Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni and Ice-T are among the recognizable faces on the longtime NBC drama
Law & Order: SVU is one of the longest-running primetime television shows in history, at 25 seasons and counting. Since the show’s debut in 1999, numerous celebrities have guest-starred on the procedural drama, which follows the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Unit as they work to solve sex crimes. Actors including Robin Williams, Bradley Cooper, Martin Short, Alec Baldwin, Hilary Duff — and dozens of others — have all appeared in episodes of SVU. But it’s the show’s core cast of detectives, prosecutors and crime fighters that have made the show a success over the past two-plus decades.
For the first 12 years, Law & Order: SVU was led by an iconic duo: Detectives Olivia Benson (played by Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). The Real-Life Partners of the Cast of Law & Order: SVU
Meloni’s exit from the show in 2011 left a hole in the Special Victims Unit and fans’ hearts — one that’s been filled by other longstanding members of the cast, like Ice-T, and fresh faces over the years, including Danny Pino, Kelli Giddish and Peter Scanavino.
Law & Order: SVU returned with new episodes in January 2024, with Hargitay still at the helm of the cast — and the occasional guest appearance from Meloni, who now stars in his own Law & Order spinoff, Law & Order: Organized Crime. “Even if I had been wildly, recklessly optimistic about the future, I couldn’t have ever dreamed that we’d be here in this moment in television history,” Hargitay told PEOPLE about the show. In honor of its landmark 25th season, here’s a look at the Law & Order SVU cast — past and present. Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson on ‘Law & Order: SVU.’ ; Mariska Hargitay attends the 2023 Stuttering Association For The Young (SAY) Benefit Gala at The Edison Ballroom on
Mariska Hargitay’s name is practically synonymous with Olivia Benson, the Law & Order: SVU character she’s played since 1999 — the longest-running primetime drama character in television history.
Hargitay studied acting at UCLA before landing her first movie role in 1985’s Ghoulies. Her first television job came a year later, on the series Downtown. She went on to appear on shows including ER, Baywatch and Seinfeld in the 1990s — but her breakout role came in 1999 when she earned the role of Detective Olivia Benson on NBC’s latest Law & Order spinoff.
“I fell so in love with her and so in love with the idea of this show, as progressive as it was at the time, and telling these kinds of stories,” she told The New York Times.
Hargitay’s portrayal of Benson, who has been captain of Manhattan’s Special Victims Unit on the procedural crime drama since the 21st season, has solved hundreds of fictional sex crimes over the past two decades — and become a beacon of hope for sexual assault victims in the process.
Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann’s Relationship Timeline
The character inspired Hargitay to become an advocate for victims in real life: She is trained as a rape counselor, launched the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004 to support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and partnered with Michigan prosecutor and rape activist Kym Worthy to tackle the staggering number of untested rape kits in the U.S.
In 2018, Hargitay produced an award-winning HBO documentary called I Am Evidence about her work with Worthy. “People used to call me the accidental activist. I didn’t take this job on SVU to do this work,” Hargitay told PEOPLE in 2020. “But I think I was meant to do this.”
Her work on SVU — which has earned her both a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award — also introduced her to her husband of 19 years, Peter Hermann. The pair first met in 2002 after Hermann had a guest role on SVU in season 3 as defense attorney Trevor Langan and were married two years later. The couple are parents to three children: August, Amaya and Andrew.
“Thank you … to August and to Amaya and to Andrew,” Hargitay said when accepting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. “I know one day you will grow into an understanding of how brightly the three of you shine into me and daddy’s life. And to Peter, you’re too good to be true.”
