Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay's First-Ever SVU Photo Is Emotional to See
Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay are forever friendship goals.
Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay have come a long way.
It's difficult for any fan to imagine Law & Order: Special Victims Unit without either star, and looking back at a few cast photos from Season 1 brings up so many emotions. Meloni's Elliot Stabler and Hargitay's Olivia Benson have gone through so much throughout the series' epic two-and-a-half decade run — and it all started when they were relatively unknown actors.
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Talk about a throwback — this first photo, showing the duo alongside Dann Florek and the late Richard Belzer, shows just how iconic the original cast was. Nobody knew if a Law & Order spinoff revolving around an elite task force investigating sexually-oriented crimes in New York City would take off — but thanks to a cast like this, it quickly became a hit.
The second photo, featuring Meloni, Hargitay, and Florek, evokes similar emotions. It even looks like a young Meloni is in the early stages of perfecting his patented "Stabler Stare," a move he eventually passed on to his son.
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In a vintage Entertainment Tonight interview, Meloni recalled his and Hargitay's final screen test together — and how their natural chemistry made the process anything but stressful.
"We walked into the final screen test laughing," he recalled. "Most people go in [and nervously say], 'Hi, how are you?' All the executives are there. [You nervously say], 'We're now going to do one of the scenes. Are you ready? Are you connected?' She and I were [hysterically laughing]."
Hargitay was well aware of their instant bond from the beginning, as well.
"I knew quickly that we had this kind of magical chemistry," Hargitay told TODAY in 2025. "Chris and I are polar opposites in terms of who we are as people. And yet, there was this yin-yang. So when they paired us, I was like, 'Oh, this is done.'"
Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay open up about their real-life friendship
The pair's chemistry doesn't exist only in the confines of SVU. Meloni and Hargitay have a real-life friendship that is beautiful.
"I'm just so grateful for the relationship and for the friendship," Hargitay said to NBC Insider in 2024. "It's sacred on and off the screen, so it's a beautiful, beautiful friendship."
During his 2021 speech honoring Hargitay at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards, Meloni proudly told the world how he feels about his talented co-star and friend.
"She's fearless, without the bravado of the warrior stance, but always with the open arms, the open heart," he declared. "She's a connector of people because she knows we're all better when we're working together. She is as comfortable in the sacred as she is in the profane; she is a soul in the constant search of the beauty and the truth that she knows that this world holds, but she also knows that it requires vigilance, persistence, and insistence to pry magic from the oftentimes mundane reality. Her first instance is to always react with compassion and empathy. She sees hope in the hopeless; she sees the potential in the you, and me, and us."
