The ‘Law & Order SVU’ Guest Star Who Wished Everyone Could See Mariska Hargitay Working
Law & Order SVU star Mariska Hargitay has worked with several actors over the years on the show. All of them have given high praise to Hargitay’s demeanor on set. Including one guest star who couldn’t get enough of her.
What Bradley Whitford thought about working with Mariska Hargtiay
Whitford is no stranger to television dramas. The actor might best be known for playing Josh Lyman in the critically acclaimed series The West Wing. But he’s also appeared in other popular projects over the years. One of those projects is Law & Order, which Whitford also isn’t a stranger to. He’s guest-starred in Dick Wolf’s long-running franchise three times so far.
His first appearance was in the original Law & Order as an attorney. In 2014, he appeared in the SVU episode “Reasonable Doubt” as Frank Maddox. And because the franchise loves reusing actors, he appeared in SVU again as an entirely different character in the episode “King of the Moon.”
“King of the Moon” was also one of the several SVU episodes that Hargitay directed. Speaking with People, Whitford couldn’t help but gush about Hargitay’s camaraderie when she was in both acting and directing mode.
“Everybody loves Mariska,” Whitford said. “And for a very good reason. She takes the work really seriously and just does not take herself seriously at all. I wish the fans of the show could see her working.”
Whitford couldn’t help but get into detail when talking about the warmth Hargitay brought with her when on set.
“Mariska is notorious for her ability to make people feel welcome and create an atmosphere where everybody can do their best. I know a number of actors, including my wife, who did guest shots on that show,” he said. “Mariska would pull them aside. She’s very loving, very supportive. She’s notorious for that — and, unfortunately, unique in that.”
Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T once talked about ‘Law & Order SVU’s’ most memorable guest stars
Hargitay spoke very highly of Whitford’s return to Law & Order. According to Forbes, she called working with Whitford “one of the greatest experiences of my career.” She asserted that Whitford’s performance only enhanced Hargitay’s own acting on the show. But Whitford wasn’t the only guest star that Hargitay had an unforgettable experience with. Over the years, she and Ice-T have worked with a roster of impressive actors.
“There’s been people that have blown my mind,” Hargitay once told Us Weekly. “There’s been Robin Williams, there was Jeremy Irons […] and then there were friends that I made that are friends for life who changed my life, like my husband.”
Hargitay was also a fan of Law & Order’s habit of rehiring former guest stars for different roles. It gave her the opportunity to work with those same co-stars again.
“We get to work with great people and go, ‘I want more of them,’” Hargitay explained to Entertainment Weekly. “Kelli [Giddish] was a guest star. Peter Scanavino was a guest star. So that’s really fun too,” she said.
But there were still other actors who Hargitay hoped would guest star on their show. She was excited about the idea of teaming up with the Succession cast, for instance. Meanwhile, her co-star Ice-T’s friends were also constantly badgering the actor for guest spots.
“All my friends call me! A lot of my friends in the music industry want to be on the show, [so] I put their name in the hat with our casting director, and if it comes, it comes,” Ice- T said. “But it’s always fun when you can do that, get somebody on the show that wants to be on the show.”
