Mariska Hargitay Talks Chris Meloni, ‘SVU’ Audition With Willie Geist

While Mariska Hargitay has carried television’s historic prime-time drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” on her back for 26 years, she couldn’t have done it without the help of her self-described yin to her yang.

The “SVU” star has portrayed Olivia Benson on the NBC drama since it premiered in 1999. Before her character’s ascent from detective to captain, she spent many years fighting crime alongside her beloved partner, Detective Elliot Stabler, who’s portrayed by Christopher Meloni.

“Chris and I are polar opposites in terms of who we are as people. I mean, you can’t get two people who are more different,” she said during a Sunday Sitdown with Sunday TODAY host Willie Geist that aired Jan. 12. “And yet,” she continued, clapping her hands, “there was this yin-yang. We just fit, and so everyone had talked about that very early on. So that wasn’t a surprise, because we knew it.”

Mariska Hargitay’s ‘Law & Order: SVU’ audition in 1999

Before Hargitay became Olivia Benson and rose to the peak of her fame, she had to secure her role through Dick Wolf.

Wolf is the creator of the “Law & Order” franchise, and Hargitay describes him as “a visionary,” as well as her friend and equal.

Hargitay’s connection to Wolf stems back to the late ‘90s when she auditioned to play Olivia Benson not long after wrapping up a recurring role on “ER.”

“It was very funny,” she explained to Willie. “I walked in there and because 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,”’ I said to myself. And I was making jokes, ‘I need to get on that “Law & Order.”’”

She said Wolf gave her “a couple of notes,” and she later returned for another meeting with him, but this time, she saw a “stunning girl in the waiting room.”

“I panicked,” Hargitay 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 (Wolf) was sort of laughing, I could tell, and I was like, ‘No, no, you don’t understand.’”

Her anxiety ended up being for nothing, as she later realized that “gorgeous girl that was in the lobby,” Mili Avital — who ended up guest-starring in multiple episodes of the show, including the pilot — was actually reading for another part.

Mariska Hargitay meets Chris Meloni for the 1st time at the ‘SVU’ audition

Before the world was introduced to Benson and Stabler, there was Hargitay and Meloni.

“You and Chris get in a room together, and Dick Wolf says, ‘That’s it,’” Willie said to Hargitay of their audition together.

“Yeah. That is what happened,” Hargitay answered.

“It was a sort of once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said.

Hargitay explained that during one of her callbacks, three sets of actors and actresses were paired up.

“In the room, when he walked in, I sort of sized him up, and I said, ‘That’s the guy,’” she recalled. “’That’s the guy. That is the guy. That is the guy.’ It was so obvious to me that that was the guy, and apparently, he felt the same way.”

Hargitay also noted she and Meloni are “lovers of comedy.”

“So, it was — just felt meant to be,” she added.

Early on, the two also recognized the unique gift of their connection.

“We were like, ‘I know we have good chemistry,’” she recalled. “Even at times when we were, like, fighting or had a difference of opinion, or things getting tense, we still had it. It’s chemistry, right? And, we were just always very important people in each other’s lives, and we knew it. We knew it from Minute 1. And we’re still very close, very close.”  

When Mariska Hargitay knew ‘SVU’ would be a success

The 26th season of “Law & Order: SVU” premiered in October 2024. Hargitay knew around the show’s second or third season in the early 2000s that it “had something” and was destined to be successful, thanks to her bond with Meloni.

“Well, I knew quickly that we had this kind of magical chemistry. I knew that, because I felt it, and we were so close so fast,” she said. “And again, it’s that thing we talked about, of that thing that happens with somebody where you’re like, ‘We are so different, and I know you, and I get it, all of it.’”

Earlier in her conversation with Willie, Hargitay also said she believes Wolf “respects his audience with intelligent writing.”

“I think that we’re all fascinated between the complexities of the human condition, good vs. evil, justice. It’s something we need. We need it,” she explained. “He has a legacy that I think will never be challenged, because he understands that part, and yet he’s such a businessman.”

Hargitay also credits the dynamics of Benson and Stabler’s characters as part of the show’s “genius.”  

“I think that the genius of the conception of my show was the architecture of the angry, protective father and the nurturing, loving, empathetic mother, right, between us,” she said.

“It was a perfect balance,” she continued. “You want him to fight and protect you, and you want me to hold you, to hold a space for those most tender feelings after we’ve been violated. And you want, as we all want, to be seen. Probably one of the most important things, I think, in the human condition, that we all want to be seen.”