Mariska Hargitay, the actress who plays Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, recently talked about the influence her father, Mickey Hargitay, had on her. Playing the same character for more than 25 years is just an example of what her father taught her: to persevere and work hard.
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Hargitay sat down with TODAY and talked about her life motto instituted by her father. "I was sort of raised with the motto of, 'We don't quit in this family," Hargitay said. "'And if that's what you want to do, then you do it, and you work harder, and you click your heels together three times and say, "That's the best I can do," but we don't quit.'"
Mickey Hargitay, who was an actor himself, pushed her daughter to excellence from a very young age. While later in life he would inspire her daughter in her acting career, he used to do the same when Mariska was a swimmer in high school.
"He would say to me, 'It takes this much more to win in the swim meet,' which was, you know, super challenging for me," Mariska said. She then recalled how she would push herself to attempt to best one of her friends. Her father, in turn, would provide the "inspiration and work ethic" to help her move forward.
A Long-lasting Influence
"I do believe that my sports in high school, and even in middle school, have helped me so much with the longevity and not giving up," Mariska said. "High school sports and my father's training taught me how to get back on the horse and have the stamina to do 'SVU.'" And while she has definitely had hard years in SVU, Mariska's passion and work ethic, traits nurtured by her father, have kept her invested in the show.
Back in 2003, Mickey Hargitay made his final television appearance. Poetically, he appeared in SVU itself, playing a grandfather who interacts with Olivia, Mariska's character. Three years later, unfortunately, Mickey Hargitay passed at 80.
"It was huge to lose this person who was my everything, my strength, my power, the person who believed in me," Mariska Hargitay told PEOPLE during a 2018 interview. "Now I do feel that he's with me. Even though he's not here physically, I carry him."
