Mariska Hargitay turned a tv icon by taking part in Detective Olivia Benson on Regulation & Order: SVU since 1999. The gritty efficiency on the police procedural even earned her a 2006 Emmy for Excellent Actress. Earlier than hitting it large with the beloved sequence, Mariska labored her means up the Tinseltown ladder with small roles in horror motion pictures and some recurring ones on exhibits like Falcon Crest and Downtown.
Mariska’s Hollywood roots, nevertheless, don’t cease there, as she is the daughter of well-known of us. Her mom, Jayne Mansfield, was one of many first blonde bombshells to take over the massive display screen, whereas her father, Mickey Hargitay, parlayed his fame as a former Mr. Universe right into a profitable appearing profession. The couple had married in 1958 and welcomed three kids: sons Miklós and Zoltán, and daughter Mariska. In 1963, they divorced and shortly reconciled, solely to formally cut up a 12 months later. In Could 2025, Mariska revealed that Mickey wasn’t her organic father. It seems that in her dad and mom’ cut up, Jayne had a quick affair with singer and comic Nelson Sardelli, and he’s Mariska’s organic father, the actress advised Vainness Truthful.
Study extra about Mariska’s dad and mom beneath.
Mickey Hargitay
Born in Hungary in January 1926, Mickey started performing in an acrobatic act along with his 4 brothers at a younger age, ultimately taking the act to the biggest opera home in Budapest, in response to NBC. He ultimately made his strategy to America and settled down in Cleveland, Ohio the place his bodybuilding desires started to take form. “Mickey educated exhausting all through the ’50s, profitable a number of native “physique stunning” competitions,” per the outlet. By 1955, Mickey was able to take the title of Mr. Universe.
The bodybuilder’s championship impressed a era to take up the game. “Bodybuilding was dominated by American champions; there was no hope for anybody else,” Arnold Schwarzenegger advised the L.A. Instances. “That somebody from central Europe turned Mr. Universe gave hope for somebody like myself and others to dream about.”
“Again in these days, bodybuilding was considered a freakish, uncommon exercise that wasn’t fashionable with most people,” Gene Mozee, a bodybuilding historian, advised the outlet. “At the moment, athletic coaches discouraged lifting weights, considering you’d turn into muscle sure. And alongside got here Mickey Hargitay, an incredible all-around athlete.”
Mickey then discovered work as a muscleman in Mae West’s nightclub act, the Mae West Revue, in 1956. In keeping with the L.A. Instances, Jayne caught the act in a New York membership and when she was requested what she would really like that night, she reportedly responded: “I’ll have a steak and the person on the left!” Mickey and Jayne would marry two years later.
The couple would go on to work collectively in movies like The Loves of Hercules, Guarantees! Guarantees! and Primitive Love. “I loved my profession,” Mickey as soon as mentioned, per the outlet. “I by no means wished to be any greater than what I used to be, and I had enjoyable doing it.” He died on the age of 80 on September 14, 2006, from a number of myeloma.
“I’ll take inspiration and knowledge from wherever I can get it, whether or not that’s from my character, from my husband, or from my dad, who at all times mentioned, ‘Mariska, you possibly can study from anybody and everybody,’” Mariska advised Good Housekeeping in 2012. The actress additionally has half-sister, Tina, from her dad’s relationship with Mary Birge.
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne was a mid-western lady born in Pennsylvania on April 19, 1933. After discovering fame with Playboy picture shoots, Jayne quickly turned a intercourse image on the massive display screen as properly with movies like The Woman Can’t Assist It (1956), The Wayward Bus (1957) and Too Sizzling to Deal with (1960).
As for the unbelievable fame that adopted and followers clamoring to know extra about her, Jayne appeared grounded about all of it. In a 1960 interview, Jayne defined, “I really feel like a star owes it to her public to deliver the general public into her life as a result of the followers really feel like they personal you and in case you saved your life an entire secret it wouldn’t be truthful to them. However my non-public life, and once I say non-public life I imply my non-public life, will at all times be non-public.”
Her romance with Mickey gave the impression to be an on-again/off-again one. In 1963, Jayne attended a five-minute divorce listening to with Mickey in a Mexico court docket, per the LA Instances. The divorce was dominated invalid in California. After a quick reconciliation and a subsequent cut up, Jayne sued for the Mexican divorce to be acknowledged, profitable in 1964.
In 1967, Jayne was killed in a automobile crash alongside along with her boyfriend and their driver. Mariska and her brothers had been additionally within the automobile on the time however survived. Mariska was simply 3 years outdated on the time, and Jayne was 34.
Nelson Sardelli
Mariska revealed in Could 2025 that Nelson is her organic father, although she insisted that she continues to be Mickey’s daughter since he raised her. The actress delves into her upbringing and her dad and mom within the 2025 documentary My Mother Jayne.
Nelson was born in Brazil on September 30, 1934, and he’s of Italian descent. He labored as a performer in Las Vegas, and he reportedly nonetheless lives there. Nelson can also be a father to 2 different daughters — Mariska’s half-sisters — who participated in her HBO documentary.
