Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

My thanks as always for clicking and listening along.

I am very excited to bring you my conversation today with Mariska Hargate.

Doesn't need much of an introduction, of course. She's been playing

Detective, now Captain Olivia Benson on Law and Order Special Victims Unit, SVU, for 26 seasons.

Yeah, they're in the middle of their 26th season. That series premiered in September of 1999.

It is now officially the longest running

primetime drama series in the history of American television. And Mariska is the longest

running female actor in a single series in the history of television. She's been in

560 episodes. Incredible run. So we talk about

the birth of that role. We go back even further to her growing up in Southern California,

the son of a bodybuilder, Mickey Hargitay, and an iconic actress Jane Mansfield, who died in a car

accident when Mariska was only three years old. So we talk about

her rise and kind of her slow burn. She was working as an actor for a long time on shows like

Falcon Crest and ER before she got this audition in the spring of 1999 to become Olivia Benson.

Also talk about how the growth of the character Olivia Benson has mirrored her own

growth as a woman, becoming an executive producer on Law & Order SFE, directing a whole

bunch of episodes, and creating the joyful heart foundation, the work that Olivia Benson does

on the show, becoming now outside in many ways and inspiration for the work that Mariska does.

So much to talk about her.

A big milestone.

She turned 60 last year.

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