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Mariska Hargitay Says She Tested for Friends Repeatedly and Credits a Psychic With Steering Her to SVU

On Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, she describes a psychic reading she believes foretold her SVU break.

Overview

  • Sharing first-person recollections, Hargitay said she auditioned and screen-tested many times for Friends, likely for the role of Monica Geller.
  • She emphasized that comedy was her original goal, citing early credits including Seinfeld, The Single Guy, and the 1995 sitcom Can't Hurry Love after training with the Groundlings.
  • Hargitay recounted a Long Island psychic telling her she would be “famous for that face” in New York, and said she landed Law & Order: SVU about six months later.
  • She highlighted her eye for emerging talent, naming former SVU guest actors Abigail Breslin and Meghann Fahy as performers she predicted would become major stars.
  • A light moment from the taping featured Christopher Meloni prank-calling Hargitay, with the longtime co-stars joking on air before her in-studio interview.