Chris Noth Once Told Mariska Hargitay to Turn Down ‘Law & Order SVU’
Law & Order SVU ended up giving Mariska Hargitay a stable career that’s lasted for decades. But if she listened to this former Law & Order actor, her life would’ve gone down a different path.
Chris Noth admittedly gave Mariska Hargitay bad career advice
Law & Order SVU managed to give a much-needed boost to Hargitay’s career. The actor was having a difficult time finding secure work as an actor, and had to get by working a regular job. But Hargitay’s father taught her to never give up from an early age, which would serve her career in the future.
“I could have quit a million times, but my dad drilled into me that our family doesn’t quit,” she once told Parade. “So if you don’t get it, it means you’re not ready and you have to get up and try again. There’s really something to be said for perseverance and not throwing in the towel.”
Things looked up for the actor in her 30s, and she found herself being offered a spot in Dick Wolf’s expanding Law & Order franchise.
“I was like ‘This is it,’” she recalled. “My manager was worried because it was very dark and not up my alley, because I liked comedy. And I was like, ‘This is right up my alley.’ Never in my life had something been more known to me.”
However, Law and Order veteran Chris Noth felt Hargitay might be making a mistake doing the series. Wolf would have Noth meet some of his cast members and Hargitay to celebrate wrapping up the Law & Order movie Exiled.
“He had us go to a baseball game, and he invited Mariska and was gonna offer her this part on Special Victims,” Noth once told Good Morning America (via Daily News). “I remember being on the subway going in and she goes, ‘I don’t know whether to do this. What’s Law & Order?’ And I was like, ‘Don’t do it.’”
North would suggest for Hargitay to do regional theater instead. Fortunately, Hargitay didn’t listen to his advice, which even Noth believed was the way to go.
“I shouldn’t give advice,” Noth said. “Ever.”
Chris Noth claimed he initially left ‘Law & Order’ due to his character growing stale
Noth was a part of Law & Order’s original run, starring in the series as detective Mike Logan from the show’s beginning to 1995. But Noth’s character was later written off the show and transferred to another department to work for. According to Take2MarkTV, Noth stated that he left the series to pursue other challenges as an actor.
“I don’t think that’s good for an actor, that’s the way I was feeling. I mean, most actors, myself included, you feel lucky to have a job and have some security. But actually, too much security and too much of one job may not be good for you,” he said.
Noth also expressed disappointment with how Wolf approached his departure. He wanted himself and Wolf to tell audience about the exit together, but Wolf released his own statement announcing Noth had to be replaced. This rubbed Noth the wrong way, but the two were eventually able to reconcile.
It’s worth noting, however, that Wolf claimed the actor left the show simply because of a pay dispute. He wanted a salary that Wolf didn’t think was feasible to pay him at the time. As a result, Noth’s management team told Wolf that the actor would be leaving the series.
“He’s [Noth] really sorry that they couldn’t get it together, but he’s had five great years, and his feeling is that it’s time to move on,” Noth told Wolf through his team according to Express.
Noth would reprise his role for the Law & Order movie Exile. He’d then star in the spin-off Criminal Intent for a brief period before seemingly leaving the franchise behind for good.
