![\"Mariska](\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/02\/05201849\/mariskahargitaypeterherman2-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMariska Hargitay has had a long and successful career in television and film. Starring as Olivia Benson on Law & Order, the 58-year-old has become a true star. However, her past also includes a huge tragedy.<\/p>\n
Hargitay has had to live with the tragic accident for decades. But more importantly, the Golden Globe-winning actress has also managed to find love and create a wonderful family.<\/p>\n
Mariska and her husband Peter Herman have been happily married for 17 years. But on their first date, he made her cry. This is all you need to know about Mariska Hargitay\u2019s life \u2013 and the tragic times she has overcome.<\/p>\n
Mariska Hargitay was born on January 23, 1964, in Santa Monica, California, to actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield. It was supposed to be a wonderful upbringing with two loving parents. However, when Mariska was 3-years of age, her mother, Jayne, passed away in a tragic accident.<\/p>\n
At the time, Jayne Mansfield\u2019s career had begun to fail. She was dropped from 20th Century Fox in 1962 \u2013 two years before Mariska was born \u2013 and instead appeared in several TV programs and game shows.<\/p>\n
Instead of just focusing on Hollywood, Mansfield decided to go international in the 1960s, starring in several German, Italian and British films. She also began appearing on stage at nightclubs, touring both in the US and UK.<\/p>\n
In 1967, a tour was put together by Don Arden \u2013 the legendary music manager and father of Sharon Osbourne. One week, she was performing in the town of Batley.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mansfield, her then-boyfriend Sam Brody, and their driver instantly passed away in the accident. The beloved Hollywood sttar was buried beside her father at the Fairview Cemetery in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Three of her children were asleep in the back seat of the car, but they made it out unharmed. After that, Mariska Hargitay moved to be with her father, Mickey Hargitay, and even though she was very young, she won\u2019t ever forget it.<\/p>\n
\u201cLosing my mother at such an early age is the scar of my soul,\u201d she told Redbook in 2009. \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mariska Hargitay went on to study at Marymount High School, where she was active in theatre groups.<\/p>\n
She chose to study theater at UCLA in California, and not long after, in 1984, she made her film debut in Ghoulies. After that, Hargitay spent the 1980s performing in several TV series to pursue a career on the bigger stage. But, unlike her mother, she didn\u2019t change her name or the color of her hair, which Jayne was famous for doing.<\/p>\n
But even though Mariska Hargitay now had her career, she was always compared to her late mother.<\/p>\n
People advised her to change her name and appearance and even copy her mother\u2019s sexy image. At one point, Mariska turned down doing a nude scene in the movie Jocks (1986). Being the daughter of a Hollywood icon hasn\u2019t been easy. And sometimes, it even has been a burden for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to hate constant references to my mom because I wanted to be known for myself,\u201d Mariska Hargitay told Closer. \u201cLosing my mother at such a young age is the scar of my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
The horrible accident has always been with her, and the memory of her mother will never fade. However, Mariska Hargitay has had a very different look at the accident, which she said wasn\u2019t one at all.<\/p>\n
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Sean Zanni\/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no accidents,\u201d Hargitay told James Lipton in a 2014 interview on Inside The Actors Studio. \u201cAnd I believe God has a plan. Although I don\u2019t understand it, I do trust it. And I learned to make peace with what is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mariska Hargitay \u2013 \u2018Law & Order\u2019
\n\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019s the most important thing to me is growing,\u201d Hargitay added.<\/p>\n
In 2018, Hargitay spoke further on the tough loss. She explained that she\u2019s gotten candid about it again, trying to avoid pain, loss, and feeling things.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve learned instead to real\u00adly lean into it because sooner or later you have to pay the piper,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying it\u2019s easy, and it certainly hasn\u2019t been for me. There\u2019s been a lot of darkness. But on the other side, things can be so bright.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mariska followed her mother into the acting business. And she sure looks very much like Janye!<\/p>\n
After 15 years of acting, Mariska Hargitay scored her significant breakthrough role. In 1999, she starred as Olivia Benson in NBC\u2019s police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The show is still running, with Mariska appearing in more than 500 episodes.<\/p>\n
![\"Mariska](\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/02\/05201847\/hargitayfamily-scaled.jpg\")
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James Devaney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI read the script, and I knew in my gut that I had to do this role,\u201d she recalled on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. \u201cI read it and just, chills, and knew that I had to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, before she got the role, Hargitay\u2019s agent warned her about taking it, saying it might be \u201ctoo dark.\u201d But that wasn\u2019t a concern of Mariska\u2019s at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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