DID YOU KNOW? Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay, 53, has starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9pm, 5 USA) since the pilot episode, in 1999. Here are a few things you may not know about her…

She was born in Santa Monica, California in 1964. Her father was Hungarian bodybuilder and 1955 Mr Universe Mickey Hargitay, and her mother the Hollywood siren Jayne Mansfield, who was killed in a car crash in 1967 when Mariska was three years old.

Mariska was crowned Miss Beverly Hills in 1982, the same year that she enrolled at drama school.

In 1985, Mariska appeared in comedy horror film Ghoulies, after which she had roles in several high-profile US TV shows including Baywatch, Falcon Crest, ER, Ellen and thirtysomething.

In 1999, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit creator Dick Wolf saw her audition with Christopher Meloni, and the rest is history. Though Meloni’s Detective Elliot Stabler left the show in 2011 after 272 episodes, Mariska’s Detective Olivia Benson has been in more than 400 episodes and counting. Mariska has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe, and Benson has also appeared in Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD.

Her friend Taylor Swift named her cat Olivia Benson; Mariska appeared in Taylor’s video for Bad Blood.

In 2004, she established the

Joyful Heart Foundation to help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.

Apart from English, she also speaks French, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish.