Here is a comprehensive summary of the Wikipedia article on Mariska Hargitay:

Mariska Hargitay (born January 23, 1964) is an acclaimed American actress, best known for her role as Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 1999, making her the longest-running character in American primetime drama and earning her three Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe. Her early life was marked by tragedy when, at age three, she survived a fatal 1967 car crash that killed her mother, actress Jayne Mansfield, leaving her with a scar and a lasting sense of loss; she later discovered her biological father was singer Nelson Sardelli, not Mickey Hargitay. After being crowned Miss Beverly Hills in 1982 and taking on early roles in shows like Falcon Crest and ER, she achieved mainstream stardom and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. A passionate advocate off-screen, Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation to support sexual abuse survivors, became a certified rape counselor, and pushed for testing untested rape kits, co-producing the Emmy-winning documentary I Am Evidence (2017). Continuing her creative expansion, she launched the production company Mighty Entertainment in 2025 and directed the documentary My Mom Jayne that same year.