Mariska Hargitay's Biological Father Is Still Performing in Las Vegas

It's nearly impossible to think of Mariska Hargitay as anyone other than the complex, empathetic character she has played for over 25 years. Olivia Benson's dedication to justice has earned her, and the actor who portrays her, a rabid fanbase that will follow Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to the ends of the Earth. She can even count Taylor Swift as a fan, just ask her cat: Olivia Benson.

Although Mariska is a nepo baby, she carries the semi-burden of that jeweled crown well. As the daughter of Jayne Mansfield, who was once nicknamed Hollywood's "smartest dumb blonde," it was a tough act to follow.

In turn, Jayne had her own issues to contend with, such as rumors about dating John F. Kennedy. Jayne was killed in a car accident in 1967, when Mariska was 3 years old.

She and her siblings were raised by their father, whom they thought was their biological dad. He wasn't. Here's what we know.

Unfortunately, Mariska was also in the car when a horrific accident took her mother away forever. She told Vanity Fair that she has no recollection of that night, as her unconscious body was pulled from beneath the passenger seat of the vehicle. "I look at photos, and I don’t really remember anything until I was 5," she revealed.

In a documentary about her mother's life titled My Mom Jayne, Mariska finally dives headfirst into the trauma she experienced being the daughter of a woman no one truly understood.

Much of their story is tied up in lineage, both aesthetically and genetically. Because of Jayne's bombshell persona, Mariska gravitated towards things that were more traditionally masculine, especially her father, Mickey Hargitay, a Hungarian-American actor and bodybuilder.

Mariskay told Vanity Fair that her father was "everything" and she idolized him, but always felt as if something wasn't right. Her parents divorced three years before Jayne's death, and during that time, she started dating Nelson Sardelli, though they ended things three months before the accident.

Years later, Mariska looked at a photo of Nelson and immediately knew he was her dad. "It was like the floor fell out from underneath me," she says in the documentary.

When Mariska was 30 years old, she finally worked up the courage to meet her biological father, this time as an adult. He was performing in Atlantic City, and when Mariska met with him, she recalled Nelson immediately bursting into tears. "I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment," he told her.

Despite reaching out to him, Mariska's response was cold, assuring Nelson that she wanted nothing from him. "There was something about loyalty," she said. "I wanted to be loyal to Mickey."

Adopting two children of her own helped Mariska understand that just because she wasn't Mickey's by blood, it didn't mean she wasn't his daughter.

Eventually, she was able to get both sides of her family involved in the documentary, including Nelson and his two other daughters, Mariska's half-sisters.

Nelson is still entertaining and as of October 2019, was performing in Las Vegas at the age of 85. Maybe Mariska gets that from her dad as she told Vanity Fair she wasn't done with Olivia Benson yet.