Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Magdolna Hargitay is an American actress. She is the daughter of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Harg itay and actress Jayne Mansfield. HargItay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA in 1984 and placed runner-up to Julie Hayek in the Miss California USA pageant the following year.

About Mariska Hargitay in brief

Summary Mariska HargitayMariska Magdolna Hargitay is an American actress best known for her role as New York Police Department Captain Olivia Benson on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She is the daughter of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Harg itay and actress Jayne Mansfield. She made her film debut in 1985 horror comedy film Ghoulies and her major television debut in the 1986 adventure drama series Downtown. She appeared in numerous roles in film and on television throughout the late 1980s and 1990s before being cast on Law and Order:  Special Victims  Unit. In 1988, she had a recurring role as police officer Carly Fixx in the soap opera Falcon Crest. In 1999, she became the longest-running cast member of the show and has received multiple awards and nominations, including a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe. Her work on that show led her to found the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization that provides support to people who have been sexually abused. She has two older brothers, Miklós and Zoltán, and three half-siblings, Jayne Marie Mansfield and Antonio \”Tony\” Cimber and Tina Hargitsay. HargItay was crowned Miss Beverly Hills USA in 1984 and placed runner-up to Julie Hayek in the Miss California USA pageant the following year. She also appeared in Ronnie Milsap’s music video for “She Loves Car” in 1984.

Her first and middle names are Hungarian and refer to Mary Magdalene. She was raised Catholic. She attended UCLA School of Theater Film and Television where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. In fact, life was extremely tough for her trying to start her career as a Hollywood actor. At age 18, she said, ‘My dad was Mr. Universe, so it would be fun for me to be Miss Universe’ She has said that the early loss of her mother left \”a hole in my life that won’t ever be filled. I will always be a girl who lost her mom\”. She has never thought about doing a television series until a role on the one-hour adventure series Downtown was offered in 1986. She had a small role in the horror filmGhoulies in 1986 and later appeared in the television series She Loved Car later that year. Her entire life she was constantly being compared to her mother, people would mention that her hair should be different because of her hair color. Her father was the Hungarian-born former Mr. Uruguayan. He was married to his third wife, Ellen Siano, for more than 20 years. She and her brothers were raised by their father and his second wife, Ronnie MilSap. She was born in Santa Monica, California.