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Mariska Hargitay Describes "Once in a Lifetime" Chemistry with Chris Meloni
Hargitay recalls telling primetime titan Dick Wolf, "This is my role, this is my part, I am Olivia Benson."
Celebrating more than 26 seasons and counting, few will deny that Dick Wolf captured lightning in a bottle with the creation of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and in a January TODAY interview, SVU legend Mariska Hargitay looked back on the "magical" final audition with Christopher Meloni that changed her life forever.
Following SVU's 1999 premiere, it didn't take long for Law & Order fans to fall head over heels for the show's dynamite duo, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler. Hargitay reminisced about that exciting chapter of her life in an interview with TODAY's Willie Geist, revealing that SVU came at the perfect time after she'd wrapped Season 4 of ER. Hargitay wasn't sure where her career would head next but knew that Law & Order was a television juggernaut, and she wanted in. Little did she know that SVU would become a cultural phenomenon and that Benson and Stabler would forever elevate police partnerships.
RELATED: Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler's Full Relationship History
"I was making jokes I needed to get on that Law & Order; that was sort of a joke that I was doing," Hargitay recalled playfully. "And then the audition came."
From Day 1, Mariska Hargitay told Dick Wolf, "I am Olivia Benson"
Describing her SVU audition process as a "once-in-a-lifetime experience," Hargitay and Wolf "hit it off" from her first read through, scoring her a callback. However, upon arriving for the second read through, Hargitay noticed a "stunning" woman in the waiting room who'd also been called back. Emboldened by her panic, Hargitay walked straight up to Wolf to remind him of how passionate she was about the part.
"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.'" Hargitay revealed. "And he was sort of laughing, I could tell, and I was like, 'No, no, you don't understand.'"
Of course, Hargitay's fate was sealed during the final callback, where she first crossed paths with Meloni. After laying her eyes on the Oz star, Hargitay instantly clocked him as Stabler material.
"They paired us up, but in the room, when [Meloni] walked in, I sort of sized him up and I said, 'That's the guy. That's the guy, that is the guy, that is the guy,'" Hargitay recalled. "It was so obvious to me that that was the guy, and apparently, he felt the same way [about me being Benson]."
RELATED: The Sweetest Things Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay Have Said About Each Other
Hargitay knew she wanted to play Benson from the get-go, so when she'd found her Stabler, the rest was soon history. During a 2023 PaleyFest panel discussion, Wolf revealed he didn't even audition anyone else to play Stabler after Hargitay and Meloni's explosive chemistry read together. The stars were dynamite, thus kickstarting the beloved "Bensler" relationship fans still adore over two decades later.
"I knew quickly that we had this kind of magical chemistry," Hargitay explained. "Chris and I are polar opposites in terms of who we are as people. And yet, there was this yin-yang. So when they paired us, I was like, 'Oh, this is done.'"
Watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.