Mariska Hargitay is an actress from the United States with a net worth of $100 million. She is most known for her role on the television drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” Since 1999, she has played detective Olivia Benson on the program.
Mariska Hargitay Biography
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Mariska Hargitay was born in Los Angeles, California, and started performing in high school. In the early 1980s, she was named Miss Beverly Hills USA.
She dropped out of college early to join the Groundlings improv company in Los Angeles, where she later started starring in minor television parts.
She had begun to garner guest starring parts on shows including “Falcon Crest,” “Tequila & Bonetti,” “Seinfeld,” and “ER” by the late 1980s. In 1999, she was cast in the role of Olivia Benson on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” which would propel her to stardom.
She has appeared in all 19 seasons of the show, with the exception of Season 6 when she gave birth. She has received eight Emmy nominations, six Screen Actors Guild nominations, and two Golden Globe nominations. She has received several awards, including an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Olivia Benson started the Joyful Heart Foundation as a result of her role as Olivia Benson. Women who have been sexually assaulted may get help from charity. After appearing on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Hargitay married actor Peter Hermann in 2004. In 2006, the couple welcomed a boy into the world, and in 2011, they adopted two more children.
When Hargitay fell during a stunt on the TV show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2008, she suffered a partially collapsed lung.
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She has also directed five episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 2017 and has been a producer on the show since 2014. She has also featured in episodes of Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. as Olivia Benson.
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Law & Order Salary:
Mariska Hargitay’s current episode compensation is $500,000. Before syndication fees, it corresponds to $11 million per year in base pay earnings in a normal 22-episode season.
She regularly receives $13-15 million each year from Law & Order, plus various incentives and considerations.
Early Life and Career Beginnings:
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Mariska Magdolna Hargitay was born on January 23, 1964, in Santa Monica, California. She is the daughter of Mickey Hargitay, the Hungarian Mr. Universe, and actress Jayne Mansfield.
She has three half-siblings and two elder brothers. When she was a baby, her parents divorced. Her mother died in a vehicle accident when she was three and a half years old.
The automobile rear-ended a truck at high speed while going from Biloxi, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana in the middle of the night.
Hargitay was sleeping in the backseat of the automobile when the accident happened, and he has a minor zig-zag scar on his face.
In the front seat, all three adults were murdered. The three youngsters in the backseat were all unharmed. Mariska was reared by her father and Ellen Siano, his third wife.
Hargitay started performing in high school, and in the early 1980s, she was named Miss Beverly Hills USA. She attended the School of Theater, Film, and Television at UCLA after graduating from Marymount High School in 1982.
She did not finish her degree, however, and instead left college early to join the Groundlings improv company in Los Angeles, where she immediately started starring in minor parts on television.
She began to get guest starring parts on shows including “Falcon Crest,” “Tequila & Bonetti,” “Seinfeld,” and “ER” in the late 1980s.
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Career:
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In the spring of 1999, Hargitay auditioned for the NBC police procedural show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
She auditioned for the part of Detective Olivia Benson, the female protagonist. Samantha Mathis and Reiko Aylesworth were among the other candidates considered for the role.
After auditioning in the final round alongside Christopher Meloni, who was in the running for the male lead, executives chose her and Meloni for the role due to their connection. Hargitay attended rape crisis advocate training to prepare for the part of Benson.
Hargitay went on to become the longest-serving member of the cast of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” has been on the program since 1999. She took maternity leave during the last months of her pregnancy in 2006, during the show’s sixth season. In the role of Dani Beck, she was briefly replaced by Connie Nielsen. Hargitay has won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her work on the program.
Hargitay has appeared in a variety of different series as Olivia Benson, including three episodes of “Law & Order,” one episode of “Law & Order: Trial by Jury,” three episodes of “Chicago P.D.,” and one episode of “Chicago Fire.”
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She also appeared as Olivia Benson in a sketch comedy program called “Saturday Night Live.” Several episodes of “Law & Order: SVU” have been directed by Hargitay, including “Criminal Stories” (2014), “Padre Sandunguero” (2015), “Sheltered Outcasts” (2016), and “Mea Culpa” (2018), to mention a few.
Hargitay and Meloni’s contracts terminated in May 2009, after the show’s ninth season. They were allegedly earning $375,000 to $385,000 each episode at the time.
She allegedly earned between $400,00 and $500,000 each episode as of August 2012, after successfully renegotiating her contract.
Hargitary has featured in various series as herself outside of “Law & Order: SVU.” “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List,” “Barefoot Contessa,” “The Jim Gaffigan Show,” and “Nightcap” are among them.
Personal Life:
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After appearing on her program “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Hargitay married actor Peter Hermann in 2004. In 2006, the couple welcomed a boy into the world, and in 2011, they adopted two more children.
When Hargitay fell during a stunt on “Law & Order: SVU” in 2008, she suffered a partially collapsed lung.
Hargitay is the creator of the Joyful Heart Foundation, which helps women who have been sexually assaulted and other domestic violence victims.
More than ten thousand women and children have benefited from the foundation’s different support systems. Hargitay contributed $100,000 to her alma institution, the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, in September 2011 to assist student scholarships.
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Real Estate:
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Mariska and Peter spent $10.7 million for a townhouse on the Upper West Side of New York City near Central Park in 2012.
They offered this property for sale in 2018 for $10.5 million, however it was eventually sold for $9.75 million in February 2019, a loss of $1 million.
They sold a prior NYC house for $5.1 million in 2007 and another for $8.15 million in 2008 after only owning it for a year.
They spent $7.34 million in 2010 for a 7,000-square-foot mansion on almost an acre of land in East Hampton, New York. This is their main abode at the moment.