: Return to Ground Zero (2006) (TV)
• Plain Truth (2004) (TV)
• Perfume (2001)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999— ) (TV series)
• Lake Placid (1999)
• Prince Street (1997) (TV series)
• The Advocate's Devil (1997) (TV)
• Night Sins (1997) (mini series)
• ER (1996) (TV series)
• Ellen (1996) (TV series)
• Can't Hurry Love (1995) (TV series)
• Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
• Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (1994) (TV)
• Bank Robber (1993)
• Blind Side (1993) (TV)
• Seinfeld (1993) (TV)
• Tequila & Bonetti (1992) (TV series)
• Grapevine (1992) (TV series)
• Sutoroberi rodo (1991)
• The Perfect Weapon (1991)
• Hard Time Romance (1991)
• Finish Line (1989) (TV)
• Falcon Crest (1981) (TV series) (1988)
• Mr. Universe (1988)
• Jocks (1987)
• Downtown (1986) (TV series)
• Welcome to 18 (1986)
• Ghoulies (1985)

Notes

External links

• Official website
• Joyful Heart Foundation, founded by Hargitay

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