Mariska Hargitay opened up on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast about auditioning for Friends several years before she joined the NBC family in Law and Order: SVU.
Hargitay Reflected on Her ‘Friends’ Auditions
Hargitay, the daughter of Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay, has played no-nonsense investigator Olivia Benson on all 27 seasons of SVU. While it may seem unimaginable to see Hargitay out of uniform, she told Poehler that early in her career, she aspired to be a comedic actor.
“I did a lot of comedy auditions,” Hargitay revealed. “I did Seinfeld and I did Single Guy, and I tested for Friends so many times. I think for Monica. I always thought I would end up being on a sitcom or doing comedy.”
‘I’m Going to Be a Comedian’
Hargitay was so set on being a comedic performer that, even as dramatic opportunities presented themselves, she insisted on melding it to her specifications. “I was like, I want to do drama but it has to be funny because that’s what I felt like my gifts were,” she said. “[I would tell people], ‘I’m going to be a comedian because I’m funny and I’m pretty.’”
Eventually, when she realized she wasn’t getting the work she wanted in L.A., Hargitay relocated to the opposite coast. “I’m in L.A., [a] struggling actor [wondering] what am I going to do?” Hargitay said. “I came to New York, which I did three times a year to see theater. And then I met with this psychic. Everyone said to me, ‘Oh my gosh, Mariska, you have to meet with this psychic. He’s amazing.’…I drove out somewhere on Long Island to this man and I went there and he started saying all this amazing stuff to me.”
Hargitay continued: “I was listening to him really intently like this. He said to me… ‘You see that face you’re doing right now? You see that face?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘You’re going to be famous for that face. You’re moving to New York and you’re gonna be famous for that face.’ I said, ‘Uh, no.’ I live in L.A. and I’m going to be a comedian. Six months later, swear to God…I got SVU.”
