TV & Movies
Mariska Hargitay Auditioned To Play This Friends Character
Before she was Olivia Benson, she was almost part of the iconic sitcom.

We almost had a world where Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was without Mariska Hargitay. Sitting down with Amy Poehler on her “Good Hang” podcast, the beloved drama series actress revealed that she actually auditioned to play Monica Geller for the iconic '90s sitcom Friends.
“I tested for Friends so many times,” Hargitay said, explaining that she “always thought that I would end up being on a sitcom or doing comedy.”
The role of Monica Geller, of course, went to Courteney Cox, who quickly became a household name for her portrayal. In a 2012 Vanity Fair interview, Friends co-creator David Crane said they were imagining Monica to be “darker and edgier and snarkier” before Cox “brought a whole bunch of other colors to it.”
Hargitay has played the leading role of Captain Olivia Benson on Law & Order since 1999 — the longest-running character in live-action primetime TV history — but on “Good Hang,” she revealed that before she landed the role, she was living in Los Angeles and trying to become a comedian. She recalled doing mostly comedy auditions, including for Seinfeld, Single Guy, and Friends. Even when dramatic roles came her way, she wasn’t so sure.
“I was like, I want to do drama, but it has to be funny because that’s what I felt like my gifts were,” she said. “[I would tell people], ‘I’m going to be a comedian because I’m funny and I’m pretty.’”
An Eerie Prediction
She also recounted going to a psychic when she was struggling to make it, and he gave her an eerily accurate prediction of her career.
“I was listening to him really intently, and he said to me, ‘You see that face you're doing right now? You see that face?’” she said. “He goes, ‘You're going to be famous for that face. You're moving to New York, and you're going to be famous for that face.’”
She wasn’t sure if she believed it, but “six months later — swear to God, on my children — I got SVU.”
It all worked out in the end, but Hargitay still can’t believe how it all happened. “How did I end up as America’s sweetheart sex cop?” she laughed, telling Poehler, “I should have been you! I wanted to be you!”