Mariska Hargitay’s Beautiful Hair Transformation

You will not be a fan of the “Legislation & Order” franchise, however you most likely know that actor Mariska Hargitay matches into it someplace. She’s performed the lead position of detective Olivia Benson on the “Particular Victims Unit” (“SVU”) spin-off since 1999. Amazingly, the award-winning collection has aired 26 seasons to this point, and Hargitay continues to increase her tenure because the longest-running character on tv. Not solely does she appear to be an ideal match for the position, however she’s additionally well-rewarded for it. Do you know she’s the highest-paid actor on TV?

Hopefully, most of us do not relate to the often-horrendous storylines that detective Benson has to confront, however we are able to relate extra to the lead character’s private life as a result of the writers and producers have included Hargitay’s precise backstory at factors, together with writing an harm into the present. Even her hairstyles have been a speaking level, as they’d be IRL. As Hargitay advised TV Insider in 2018, “Like several girl, Olivia is looking for the coiffure that matches her life. I stand behind all my hairdos, besides possibly three.” We might positively say that Hargitay’s hair transformation has been beautiful, however we’d even go as far as to name it legendary, just like the actor herself.

Mariska Hargitay was born in 1964 to Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, who sadly died in a automotive accident simply three years after giving beginning to Hargitay. Although she grew up in L.A., competed in magnificence pageants, and had bit components on TV reveals and flicks, it wasn’t till she was in her mid-30s that she landed a life-changing alternative. In 1999, on the age of 35, that each one modified when she was provided the lead position on “Legislation & Order: Particular Victims Unit.”

A pure brunette who’s all the time had a penchant for bangs, Hargitay started her flip as detective Olivia Benson with a bob in a wealthy, chocolate shade. We known as this vintage brunette one of our favorite hair colors in winter 2024 and stand by it. And whereas she had the wealthy espresso hue for her first three-and-a-half many years of life, it did not final lengthy as soon as she was a family identify.

In the summertime of 2000, Mariska Hargitay debuted a uneven pixie minimize, which suited the grittiness of her character’s world on “Legislation & Order.” In August 2001, she took the look to the following stage with a dye job. The messy, blond pixie was short-lived, nevertheless; by the autumn, she was veering into darker territory, demonstrating how to go from blond to brown hair seamlessly. The crop was extra subdued, as properly, with the star carrying it in sleeker kinds.

Though she did not share if this was the occasion, she advised TV Insider years later that one haircut nearly landed her jobless. “After one shoot, the hairdresser, who was French, wished to trim my hair,” she advised the outlet. “So he is ingesting wine and reducing, and after I appeared up from my journal, I simply went, ‘This isn’t good.’ [Show creator] Dick [Wolf] advised me he was going to fireside me.” Fortunately, the menace did not come to something, and it simply meant that Hargitay began her hair-growth journey.

Main kudos to Mariska Hargitay’s hairstylist for being a professional at styling pixie cuts for every occasion. Because the actor’s chop grew out, the “Legislation & Order” star demonstrated the way to put on brief hair in a wide range of methods, together with with quantity and a flower accent, which really appeared like an updo. She wore the have a look at the 2004 SAG awards and repeated it once more for that 12 months’s Emmys.

By 2006, she was carrying her hair to the shoulder. (Her being pregnant that 12 months would possibly’ve even assisted her hair development.) It additionally seems that that is when she began leaning into hair extensions, including further size to her tresses for pink carpet events. For the 2006 Emmys, the place she gained the very best actress award, Hargitay opted for a smooth, straight model and a protracted fringe. It was an attractive, youthful selection for the then-42 12 months outdated.

The subsequent dozen years proved once more that Mariska Hargitay is not afraid of selection on the subject of reworking her hairstyles. Whereas many longtime actors, like Jennifer Aniston and Blake Energetic, have relied on tried-and-true appears all through their careers, Hargitay has been extra open to experimentation. In 2007, she bid adieu to her lengthy size and went again to a brief coiffure, this time with a graduated bob. The look felt very of-the-moment, as Victoria Beckham had made it a significant pattern when she debuted the coiffure in 2006.

Olivia Benson additionally sampled numerous hair colours on this period. For the sixteenth season of “SVU,” which aired in 2014, her hair was a coloration near her pure brunette hue, however as a rule, she leaned into caramel highlights. It was additionally on this time interval that she started carrying her hair in beachy waves, a glance she continued to depend on for years to return.

When it got here to the 2020s, there was one constant aspect in Mariska Hargitay’s hair: size. Like many people who let their locks develop out within the COVID-19 period, Hargitay constantly stored her size longer than ever earlier than; she’s clearly having fun with lengthy tresses, which might be courtesy of hair extensions.

Hargitay, who turned 61 firstly of 2025, is without doubt one of the many ladies in Hollywood who’re embracing lengthy lengths of their sixth and seventh many years of life. She joins Demi Moore (62), Angela Bassett (66), Andie MacDowell (67), Julianne Moore (64), Cher (79), and Sarah Jessica Parker (60), who’re all exhibiting how attractive lengthy, wholesome hair can look on mature ladies. As Hollywood’s highest-paid TV actor proves, the mandate that girls want to cut their hair as they age is as outdated because the notion that males ought to earn larger paychecks.