- Mariska Hargitay is an actress famous for starring in ‘Law & Order: SVU’
- She is the daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield and former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay
- At age 3, the star was in the backseat of the car when her mom died in a 1967 car crash
Mariska Hargitay has become a television icon by playing Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU since 1999. The gritty performance on the police procedural even earned her a 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Actress. Before hitting it big with the beloved series, Mariska worked her way up the Tinseltown ladder with small roles in horror movies and a few recurring ones on shows like Falcon Crest and Downtown.
Mariska’s Hollywood roots, however, don’t stop there, as she was the daughter of two famous folks! Her mother, Jayne Mansfield, was one of the first blonde bombshells to take over the big screen, while her father, Mickey Hargitay, parlayed his fame as a former Mr. Universe into a successful acting career. The couple had married in 1958 and welcomed three children: sons Miklós and Zoltán, and daughter Mariska. In 1963, they divorced and quickly reconciled, only to officially split a year later. Learn more about Mariska’s famous mom & pop, below!
Mickey Hargitay
Born in Hungary in January 1926, Mickey began performing in an acrobatic act with his four brothers at a young age, eventually taking the act to the largest opera house in Budapest, according to NBC. He eventually made his way to America and settled down in Cleveland, Ohio where his bodybuilding dreams began to take shape. “Mickey trained hard throughout the ’50s, winning several local “body beautiful” competitions,” per the outlet. By 1955, Mickey was ready to take the title of Mr. Universe.
The bodybuilder’s championship inspired a generation to take up the sport. “Bodybuilding was dominated by American champions; there was no hope for anyone else,” Arnold Schwarzenegger told the L.A. Times. “That someone from central Europe became Mr. Universe gave hope for someone like myself and others to dream about.”
“Back in those days, bodybuilding was thought of as a freakish, unusual activity that wasn’t popular with the general public,” Gene Mozee, a bodybuilding historian, told the outlet. “At that time, athletic coaches discouraged lifting weights, thinking you’d become muscle bound. And along came Mickey Hargitay, a great all-around athlete.”
Mickey then found work as a muscleman in Mae West’s nightclub act, the Mae West Revue, in 1956. According to the L.A. Times, Jayne caught the act in a New York club and when she was asked what she would like that evening, she reportedly responded: “I’ll have a steak and the man on the left!” Mickey and Jayne would marry two years later.
The couple would go on to work together in films like The Loves of Hercules, Promises! Promises! and Primitive Love. “I enjoyed my career,” Mickey once said, per the outlet. “I never wanted to be any more than what I was, and I had fun doing it.” He died at the age of 80 on September 14, 2006, from multiple myeloma.
“I’ll take inspiration and information from wherever I can get it, whether that’s from my character, from my husband, or from my dad, who always said, ‘Mariska, you can learn from anyone and everyone,’” Mariska told Good Housekeeping in 2012. The actress also has half-sister, Tina, from her dad’s relationship with Mary Birge.
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne was a mid-western girl born in Pennsylvania on April 19, 1933. After finding fame with Playboy photo shoots, Jayne soon became a sex symbol on the big screen as well with films like The Girl Can’t Help It (1956), The Wayward Bus (1957) and Too Hot to Handle (1960).
As for the incredible fame that followed and fans clamoring to know more about her, Jayne appeared grounded about all of it. In a 1960 interview, Jayne explained, “I feel like a star owes it to her public to bring the public into her life because the fans feel like they own you and if you kept your life a complete secret it wouldn’t be fair to them. But my private life, and when I say private life I mean my private life, will always be private.”
Her romance with Mickey appeared to be an on-again/off-again one. In 1963, Jayne attended a five-minute divorce hearing with Mickey in a Mexico court, per the LA Times. The divorce was ruled invalid in California. After a brief reconciliation and a subsequent split, Jayne sued for the Mexican divorce to be recognized, winning in 1964.
In 1967, Jayne was killed in a car crash along with her boyfriend and their driver. Mariska and her brothers were also in the car at the time, but survived. Mariska was just three years old at the time, and Jayne was 34.
On April 20, 2023, Mariska took to Instagram on what would have been Jayne 90th birthday to remember her with a heartfelt message, which you can SEE HERE. Mariska also has a half-sister named Jayne from her mom’s relationship with Paul Mansfield and a half-brother named Tony from her mom’s relationship with Matt Climber.