She may be best known for her role as Olivia Benson on , but is so much more than that character. In fact, the 55-year-old beauty is a wife, a mom of three and an extremely impassioned activist!
For , Mariska has learned to perfectly balance her career and family. But even though she makes it look easier than ever, the alum told she is actually still learning to juggle all her responsibilities. “I look at my life now and think, I’m on a TV show, I run a foundation, I run a household, I’m a mom, I’m a wife, I’m a lot of things. I’m learning to be present with where I am,” she . “The truth is we have to live the journey, right? That’s what I’ve learned.”
Scroll through the gallery below to check out five fun facts you might not know about Mariska!
Closer Weekly
Mariska was in the car when her movie-star mom, , died in a crash at 34 in 1967. But she prefers to remember Jayne the way she lived, not the way she died. “My mother was this amazing, beautiful, glamorous sex symbol,” she told in March 2018. “But people didn’t know that she played the violin and had a 160 IQ and had five kids and loved dogs.”
She first encountered , 52, when he guest starred on NBC’s long-running sex-crimes drama in 2002. “We instantly clicked,” Mariska, who attended a church service with Peter on their first date, once shared. “I knew right away that he was the one.
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“Our family is so perfect, or at least perfect for me,” Mariska of Peter and their kids: August, 13; Amaya, 8; and Andrew, 7. “Together we’re just this whole, happy, joyful, chaotic, crazy unit. I’ve never known anything that was more right.”
As it kicks off its 21st season this fall 2019, SVU will surpass as the drama series with the greatest longevity ever. “I’m deeply proud to be a part of this groundbreaking show,” she . “And humbled to make television history.”
In 2004, Mariska founded the Joyful Heart Foundation. “Our mission is to transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, and end this violence forever,” she once explained. “We are paving the way for innovative approaches to treating trauma.”
Mariska is so amazing!
