Mariska Hargitay

In 2008, she suffered from a partly collapsed lung after she fell while doing a stunt on set. She underwent surgery for the same and returned to work soon afterwards.

She founded the ‘Joyful Heart Foundation’, that provides aid to sexually abused women and those who suffered from child abuse. She is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Mariska Magdolna Hargitay was born to former-actress, Jayne Mansfield and former Mr. Universe, Mickey Hargitay, who is of Hungarian descent. She has two older brothers and three other half-siblings.

Her parents had divorced in 1963 but their divorce was later proclaimed invalid. Four years later, Hargitay’s mother, Jayne Mansfield was killed in an automobile accident along with her boyfriend, Sam Brody.

After the death of their mother, Hargitay and her siblings were raised by her father and his third wife, Ellen Siano.

She studied at Marymount High School, where she was active in theatre, cheerleading and was a part of the student government. From very early on, she was interested in acting and decided to attend the UCLA theatre program after she graduated from high school in 1982.

In 1982, she decided to follow her father’s footsteps in modeling and she was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA. By the time she attended UCLA School of Theatre Film and Television, she already had a personal agent who got her several small roles.

In 1986, she was cast in the popular crime-drama television series, ‘Downtown’, followed by a small appearance in an episode of ‘In the Heat of the Night’ two years later.

She was seen in an episode of ‘Freddy’s Nightmare’, where she played the role of Marsha Wildmon, in 1988. The same year, she was cast in the American primetime soap opera, ‘Falcon Crest’. The next year, she appeared in the film, ‘Finish Line’.

From 1989 to 1991 she was seen in a number of television series doing small roles including ‘Baywatch’, ‘Wiseguy’, ‘Thirtysomething’, ‘Booker’ and ‘Gabriel’s Fire’.

She played the role of police officer, ‘Angela Garcia’ in the 1992 series, ‘Tequila and Bonetti’. She also appeared in an episode of the hit American series, ‘Seinfeld’.

1995 proved to be an extremely busy year for the actress as she appeared in ‘Can’t Hurry Love’ and in an episode of ‘All American Girl’ as ‘Jane’. She also had a brief role in the Nicolas Cage film, ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ the same year.

She was cast as ‘Detective Olivia Benson’ in ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’, in 1999. This is largely considered her major work as she was given the role of a lead character, who investigated ‘sexually based offences’ along with other detectives. The show had over millions of viewers and was considered one of the most popular crime-based shows, ‘loosely’ based on real-life incidents.