Mariska (Ma-rish-ka) Magdolna Hargitay was born on January 23, 1964, in Santa Monica, California. Her parents are Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield. She is the youngest of their three children. In June 1967, Mariska and her brothers Zoltan and Mickey Jr. were in the back seat of a car when it was involved in the fatal accident which killed her mother. The children escaped with minor injuries.Mariska majored in theater at UCLA but dropped out before graduating. Her first motion picture feature was the cult - www.imdb.com

After the sexual assault of a young woman is videotaped and featured on a campus-wide intranet feed, detectives Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice-T) go in search of the victim and her attacker. As they delve into the investigation, it becomes clear that the perpetrator created a spectacle to draw attention to his own issues. Also starring: Dann Florek (Capt. Donald Cragen), Mariska Hargitay (Detective Olivia Benson), Melissa Sagemiller (ADA Gillian Hardwicke) and B.D. Wong (D - www.tvguide.com

The daughter of legendary sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay, Mariska Hargitay appears born to play the type of larger-than-life roles that would make her a Hollywood idol. Instead, from her breakthrough performance as a vulnerable single mother on ER to her starring turn as a somber detective on Law & Order: SVU, the talented actress has built her career by portraying real-life characters and keeping out of the spotlight. Raised in Los Angeles, Hargitay was a child of divorc - movies.msn.com