Mariska Hargitay - Andrew Eccles Photoshoot

Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (born January 23, 1964) is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning American actress best known for her role as Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She is of Hungarian, German and English ancestry. In 1983, a year after she was crowned Miss Beverly Hills, Hargitay made her screen debut with a small role in Star 80, a Mariel Hemingway feature film about the murdered Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten. Within a few years she had landed recurring roles in the television series Downtown and Falcon Crest, in which she played the character Carly Fixx. She was police officer Angela Garcia in the 1992 series Tequila & Bonetti and appeared in an episode of the fourth season of Seinfeld.