Mariska Hargitay: Law and Order: Special Victim Unit's Olivia Benson

Mariska Hargitay plays the emotionally driven detective, Olivia Benson on NBC's Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. It was this role that won her the 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. Her role as Olivia Benson also won her a Golden Globe Award in 2004.

Mariska Hargitay was born in Los Angeles in 1964 and is the youngest daughter Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay. Although she is the youngest daughter, Hargitay is the third of five children born to Jayne Mansfield. Her mother Jayne Mansfield is well known as an actress and sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. Her Hungarian father Mickey Hargitay was former Mr. Universe.

Hargitay's parents divorced in August on 1964, 7 months after Hargitay's birth. A few weeks after the divorce her mother married director Matt Cimber. This marriage also would not last very long. In 1967 Hargitay's mother was killed in a car wreck, along with Sam Brody who was her mother's boyfriend and the driver of the car. Hargitay was asleep in the back of the car and survived the wreck along with her two of her siblings. The three children were raised by Mickey Hargitay and his third wife, Ellen Siano after their mother's death.

August 28, 2004 Mariska Hargitay married actor Peter Hermann. Her husband has reoccurring roles on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as attorney Trevor Langan. The couple had their first son June 28,2006. The couple named their son, August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, who was delivered by caesarean section. Hargitay took a maternity leave from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit during the last months of her pregnancy. During this time she was replaced by Connie Nielsen.

Mariska Hargitay takes parts in many charity works. She co-founded the Joyful Heart Foundation. The organization provides support to women who have been sexually assaulted. Being a proponent of the idea that swimming with dolphins promotes healing, the organization has made this opportunity possible for many women.

Other works of charity include: Her previous work with the Mount Sinai Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention program, the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness, Santa Monica Rape Crisis Treatment Center, Project ALS and many more.

Mariska Hargitay has graced the television screen in a lot more series than just Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Some of the other television series she has been in include ER, The Single Guy, Falcon Crest and Ellen. She is not limited her acting to television series though. Hargitay has acted in movies which include but not just, Lake Placid, America Rebuilds: Return to Ground Zero and Ghoulies.

Other not so starlight accomplishments include a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA. Along with the fact that she can speak Hungarian, French and Italian.