Mariska Hargitay's Real Name: Mariska Magdolna Hargitay

Quick answer: Mariska Hargitay's full name is Mariska Magdolna Hargitay. She was born on January 23, 1964, in Santa Monica, California, and performs under Mariska Hargitay—the civil form of her birth name.

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress and Encyclopedia.com record Mariska Magdolna Hargitay, born 1964; the Television Academy documents her Emmy-winning career (LOC; Encyclopedia.com; Television Academy). She is the daughter of 1950s sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and bodybuilder-actor Mickey Hargitay. Magdolna is a Hungarian given-name form reflecting her father’s heritage; Mariska is a Hungarian diminutive related to Maria. After Mansfield’s fatal 1967 car crash, Hargitay was raised primarily by Mickey Hargitay and his later wife. She studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, and entered acting and modeling in the 1980s, including a Miss Beverly Hills title early in her public life.

Career highlights

After film and television roles in the 1980s and 1990s, Hargitay originated Detective (later Captain) Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit beginning in 1999—one of the longest-running scripted roles in U.S. television history. She won a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe for the part and has produced and directed episodes. Off-screen she founded the Joyful Heart Foundation to support survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, work closely tied to SVU’s subject matter. She married actor Peter Hermann; they have children together. Across decades of SVU and advocacy, billing stayed Mariska Hargitay; the documented full name is Mariska Magdolna Hargitay. Hungarian-language coverage sometimes foregrounds Magdolna as a marker of her paternal heritage alongside the American entertainment surname Hargitay.

Network and Emmy materials almost always use Mariska Hargitay alone, while authority files preserve Magdolna as the fuller Hungarian middle form.

Name notes for searchers

Pronunciation guides often approximate “mah-RISH-ka.” Prefer LOC, the Television Academy, and Encyclopedia.com. Wikipedia is a pointer after those primaries.