Mariska Hargitay Reflects on Iconic 'SVU' Role and Personal Growth

In October 2025, Mariska Hargitay, the acclaimed star of 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit', spoke at the Hello Sunshine's Shine Away event about the profound impact her iconic role has had on her. Hargitay, who has played the character of Olivia Benson for nearly three decades, explained how the part has mirrored her own journey of self-discovery and empowerment.

"It's changed me in so many ways," Hargitay said. "I look at it sort of as the perfect feminist story, in a way, of how I started here and actually sort of grew into this character and into this person right onscreen and off." Hargitay credited her experience playing Benson with helping her reclaim her own power and ambition.

Hargitay also discussed her recent directorial debut, the documentary 'My Mom Jayne', which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film explores Hargitay's relationship with her mother, the late Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, who passed away when Hargitay was just 3 years old. Hargitay revealed that she had been preparing to tell this story her entire life, drawing on her own childhood trauma and the resilience she has witnessed in survivors over the years.

"I think that, from experience in early childhood trauma, we learn to survive," Hargitay explained. "And then I have had the extraordinary privilege of watching survivors for the last 27 years, witnessing survivor's stories, watching incredible women navigate - we see people doing some of the worst things to each other - and navigating that, I think, it's an innate part of being a woman."