Mariska Hargitay: I Auditioned for Monica on Friends — a Fortune-Teller Told Me to Give Up Comedy
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Mariska Hargitay, star of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, revealed on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast that she came close to being cast as Monica Geller on Friends.
Hargitay said she thinks she auditioned for the role that eventually went to Courteney Cox: “I auditioned for a lot of comedy roles. Seinfeld, Single Guy, and Friends — many times.”
She added, “I always thought I was going to end up as a sitcom actor and a comedian.” Instead, over the past 25 years she has played Olivia Benson on Law & Order, a detective who specializes in sex crimes — a role that made her the longest-running live-action character in U.S. primetime television history.
Hargitay told the podcast she was certain comedy was her future and even researched improvisation, but a fortune-teller once advised her to change course. “I was an aspiring actor in L.A. and I kept asking myself, ‘What should I do?’ I came to New York, saw theatre three times a year, and then I heard about this fortune-teller. Everyone said, ‘Oh my God Mariska, you’ve got to see this guy. He’s amazing…’ I went out to Long Island to see him and he said some astonishing things.”
She continued: “I listened seriously. He said, ‘Do you see that face? That face. I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘That’s what you’ll be famous for. You’ll go to New York and you’ll be famous for that face.’”
Despite the reading, Hargitay remained determined to pursue comedy: “I said, ‘No. I’ll stay in L.A. and become a comedian.’ Six months later — I swear to God — I got Law & Order.”
