Mariska Hargitay, in accepting her Anniversary Tribute honor at Tuesday’s inaugural Gotham TV Awards, targeted on the distinctive mission of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
The star has appeared in 550 episodes over 25 seasons of the collection (greater than another scripted TV actor), however she appeared to take nothing without any consideration onstage.
“The biggest thing for me to take in right now is that I get to work every day on a show that makes people feel less alone,” she stated in a heartfelt speech on the gala held at New York’s Cipriani 25 Broadway. “That’s one of the most devastating effects on sexual assault and domestic violence is the isolation. Perpetrators depend on actual, literal isolation to commit their crimes and to leave victims with the trauma of deep, psychological isolation.”
Hargitay has appeared for 25 years as Olivia Benson on the present, for 550 episodes, a report for a scripted TV present. “That is a high bar, people!” she quipped. “After 20, you’re like, ‘Twenty years?! Who gives a s–t? Law & Order did that. Gunsmoke did that. Call us when you get to 25.’ Well, here I am, baby!”
While there have been just a few high-spirited asides, Hargitay largely centered her feedback on the core function of the Dick Wolf-produced drama. “I cannot tell you how gratifying it is, how important it is, that Law & Order: SVU, the longest-running scripted drama in television history, is a show that tells women’s stories,” she stated. “It’s a show that tells survivors stories. It tells the stories of survivors all along the spectrum of gender identity.”
Of her character, Hargitay stated, “I love that she’s equal parts outrage and compassion and strength and vulnerability.”
Returning to the subject of the survivors foregrounded by the present, Hargitay stated its “answer to the survivors is the exact opposite” of isolation. “You matter. Your story matters. And we’re going to tell it.” the present’s purpose is “moving these diff topics out of the darkness and into the light and into conversation and to place where we can make it a place where people can heal.”
NBC renewed SVU for a twenty sixth season final March. Hargitay obtained a lot of tributes after hitting the quarter-century mark, together with having Rockefeller Plaza temporarily renamed Olivia Benson Plaza.