Mariska Hargitay has revealed how she landed her iconic role as Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in a new interview on the Todayshow. Hargitay said she had left the show ER and was looking for a new opportunity. “After ER I said, ‘What am I—what am I going to do? This is the greatest show ever. There’s no other show. Oh, except for Law & Order,” she recalled. “And I was making jokes, ‘I need to get on that Law & Order.’” Hargitay said she and producer Dick Wolf “kind of hit it off” during her audition, but she grew nervous when she saw a “stunning girl in the waiting room.” Hargitay recalled how she convinced Wolf to give her the part. “I panicked,” she said. “And I walked in, I go, ‘Listen, I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re a little confused: This is my role. This is my part. I am Olivia Benson.’ And he was sort of laughing, I could tell, and I was like, ‘No, no, you don’t understand.’” Hargitay added that once she auditioned opposite co-star Christopher Meloni, the role was a done deal. “It was a sort of once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said.
