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Mariska Hargitay became a television icon by playing Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU since 1999. The gritty performance on the police procedural even earned her a 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Actress. Before hitting it big with the beloved series, Mariska worked her way up the Tinseltown ladder with small roles in horror movies and a few recurring ones on shows like Falcon Crest and Downtown.

Mariska’s Hollywood roots, however, don’t stop there, as she is the daughter of famous folks. Her mother, Jayne Mansfield, was one of the first blonde bombshells to take over the big screen, while her father, Mickey Hargitay, parlayed his fame as a former Mr. Universe into a successful acting career. The couple had married in 1958 and welcomed three children: sons Miklós and Zoltán, and daughter Mariska. In 1963, they divorced and quickly reconciled, only to officially split a year later. In May 2025, Mariska revealed that Mickey wasn’t her biological father. It turns out that during her parents’ split, Jayne had a brief affair with singer and comedian Nelson Sardelli, and he is Mariska’s biological father, the actress told Vanity Fair.

Learn more about Mariska’s parents below.

Mickey Hargitay

Born in Hungary in January 1926, Mickey began performing in an acrobatic act with his four brothers at a young age, eventually taking the act to the largest opera house in Budapest, according to NBC. He eventually made his way to America and settled down in Cleveland, Ohio where his bodybuilding dreams began to take shape. “Mickey trained hard throughout the ’50s, winning several local “body beautiful” competitions,” per the outlet. By 1955, Mickey was ready to take the title of Mr. Universe.

The bodybuilder’s championship inspired a generation to take up the sport. “Bodybuilding was dominated by American champions; there was no hope for anyone else,” Arnold Schwarzenegger told the L.A. Times. “That someone from central Europe became Mr. Universe gave hope for someone like myself and others to dream about.”

“Back in those days, bodybuilding was thought of as a freakish, unusual activity that wasn’t popular with the general public,” Gene Mozee, a bodybuilding historian, told the outlet. “At that time, athletic coaches discouraged lifting weights, thinking you’d become muscle bound. And along came Mickey Hargitay, a great all-around athlete.”

Mickey then found work as a muscleman in Mae West’s nightclub act, the Mae West Revue, in 1956. According to the L.A. Times, Jayne caught the act in a New York club and when she was asked what she would like that evening, she reportedly responded: “I’ll have a steak and the man on the left!”  Mickey and Jayne would marry two years later.

The couple would go on to work together in films like The Loves of Hercules, Promises! Promises! and Primitive Love.  “I enjoyed my career,” Mickey once said, per the outlet. “I never wanted to be any more than what I was, and I had fun doing it.” He died at the age of 80 on September 14, 2006, from multiple myeloma.

“I’ll take inspiration and information from wherever I can get it, whether that’s from my character, from my husband, or from my dad, who always said, ‘Mariska, you can learn from anyone and everyone,’” Mariska told Good Housekeeping in 2012. The actress also has half-sister, Tina, from her dad’s relationship with Mary Birge.

Jayne Mansfield

Jayne was a mid-western girl born in Pennsylvania on April 19, 1933. After finding fame with Playboy photo shoots, Jayne soon became a sex symbol on the big screen as well with films like The Girl Can’t Help It (1956), The Wayward Bus (1957) and Too Hot to Handle (1960).

As for the incredible fame that followed and fans clamoring to know more about her, Jayne appeared grounded about all of it. In a 1960 interview, Jayne explained, “I feel like a star owes it to her public to bring the public into her life because the fans feel like they own you and if you kept your life a complete secret it wouldn’t be fair to them. But my private life, and when I say private life I mean my private life, will always be private.”

Her romance with Mickey appeared to be an on-again/off-again one. In 1963, Jayne attended a five-minute divorce hearing with Mickey in a Mexico court, per the LA Times. The divorce was ruled invalid in California. After a brief reconciliation and a subsequent split, Jayne sued for the Mexican divorce to be recognized, winning in 1964.

In 1967, Jayne was killed in a car crash along with her boyfriend and their driver. Mariska and her brothers were also in the car at the time but survived. Mariska was just 3 years old at the time, and Jayne was 34.

Nelson Sardelli

Mariska revealed in May 2025 that Nelson is her biological father, though she insisted that she is still Mickey’s daughter since he raised her. The actress delves into her upbringing and her parents in the 2025 documentary My Mom Jayne. 

Nelson was born in Brazil on September 30, 1934, and he is of Italian descent. He worked as a performer in Las Vegas, and he reportedly still lives there. Nelson is also a father to two other daughters — Mariska’s half-sisters — who participated in her HBO documentary.