NEED TO KNOW
-
Mariska Hargitay is officially a Broadway actress, making her debut in the play «Every Brilliant Thing» will take place on May 26.
-
A week later, the star celebrated the momentous occasion at the Hudson Theatre with family and friends, where she spoke about the impact the role had on her.
-
Hargitay will be on the show until July 5.
In her new role, Mariska Hargitay carries an important message.
At a gala event celebrating her Broadway debut in the musical "Every Brilliant Thing"« On Tuesday, June 2, 62-year-old Hargitay told PEOPLE what she's learned from working on the show: how to find the "shiny" things in life, no matter what. "It's a lesson I'm constantly learning, and I think it's getting deeper and deeper, and that's a lesson in empathy and compassion. We never know what someone else is going through, so we can never judge them," she says.
The actress adds: "We accept, we love, we love deeper, we love stronger, we love more completely, and that is the greatest gift, the greatest thing we can learn as humans.".
Mariska Hargitay makes her Broadway debut at the Hudson Theatre on June 2, 2026. Photo: Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Exploring these themes is nothing new for the actress and director, who in a recent interview with PEOPLE magazine revealed that she "identifies a lot with this character." She explained, "This is a play about healing, about the stories I love to tell.".
Behind the scenes, Hargitay has played Olivia Benson on the show for nearly three decades. «Law & Order: Special Victims Unit» . Last year she made her directorial debut with a documentary film «"My Mom Jane"» about the life and tragic death of her mother, Jayne Mansfield, in 1967, and the grief and trauma Hargitay has experienced in the intervening years.
«"There are similarities between my film and this play. The plots are different, but the experience is the same," she said of both projects.
Following her official Broadway debut on May 26, where she takes over the role previously played by Daniel Radcliffe, Hargitay feels "excited to share [the show] with people.".
Mariska Hargitay photographed at Corner Studio in New York City on May 11, 2026. Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews.
«It’s not about me, it’s about sharing this play and how lucky I am that audiences can hear these beautiful words and this extraordinary story told in all its complexity,» she says now.
And while Hargitay is no stranger to the spotlight—she leads series "« Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been around for 27 seasons and counting - Broadway is a whole different ballgame. "It's nothing like «Law and Order: "Special Victims Unit is like nothing I've ever done," she says. "The idea that my longest take was several minutes, even five minutes, is a long take, but the idea of doing an hour and 21 minutes without a break in front of 1,000 people—it's just incredible!"»
Mariska Hargitay plays the lead role in the play «Every Brilliant Thing» at the Hudson Theatre until July 5.
Read the original article on People.