For many fans, Mariska Hargitay is defined by a single role: Olivia Benson on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” Hargitay has played the character since 1999, and before that, she was best known for playing Cynthia Hooper in the medical drama “ER.” Knowing this, it’s easy to picture Hargitay as a drama actor through and through, which makes it all the more surprising to hear that she was once extremely dedicated to making a career in comedy.
Hargitay did, in fact, have an early TV comedy presence, playing the briefly recurring character Kate Conklin on NBC’s Jonathan Silverman sitcom “The Single Guy” and appearing on “Seinfeld” as Melissa, an actor auditioning to play Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in Jerry Seinfeld’s show-within-a-show. However, during an appearance on Amy Poehler’s podcast “Good Hang,” Hargitay revealed that she was also aiming for something much more ambitious than that — namely, a major role on “Friends.”
Hargitay shared that at the beginning of her career she went on quite a few comedy auditions. “I did ‘Seinfeld’ and I did ‘Single Guy,’ and I tested for ‘Friends’ so many times … I think [for] Monica,” she said. “I always thought I would end up being on a sitcom or doing comedy.”
An unlikely source supported Hargitay’s pivot away from comedy
Mariska Hargitay’s iconic “SVU” character, Benson, is obviously a far cry from Monica Geller of “Friends” (who was, of course, ultimately played by Courteney Cox). However, if you ask Hargitay, the change from comedy leanings to using her steely gaze and considerable screen presence to great dramatic effect wasn’t prompted by anything as simple as discovering her talent for playing police officers. Her road was far stranger and involved a psychic that she consulted during one of her trips to New York.
As Hargitay recalled to Amy Poehler, the psychic made a declaration that ended up being eerily prophetic. “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,'” Hargitay said, remembering that she had been staring intently at the psychic. “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.'”
Regardless of how much credit you want to give that psychic for Hargitay’s career pivot, the rest is history. The tough but caring Olivia Benson and her partner, Christopher Meloni’s obsessive Elliot Stabler, soon became the secret sauce of “Special Victims Unit,” and Benson’s story as the team’s leader is still ongoing. “Friends” fans might be tempted to speculate how she would have handled the role of Monica, but for “SVU” fans, Hargitay ended up exactly where she needed to be.