Summary
Viewers may not remember, butMariska Hargitayappeared inERbefore her career-defining run onLaw & Order: SVU. Throughout15 seasons ofER, the long-running medical drama has featured numerous main, supporting, recurring, and guest characters filling the ranks of Cook County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. While there have been plenty of notable actors to appear as one-time patients, doctors, and other peripheral characters, few have jumped fromERto starring in one of thelongest-running TV shows of all time.
BeforeER, Hargitay was a relative unknown, more famous for being the daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay than her acting. She did have a main cast role inCan’t Hurry Loveas Didi Edelstein andTequila and Bonettias Officer Angela Garcia, but those were very short-lived shows and her career mostly composed of small appearances in TV series likeBaywatch,Seinfeld, andEllen. It wasn’t until 1999 when she began playing Olivia Benson inLaw & Order: SVUthat she would become a major TV star in a series she’ll always be known for.
Law & Order 10 Ways Olivia Benson From SVU Has Changed Since Season 1
Olivia Benson was an awesome character in Law & Order: SVU, and has gone through some major changes since season one.
Mariska Hargitay Played Desk Clerk Cynthia Hooper In ER Season 4
Cynthia Has A Romantic Relationship With Mark Greene
Mariska Hargitay first appeared as Cynthia Hooper in season 4, episode 2, “Something New”.Cynthia is a new desk clerk at County General, and she begins a romance with Dr. Mark Greene(Anthony Edwards). Their relationship is a passionate whirlwind and neither side is explicit about what it is they want. This comes to an awkward head when Mark has to return home to take care of his ailing mother in San Diego, only to discover Cynthia tagged along, misreading their relationship. Mark is forced to tell Cynthia he is not in love with her and they break up.
When Mark returns to Chicago, he learns Cynthia quit the hospital and when he tries to win her back, she shuts him down for good. Mark’s romantic troubles are a significant arc in the early seasons ofER, andCynthia presents an example of how his carelessness with women has led to him being unable to have a real, long-lasting relationship.
In the wrong hands, Cynthia could come off as clingy or obnoxious, but Hargitay’s gentle demeanor makes it clear that Marks is in the wrong.
Hargitay plays her characters very well. In the wrong hands, Cynthia could come off as clingy or obnoxious, but Hargitay’s gentle demeanor makes it clear that Mark is in the wrong. While it may have been a bold choice for Cynthia to go to San Diego without alerting Mark, everything she and the audience had seen implied that he was looking for something serious, and apparently he was, considering his last-ditch effort to repair their relationship.
Mariska Hargitay was cast inLaw & Order: SVUjust a year after she appeared inER.
Hargitay Almost Wasn’t Cast In ER
Hargitay was nearly not a part ofERseason 4. According toCheatSheet, Hargitay was sure she would not be selected for the role considering how many people were auditioning for the part. She said,
“So finally I get this audition to go on ER, and I work really hard on the audition. And I get there, and it’s six blondes in the room. Like beautiful blondes. And so I go, ‘Oh wow. Well I guess this isn’t going to happen.’ And it just took all the pressure off me. And I went in this interview, and had so much fun on the audition, and I was super prepared, not going to lie. But you know, it’s that thing of you do your work, and then you hit the flow. And then you’re in the flow and it’s a wave, and all you’re doing is riding it. So, I left the audition, and I was high as a kite. I was so happy because you know that’s rare when we really leave an audition going, ‘I killed it.'”
Hargitay’s intuition was correct because she learned she didn’t get the part. However, later that day, she had another audition for the same casting director, John Levey. She asked Levey,
“‘But why didn’t I get ER? This is ridiculous.’ I said, ‘Let’s go to John Wells’ [the executive producer ofER] office right now.’ He said, ‘You were awesome. [But] I have a vision for this part. And I like to cast closer to type. And the character was a very weak, fragile, fragmented, nervous girl. And you’re very strong. You’re not exactly the type.'”
Hargitay did not like that explanation, responding,
“‘Hold on. You’re telling me that I acted it better than anybody and I’m not getting it because I’m not that way in real life?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ And by the time I got home, they had called and offered me the role.”
This persistence is much more in line with Hargitay’s hard-nosed character, Olivia Benson, onLaw & Order: SVU, than it is her soft-spoken one onER, and it’s that exact energy that likely got her both parts, though for very different reasons.Both Olivia and Cynthia have a particular aptitude for handling high-stress environments, but Olivia is much more capable than the flighty Cynthia. But there are few characters on television with Olivia’s tenacity mixed with empathy, and the uniqueness and depth of her character is whyMariska Hargitayhas been able to play her for so long.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Cast
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is a television series that premiered in 1999. Set in the criminal justice system of New York City, it follows an elite team of detectives who investigate sexually-based offenses, focusing on their efforts to solve complex cases and seek justice for victims.
