Early work and roles After Hargitay was crowned Miss
Beverly Hills USA in 1982, she competed in the
Miss California USA pageant in 1983. She was the fourth runner-up. In 1984, Hargitay appeared in
Ronnie Milsap's music video for "
She Loves My Car", the first
country music video to appear on
MTV. A year later, she had a small role in the horror film
Ghoulies. Hargitay briefly replaced
Gabrielle Fitzpatrick as Dulcea in
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, although her scenes were cut from the film when Fitzpatrick recovered from her surgery and returned to the film. In 1988, she had a recurring role as Carly Fixx in the soap opera
Falcon Crest. She portrayed police officer Angela Garcia in the 1992 series
Tequila and Bonetti. Hargitay appeared in the two-part
fourth season finale of
Seinfeld, where her character read for the role of
Elaine Benes in
"The Pilot". (She had been considered for the character of Elaine Benes on
Seinfeld itself before the show began.) Two years later, Hargitay portrayed Didi Edelstein in the 1995 sitcom ''
Can't Hurry Love. In 1997, Hargitay played detective Nina Echeverria on the drama series Prince Street; she also had a recurring role as inept desk clerk Cynthia Hooper during the fourth season of ER''. Hargitay said in 1986 that she had never thought about acting on television until a role on the one-hour adventure drama series
Downtown was offered to her. Benson is the longest-running character on the longest-running American primetime drama in history. Casting for the lead characters of
NBC police procedural television drama series
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit occurred in the spring of 1999.
Dick Wolf, along with officials from NBC and Studios USA, was at the final auditions for the two leads at
Rockefeller Center. There were six finalists. For the female lead (Detective
Olivia Benson),
Samantha Mathis,
Reiko Aylesworth, and Hargitay were being considered. For the male lead (Detective
Elliot Stabler), the finalists were
Tim Matheson,
John Slattery, and
Christopher Meloni. Meloni and Hargitay had auditioned in the final round together. After the actors left, there was a moment of dead silence, after which Wolf blurted out, "Oh well. There's no doubt who we should choose – Hargitay and Meloni." The duo, who Wolf believed had the perfect chemistry from the first time he saw them together, were his first choice.
Garth Ancier, then head of NBC Entertainment, agreed, and the rest of the panel assembled voiced their assent. Hargitay trained as a rape crisis advocate to prepare for the role of Benson. She has portrayed Benson since 1999. Hargitay has won an
Emmy and a
Golden Globe for her portrayal of Benson. She received
UCLA's TFT Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011 and was honored at the school's June commencement ceremony. During the last months of her pregnancy in 2006, Hargitay took maternity leave from
SVU. She was temporarily replaced by
Connie Nielsen, who portrayed Stabler's temporary partner
Dani Beck. In late December 2008, Hargitay suffered a partially
collapsed lung after taking a fall during a stunt on the set of
SVU. She underwent surgery in January and returned to work shortly afterward. In May 2009, after the show's
tenth season, Hargitay and Meloni's contracts expired when they were reportedly making $375,000–$385,000 per episode. During negotiations in April for a new contract, the duo attempted to receive a percentage of the show's profits as other high-profile
Law and Order actors had done in the past. It was rumored that NBC threatened to replace Hargitay and Meloni if they persisted in their demands. Eventually, their contracts were renewed for two more years.–$500,000 per episode of
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2013, Hargitay was awarded the 2,511th star of the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star was placed next to the star of her mother, which is located at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2013 and 2014, she was ranked by
Forbes as the second-highest-paid television actress, after only
Sofía Vergara of
Modern Family. In the following years, Hargitay continued to be one of the highest-paid television actresses in the world, making well over $500,000 per episode. In July 2021, Hargitay suffered a broken ankle after taking a fall in the rain while leaving the screening of
Black Widow. Her injury caused minor script changes and was written into the season 23 premiere of
SVU. In 2025,
Forbes named Hargitay as the 11th highest-paid actor of 2024, the second highest-paid actress of 2024 (after
Nicole Kidman), and the highest-paid actor on television by a wide margin; she earned an estimated $750,000 per episode between acting, producing, and syndication profits from
SVU.
Other ventures In January 2007, Hargitay and her older son appeared in a
Got Milk? advertisement. At the
2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Hargitay won the "Video of the Year" Award, shared with
Taylor Swift and all of the celebrities that appeared in the music video for Swift's song "
Bad Blood". Hargitay has produced a documentary,
I Am Evidence. Released by
HBO in 2018, the documentary discusses the thousands of untested rape kits in the United States. Hargitay called the reality of untested rape kits "the clearest and most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes in our country." The film received Best Documentary at the
40th News and Documentary Emmy Awards, winning Hargitay her second Emmy and first as a producer. In 2025, Hargitay announced the launch of Mighty Entertainment, a production company. Hargitay's feature film directorial debut,
My Mom Jayne, was released in the United States by Mighty Entertainment in June 2025. The documentary film delved into the life and death of her mother, Jayne Mansfield. That same year, she served as an executive producer on
Nuns vs. The Vatican, directed by
Lorena Luciano. In 2026, it was announced that Hargitay would make her
Broadway debut playing the central character in
Every Brilliant Thing, replacing
Daniel Radcliffe.
Joyful Heart Foundation at the 2010
White House Easter Egg Roll Hargitay is the founder and former president of the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization established in 2004 to provide support to survivors of
sexual assault,
domestic violence,
child abuse,
elder abuse and
human trafficking. In November 2009, Hargitay and the Joyful Heart Foundation built healing and wellness kits for women who suffered
domestic violence and were living in the Los Angeles County's domestic violence shelters. They created enough kits to give one to each of about 600 women. Reference to the Joyful Heart Foundation was worked into episodes of
Special Victims Unit, via a necklace containing two pendants representing the Foundation that Hargitay's character began wearing in the show's
13th season. The Foundation works with several brands to create products supporting the cause, including Me&Ro,
Michael Stars, and AZIAM's Wife Lover Tanks.
Continued activism On September 27, 2011, Hargitay donated $100,000 to her alma mater, the
UCLA School of Theater Film and Television for scholarship. In 2012, Hargitay campaigned for the reauthorization of the
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). In 2025, Hargitay was included on the inaugural
Time 100 Philanthropy list for her work.
Rape counseling Hargitay is a certified rape counselor, as reported in 2004. == Personal life ==