Is Mariska Hargitay legally binded to only portray Olivia Benson on screen and film?

bound

legally bound

Most recently was 20-odd years ago on a TV movie of a Jodi Picoult novel with Alison Pill. Mariska was the cop, Alison was the Amish girl who either killed her baby or pretended she had an immaculate conception.

Prior to that was as a prostitute in Leaving Las Vegas who seduced Nicolas Cage. She was absolutely beautiful.

Why SHOULD she do anything else?

I guarantee you that no other acting job she takes, will pay her nearly as much as Law and Order SVU.

[quote] AI Overview

[quote] Mariska Hargitay's salary for Law & Order: SVU is reported to be around $750,000 per episode, including her acting, producing, and syndication profits, according to a March 2025 report by Forbes. She is considered one of the highest-paid actors on television, and her total earnings for the show can reach $29 million annually, including syndication royalties.

She has been Olivia Benson for over two decades. She can play the role in her sleep.

Not only that, but it has regular hours, a regular cast and crew, and a regular location.

It's like the highest paid Civil Service job ever!!!

Mariska doesn't have to deal with ANY of the shit other actors have to deal with.

She’s also not much of an actress. Fortunately, she can continue to make millions playing Detective Frowny Face for years to come.

Legally [bold]binded???[/bold]

For shame, OP. That's too horrible for just an "Oh, dear!"

In Mariska’s documentary about her mother there is a shot where they are lifting a piano into her enormous New York penthouse. At that very moment I suddenly understood the appeal of playing Oleebia for 25 years

Her husband needs to get off his butt and earn his oats.

She's kind of ugly, looks like she has a sneer on her face all the time, and I'm not at all sure she is capable of acting in any other role.

I remember her from a Seinfeld episode. She was very funny.

She’s legally blinded.

She is the highest paid woman on television and she probably enjoys having her summers off to spend with her family. Why should she do anything else besides SVU?

She's legally blonded.

I saw her in an episode of "In the Heat of the Night" with an awful accent.

She may also have a realistic view of her talent, or lack thereof.

I'm disappointed. I want to see her as Ophelia and Cleopatra.

OP, it's not hard to find out the other series she's appeared in. Remember Cynthia Hooper in ER?

The internet is your friend.

She played Brent Cullen’s sister on Falcon Crest, it was her first big acting job.

She was beautiful but dull in a god awful rutger hauer movie

It's an actor's dream gig - consistent work with high salary. Ellen Pompeo is another one. Just raking in the dough.

Both know they've aged out or don't have the chops to do a lot of other work.

Plus there's the reduced stress of being on a show/lot with everyone you know for years - producers, directors, assistants - you can be pretty efficient because you know what people expect and how it's done.

And I would have to imagine relatively little drama. She has won the lottery - and it IS luck. She's 61 - nobody actor or not - wants to be looking for work at that age.

R13, I remember that episode! She asks her boyfriend if she can have some “po-tay-toe chiyyyups”.

She got her dad’s build and her mom’s tits. It makes for a strange combination.

I remember her in Lake Placid. I think the show like SVU must be very daunting to film. I can’t say I blame her.

Maybe she needs a Gary to talk her out of it at this point.

I feel so stupid for my grammatical mistake. I started to write my post in one tense and forgot to edit.

[quote]dull in a god awful Rutger Hauer movie

Blind Side, also starring Rebecca de Mornay

OP, legally binded: All is forgiven sweetie. Don't feel stupid.

$29 million a year for an easy gig-I'd stick around too for as long as they'd have me. Who cares if its total shit by this point?

She could have done musical theatre when she was still a limber lady

R21. Which dad?

This is another one of those TV shows that seem to be aimed to older demographics that I've never seen a single episode of.

Old people solving crimes - Jessica Fletcher, Matlock, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, - the list goes on and on.

I'm by no means young, but I don't understand how old people watch this stuff year after year after year.

The median age of Law & Order SVU watcher is....64.8 years. So half older and half younger. That's exactly the demo I thought it was.

In all fairness, if she were to appear in anything else, people unaccustomed to the power of her sexual magnetism might get sucked into an inter-dimensional void. Viewers and the cast and crew of SVU have had decades to build up resistance.

Her frowny face resembles a fallen souffle. She used to be cute. What happened?

R30. Its Rich Bitch face...Ellen Pompeo has the same.

In ten years she'll be cast in some old lady with dementia movie and win an Oscar. I can see that happening

R32. Not on my watch...

It probably is daunting, r21. I remember reading that one of the reasons Vincent D'Onofrio left Law and Order was the strain of having to memorize the dialogue for 22 40 minute episodes a season. I can understand why Hargitay would want to keep that job, but it definitely doesn't sound as easy as some posters are claiming.

Yes that’s the one @R23

Already portrayed R32.

Ellen Pompeo makes Mariska Hargitay look like Sarah Bernhardt.