I don’t know about you, but when I think about Mariska Hargitay, I immediately think about Law & Order: SVU. Since 1999, she has been playing Detective Olivia Benson, and now, 574 episodes later, the show is still going strong with its 27th season slated to premiere this fall on the 2025 TV schedule. Now, the actress has shared a “fun story” about a psychic predicting that she’d get famous for playing a character just like Benson, and my mind is blown.
While stars come and go from SVU, Hargitay has been there and stayed there since day one. However, before landing the gig, she never thought she’d be famous for a very serious legal procedural. That all changed, though, when her friend made her see a Long Island psychic. Telling the full story on Call Her Daddy, the actress said:
I’ll tell you a fun story. So, I used to go to New York twice a year. I was 34, and I come to New York, and a friend of mine said, ‘Oh my gosh, Mariska, you have to go to this psychic on Long Island.’ I didn’t even know where Long Island was. So, I drive out to this guy’s house on Long Island. He gives me a psychic reading.
While she went along for the ride, Hargitay wasn’t having it. She has famous parents – her mom is Jayne Mansfield – and she figured the psychic could easily look her up. However, when they started talking, the psychic said something that wound up being very true, he said:
He goes – I swear to god – he says ‘You see that face?’ – I have this on recording – ‘You see that face right now?’ I said, ‘Yeah?’ He goes, ‘You’re gonna be famous for that face, that face, that serious face.’
In the video, which you can see below, Hargitay makes a serious expression, and that’s the fact the psychic was referring to. Well, considering you know where this story is going, it’s easy to draw the parallels between this prediction and her eventual role on SVU.
@callherdaddy Never give up daddy gang! 👀
♬ original sound - Call Her Daddy
However, hindsight is 20/20, and in the moment, she didn’t believe it.
The actress wanted to be in the world of comedy, and she lived in Los Angeles, with no plans of moving. However, this psychic was convinced she’d star in a drama based in New York, as she said:
And I said, ‘Uh, no. I’m funny and I’m pretty, deadly combination, I’m going to be a comedian,’ I say. And he says – this is my favorite thing anyone has ever said to me – he goes, ‘I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think. You’re gonna be famous for that face.’ And then he says to me, ‘You’re moving to New York.’
Well, that all proved to be true, obviously, but the real kicker is how fast it came true. After telling this wild tale, the woman behind Olivia Benson revealed that she auditioned for SVU alongside Christopher Meloni and booked the gig not that long after this run-in with the Long Island psychic:
I swear to God, six months later, I got SVU. I swear, this is true on my children, this happened.
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Well, that’s absolutely bananas, and now, nearly 30 years later, we can look back on this and relish in how right this guy was. I wonder if he had correct predictions about the various actors who appeared on L&O who went on to have big careers? I bet he’d guess right if he did based on this.
Now, this psychic can say “I told you so,” and Hargitay will continue to play the beloved and very serious Detective Olivia Benson on SVU. Meanwhile, you can stream the Law & Order show alongside the other projects in the franchise with a Peacock subscription while we wait for the new season.