Before Mariska Hargitay ended up as “America’s sweetheart sex cop,” as she aptly described herself on her Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast appearance, the veteran TV actor thought she would be a comedian and tested for Friends “many times.”
Discussing her affinity for comedy with the Parks and Recreation alumna, Hargitay said “all I wanted to be was you,” reflecting on having come up through The Groundlings, the famed Saturday Night Live pipeline improv school and sketch comedy troupe.
“I did a lot of [comedy auditions],” Hargitay told Poehler about going out for comedic roles at the beginning of her career. “I did Seinfeld, and I did Single Guy, and I tested for Friends so many times.”
When asked which part she auditioned for, Hargitay said, “I think it’s Monica — so long ago, again. But I always thought that I would end up being on a sitcom or doing comedy, that’s what I thought.”
However, a chance encounter with a psychic, who had come highly recommended by her friends, revealed to her a different destiny.
At the time, the My Mom Jayne documentarian had just wrapped her time as Cynthia Hooper on ER and was a “struggling actor.” Via her development deal at DreamWorks, she was then working on a dramedy in the vein of Ally McBeal. But while on a routine trip to New York City, she visited a psychic in Long Island at her friends’ behest, who “started saying all this amazing stuff to me.”
“He said to me, Amy, ‘You see that face you’re doing right now? You see that face?’ … I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘You’re gonna be famous for that face. You’re moving to New York, and you’re gonna be famous for that face,’” she recalled. “And I said, ‘Uh, no, I live in L.A., and I’m gonna be a comedian because I’m funny, and I’m pretty, and that is a deadly combination.’ And he looks at me — and this is my favorite moment in my life — and he goes like this, ‘I don’t give a rat’s ass what you say.’”
She concluded, “Six months later, swear to God, I got SVU.”
Hargitay has portrayed no-nonsense and fiercely protective New York Police Department officer-turned-captain Olivia Benson in Law & Order: SVU since 1999. The Dick Wolf-created NBC mainstay is currently airing its 27th season.
Watch the full episode below: