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Mariska Hargitay has seen her share of ugly cases, playing the role of Olivia Benson inLaw & Order: SVU. She didn’t just deal with heinous crimes portrayed on the screen, but also some weird requests from potential guest stars for the show. She revealed that many famous actors, who wanted a role in the series, wanted to play a dead body.
During her time on the show, Hargitay got to work with some very popular names like Robin Williams, Bradley Cooper, Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Short, John Stamos, Amanda Seyfried, Ellen Burstyn, and more. However, many of the said names took on far more serious roles instead of playing a dead body.
Mariska Hargitay reveals the most unusual request from famous people to act inLaw & Order: SVU
Mariska Hargitayis one of the biggest stars on TV, thanks to her role as the champion of s*xual assault and abuse victims inLaw & Order: SVU. Detective-turned-Captain Olivia Benson has some pretty big celebrity fans including Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. Hargitay has a bigger role in the series as one of its executive producers.
Appearing onLate Night with Seth Meyersin October, she revealed that she often met A-listers who wanted to play a guest role in her long-running show. However, she shared that these celebrities were only asking to be cast in a particular role—a dead body.
‘I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I can’t talk’: Mariska Hargitay Made Keke Palmer Catch Real Feelings on ‘Law & Order’ That She Will Never Forget
Hargitay found this request very weird, as she told Seth Meyers,“All the famous people, you know what they want? To be a dead body. It’s so weird.”She shared one recent story in particular where she got to meet one of the big supermodels, who she wouldn’t name on the show. The supermodel too wanted toplay a dead body, despite being offered a meatier role in the series. Hargitay shared about the encounter:
I found out that she loved my show. So I said, ‘Oh my gosh,’ I went to the writers, I said, ‘Can she be on the show?’ And she said she wanted to be a dead body, but then I said, ‘No, no, we have this great part for you.’ I call her back, I said, ‘Listen we got it. We’re gonna get you on the show.’ She goes, ‘Oh no, I wanna be a dead body.’
While the celebrities love playing the dead, Hargitay has seen enough on-screen brutality to inflict alifetime of secondary trauma on herself. She once told Selena Gomez during a conversation forInterview Magazine:
There’s been times when I didn’t know how to protect myself, and I think I was definitely a victim of secondary trauma from being inundated with these stories and knowing that they were true. Those were the parts that I didn’t know how to metabolize, just because of the sheer volume of it.
In the fifth year of joining the series, Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation to help victims of s*xual assault and domestic violence. Hargitay realized that the role wasn’t just about telling the stories of survivors on screen, it was also a big responsibility.
Even Seth Meyers admitted that he once wanted to play a dead body inLaw & Order: SVU
When Mariska Hargitay revealed her experience with the unusual celebrity requests,Seth Meyershad to admit that he once had the same request forLaw & Orderwriters. He shared that he met them during the 2007-2008 writers strike and asked them whether he could play a dead body. He shared on his show:
I wanted to be a dead body. During the 2007-2008 writers strike, I met all these Law & Order writers, and I was like, ‘I wanna do a cameo, but I just wanna be a dead body.’ And they were like, ‘Oh my God, we’d love to have you on the show.’ But I was like, ‘OK, but I’m a dead person.’
“It was a painful episode to shoot”: Mariska Hargitay Had to Film the Scariest ‘Law & Order’ Episode for a Reason That Made Her Throw up
Meyers revealed that he was offered a role, though unclear whether it was on the OGLaw & OrderorSVU. However, he turned it down because he didn’t want any lines. He shared,“I just wanna be a dead person in the park.”Other than the lack of dialogue, Meyers didn’t quite explain the appeal of playing a dead person.
Law & Order: SVUepisodes are now available for streaming on Peacock.
Hashim Asraff
Senior Writer
Articles Published :3018
Hashim Asraff is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, with over 2,800 articles published on celebrity culture, comic book movies, and major TV franchises. With a background in Sociology and a keen interest in pop culture, Hashim brings a unique lens to breaking news stories, character deep-dives, film rankings, and fan-driven perspectives.His coverage often includes the MCU, DCU, hit network shows, and celebrity profiles, giving readers a rich blend of entertainment and analysis. A longtime fan of crime and investigative series, Hashim has watched thousands of episodes of NCIS, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: SVU, Bones, Blue Bloods, and The RookieA passionate storyteller and wordsmith, Hashim has also worked as a ghostwriter and managed multiple social media handles. He brought his writing expertise to FandomWire to also pursue his lifelong love for cinema and television.
