Characters

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  Detective Olivia Benson

  Mariska Hargitay

  Emmy Award winner Mariska Hargitay stars as Olivia Benson, a committed and emotionally driven detective. The role has earned Hargitay seven consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Actress in a Drama, with a win in 2006. She also received the 2005 Golden Globe Award and Golden Globe nomination in 2009 and five SAG Award nominations. Inspired by her role on Law & Order: SVU, Hargitay created the Joyful Heart Foundation, whose mission is to heal, educate, and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness surrounding these issues. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Hargitay is the youngest daughter of screen legend Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay. Hargitay is married to actor Peter Hermann, who most recently appeared in Edge of Darkness and has a recurring role on SVU as attorney Trevor Langan. The couple has one son.

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  Detective Elliot Stabler

  Christopher Meloni

  Christopher Meloni stars as Elliot Stabler, a dedicated detective with a 97 percent closure rate but his dedication can often turn to obsession and cause him to take cases personally. Meloni was nominated for his first Emmy Award during his eighth season as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Meloni's recent film credits include, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, a drama starring Julianne Nicholson, Timothy Hutton, Bobby Cannavale and directed by John Krasinski, which was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and Paramount's apocalyptic thriller Carriers, in which he stars with Chris Pine and Piper Perabo. He is a native of Washington, D.C. and lives in New York with his wife and children.

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  John Munch

  Richard Belzer

  Richard Belzer has portrayed Detective Munch for 18-years on a  record-setting 10 different television series: Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Lawand Order: Trial By Jury, Homicide, The X-Files, The Beat, M.O.N.Y., Sesame Street, The Wire and Arrested Development. The veteran standup comic, actor and author was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Due to his uncontrollable wit, Belzer was thrown out of every school he ever attended. Prior to his career in showbiz, Belzer worked as a teacher, census-taker, jewelry salesman, dockworker and a reporter for the Bridgeport Post.

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  Odafin ‘Fin’ Tutuola

  Ice-T

  Ice-T stars as Odafin ‘Fin’ Tutuola, a former US Army and undercover narcotics detective, Fin initially had a rocky relationship with his colleagues in SVU, especially his partner John Munch and Olivia Benson. He sees the world in black and white, with all criminals equally deserving of prison regardless of extenuating circumstances. Ice-T not only invented gangster rap, he has lived it. Ice-T is the original embodiment of LA Hip-Hop. Through his music and his lecture tours of America's prisons, high schools, libraries and colleges (including Harvard, Berkeley, and Stanford), Ice-T has become an influential spokesman for America's youth, regardless of color. Born in New Jersey, Ice-T learned the art of survival pretty fast. As an only child whose parents died when he was very young, Ice-T became involved in Los Angeles gangs before spending four years in the army.