A STAR IS BORN

How Mariska Hargitay Convinced ‘Law & Order’ Creator to Give Her Star-Making Role

The actress made the pitch to creator Dick Wolf after she became nervous that another “stunning girl in the waiting room” might get the role.

Mariska Hargitay has revealed how she landed her iconic role as Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in a new interview on the Today show. Hargitay said she had left the show ER and was looking for a new opportunity. “After ER I said, ‘What am I—what am I going to do? This is the greatest show ever. There’s no other show. Oh, except for Law & Order,” she recalled. “And I was making jokes, ‘I need to get on that Law & Order.’” Hargitay said she and producer Dick Wolf “kind of hit it off” during her audition, but she grew nervous when she saw a “stunning girl in the waiting room.” Hargitay recalled how she convinced Wolf to give her the part. “I panicked,” she said. “And I walked in, I go, ‘Listen, I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re a little confused: This is my role. This is my part. I am Olivia Benson.’ And he was sort of laughing, I could tell, and I was like, ‘No, no, you don’t understand.’” Hargitay added that once she auditioned opposite co-star Christopher Meloni, the role was a done deal. “It was a sort of once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said.