Mariska Hargitay has a long and fruitful career in film and television. The 58-year-old actress, who plays Olivia Benson on Law & Order, has achieved actual stardom. However, a terrible catastrophe also occurred in her past.
Hargitay has endured the horrible accident for many years. However, what matters most is that the Golden Globe-winning actress has also been successful in finding love and building a loving family.
Mariska and Peter Herman have been blissfully wed for seventeen years. However, he made her cry on their first date. This tells you everything you need to know about Mariska Hargitay’s life and the difficult circumstances she overcame.
Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield’s daughter Mariska Hargitay was born on January 23, 1964, in Santa Monica, California. With two devoted parents, it was meant to be a beautiful upbringing. However, Jayne, Mariska’s mother, tragically died in an accident when Mariska was 3 years old.
Mariska Hargitay – tragic passing of mother Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield’s career had already started to falter at the time. She was let go by 20th Century Fox in 1962—two years before Mariska was born—and went on to participate in a number of TV shows and game shows.
In the 1960s, Mansfield chose to go out beyond Hollywood and appeared in a number of films from Germany, Italy, and Britain. She also started performing live on stage in nightclubs while touring in the US and the UK.
Don Arden, the renowned music promoter and father of Sharon Osbourne, organized a tour in 1967. She was giving a performance at Batley one week.
The tour of the UK was the last Jayne Mansfield did. While driving from a nightclub appearance in Mississippi, en route to New Orleans, she passed away in a car accident when her vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer. Jayne was only 34.
Sam Brody, Mansfield’s ex-boyfriend at the time, and their driver all perished in the collision. The adored Hollywood star was interred in Pennsylvania’s Fairview Cemetery next to her father.
She had three kids in the backseat sleeping, but they all got out of the car safely. Mariska Hargitay relocated to be with her father Mickey Hargitay after that, and despite being a very small child, she will never forget it.
“Losing my mother at such an early age is the scar of my soul,” she explains. “But I feel like it ultimately made me into the person I am today. I understand the journey of life. I had to go through what I did to be here.”
Mariska Hargitay went on to study at Marymount High School, where she was active in theatre groups.
Constantly compared to her mother
She decided to attend UCLA in California to study theater, and shortly after that, in 1984, she made her acting debut in Ghoulies. Following that, Hargitay spent the 1980s acting in a number of TV shows in an effort to pursue a career on a larger platform. But unlike her mother, who was infamous for doing so, she didn’t alter either her name or the color of her hair.
Mariska Hargitay was constantly compared to her late mother, despite the fact that she now had a job.
People told her to adopt her mother’s seductive looks, alter her name, and modify how she looked. Mariska once declined to appear in a naked scene in the film Jocks (1986). It hasn’t been simple being a Hollywood legend’s daughter. And on sometimes, it even has been a burden on her.
“I used to hate constant references to my mom because I wanted to be known for myself,” Mariska Hargitay mentioned. “Losing my mother at such a young age is the scar of my soul.”
She has always been aware of the terrible accident, and she will always remember her mother. Mariska Hargitay, on the other hand, has a radically different perspective on the incident and claims there was no accident at all.
“There are no accidents,” Hargitay told James Lipton in an interview. “And I believe God has a plan. Although I don’t understand it, I do trust it. And I learned to make peace with what is.”
Mariska Hargitay – ‘Law & Order’
“It’s also helpful in acting. You have to accept what is and try to figure it out. I think my philosophy is what can I learn from this situation and how can I grow. Because that’s the most important thing to me is growing,” Hargitay added.
In 2018, Hargitay spoke further on the tough loss. She explained that she’s gotten candid about it again, trying to avoid pain, loss, and feeling things.
“But I’ve learned instead to really lean into it because sooner or later you have to pay the piper,” she said. “I’m not saying it’s easy, and it certainly hasn’t been for me. There’s been a lot of darkness. But on the other side, things can be so bright.”
Mariska followed her mother into the acting business. And she sure looks very much like Janye!
After 15 years of acting, Mariska Hargitay scored her significant breakthrough role. In 1999, she starred as Olivia Benson in NBC’s police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The show is still running, with Mariska appearing in more than 500 episodes.
“I read the script, and I knew in my gut that I had to do this role,” she recalled on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “I read it and just, chills, and knew that I had to do it.”
However, before she got the role, Hargitay’s agent warned her about taking it, saying it might be “too dark.” But that wasn’t a concern of Mariska’s at all.
