Mariska Hargitay. Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (born January 23, 1964) is an American actress known for her role as New York Police Department Lieutenant Olivia Benson on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
The explanation turned out to be much simpler: Mariska was pregnant. The eighth season began filming during the final stages of her pregnancy and to hide it, the crew made ample use of desks, folders, and closeups to obstruct her baby belly.
But while Olivia is synonymous with the show today, many diehard fans will recall that back in Season 8, Detective Benson was so conspicuously missing from episodes that fans began to wonder whether actress Mariska Hargitay had quietly left the show entirely. So, why did Mariska Hargitay leave SVU in Season 8, only to return a few episodes later?
Mariska Hargitay. Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (/məˈrɪʃkə ˈhɑːrɡɪteɪ/ mə-RISH-kə HAR-ghih-tay; born January 23, 1964) is an American actress known for her role as New York Police Department Lieutenant Olivia Benson on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Why did Mariska Hargitay leave ‘SVU’ in Season 8?
When we first met her on the premiere of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Mariska Hargitay was Detective Olivia Benson, a passionate Special Victims detective with a personal connection to the heinous cases she was tasked with solving. Today, Olivia is the longest-running female character in any primetime series, and fans have watched as she has grown from Detective to Lieutenant to Captain.
Last year, Mariska revealed that after her co-star Christopher Meloni left the show after 12 seasons as Detective Elliot Stabler, she also struggled with whether she still felt a commitment to the show. “I did a lot of soul-searching of whether I wanted to go on,” she said. “I was on my way to being at peace to be done.”
With new opportunities like directing and producing episodes, Mariska felt like she was growing with the show and credits these chances to try new things as the reason she felt “challenged and inspired and excited,” to remain with SVU .
But once her belly was no longer small enough to hide, the writers decided to send Olivia “away on assignment” while the actress took a much-needed maternity break from the show. Mariska even shared the news on her own personal blog, assuring fans that “the writers are working on some really great story lines, and there will be a special guest star filling in.”
Who is Mariska Hargitay?
Signature. Mariska Magdolna Hargitay ( / məˈrɪʃkə ˈhɑːrɡɪteɪ /; born January 23, 1964) is an American actress, director and philanthropist. The daughter of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield, Hargitay made her film debut in the 1985 horror comedy film Ghoulies and her major television debut in …
Hargitay dislikes comparisons with her famous mother and, at age 18, said, “My dad was Mr. Universe, so it would be fun for me to be Miss Universe”. Hargitay has said that the early loss of her mother left “a hole in my life that won’t ever be filled.
In late December 2008, Hargitay 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 afterward. On March 3, 2009, she was hospitalized after suffering from chest pains related to the injury. She missed one episode on SVU ‘s tenth season.
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.
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She received UCLA’s TFT Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011 and was honored at the school’s June commencement ceremony. Hargitay was awarded with the 2,511th star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 8, 2013. Her star was placed next to the star of her mother, which is located at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard.
Early life. Hargitay was born at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, 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).
Hargitay speaks five languages: English, French, Hungarian, Spanish, and Italian. On August 28, 2004, in Santa Barbara, California, Hargitay married Peter Hermann, an actor whom she met on the set of Law & Order: SVU, on which he plays the recurring role of Defense Attorney Trevor Langan.
What episode did Mariska rock a pixie cut in?
Mariska rocked a pixie cut in Season 3 of the police procedural television series. In episode 7 of the fourth season of SVU, Olivia Benson was spotted in her police uniform! In 2005, Mariska walked away with the best actress in a drama Golden Globe award for her now iconic role as Olivia Benson.
For nearly two decades, Mariska Hargitay has been stealing the spotlight on Law & Order: SVU as Olivia Benson — but you couldn’t tell by looking at back at old episodes! The daughter of famous beauty Jayne Mansfield has not aged a day since the police procedural made its debut on NBC in 1999. MORE: 16 Celebrities You Totally Forgot Guest-Starred on …
Meet the Season 7 Cast of ‘Bachelor in Paradise’. For nearly two decades, Mariska Hargitay has been stealing the spotlight on Law & Order: SVU as Olivia Benson — but you couldn’t tell by looking at back at old episodes! The daughter of famous beauty Jayne Mansfield has not aged a day since the police procedural made its debut on NBC in 1999.
