Mariska Hargitay Reveals She Auditioned for Friends

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The one where Mariska Hargitay almost missed her calling. 

Mariska Hargitay, known for her role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, recently talked about wanting to be a comedic actress and a specific role she hoped would launch her career.

During a recent conversation with Amy Poehler on the Good Hang podcast, the 60-year-old actor revealed he appeared on Seinfeld and The Single Guy. He also auditioned for Friends multiple times, believing he was up for the role of Monica.

Courteney Cox was ultimately cast as Monica Geller and starred in the show for ten seasons alongside Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for Mariska when she pursued a comedic path.

She always imagined a career in comedy, maybe on a sitcom. It’s ironic, she says, because she found herself as a struggling actor in Los Angeles. After finishing her run on ER, she felt lost and wondered what her next step would be. While she enjoyed ER, she had a deal with DreamWorks to develop a new show – a dramedy similar in tone to Ally McBeal.

She explained that she decided she wanted to pursue acting, but specifically comedy, because she believed that was where her talents lay.

Mariska Hargitay’s iconic role as Olivia Benson, often called “America’s sweetheart sex cop,” actually came about in a rather unexpected way, starting back in 1999.

Mariska shared that she often visited New York – about three times a year – to see plays. During one of those trips, she decided to see a psychic after hearing rave reviews. People kept telling her how incredible he was, so she drove out to Long Island to meet him. When she did, he started telling her surprisingly accurate things about her life.

He told me, ‘That expression on your face – that scowl you’re making right now? You’re going to become well-known for it.’ He predicted I’d move to New York and that my intense look would make me famous.

Though Mariska was reluctant to accept the news at the time, the psychic wasn’t joking.

She recounted a strange encounter where someone told her, ‘I don’t care what you say, you’re going to be known for that face.’ Remarkably, just six months later, she landed a role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She joked that she started playfully mimicking the face and wondering where the person who made that prediction had been that week.

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2025-10-22 16:18