Mariska Hargitay helped a lost child, who mistook her for a real-life police officer, locate her mother during filming for SVU.
The 60-year-old actress - who is the daughter of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield - had a breakthrough in Hollywood after she was cast to portray Detective Olivia Benson in NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 1999.
Hargitay’s portrayal of Benson landed her six Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, winning in the category in 2006.
Last month, the police procedural crime drama was renewed for a 26th season, making it the longest-running primetime live-action series in TV history.
The award-winning actress was spotted filming one of the final episodes of the TV show on Wednesday (April 10), when she was approached by a little girl.
According to PEOPLE, the child thought Hargitay was a real police officer based on the badge she wore as part of her character’s outfit, and told her that she lost her mother in the Anne Loftus Playground in Fort Tryon Park, New York City.
The young girl asked the actress for help, to which she obliged and paused production for 20 minutes to assist the child - who was completely oblivious to the film crew.
Footage of the sweet moment was shared on social media and showed Hargitay walking around the park while holding the little girl.
Many people shared their reactions to the heartfelt moment as one user wrote: "Awe Mariska so sweet using motherly instinct to help the little girl."
Another user interjected: "And this is why we love Olivia Benson, aka Mariska Hargitay, so much!" while a third added: "#MariskaHargitay being the amazing woman she is."
The actress is a mother of three, sharing two biological sons and one adopted daughter with her husband, Peter Hermann.
Ahead of the premiere of the series' 25th season in January, Hargitay opened up about portraying the longest-running character on a prime-time drama series.
"We’ve been on a parallel journey," she told PEOPLE. "There’s a thing: WWOBD, 'What would Olivia Benson do?' The fans would always talk about it, and one day it hit me. I also have those moments where I’ve sort of slipped into her. If there’s a crisis, I just take over and lead like that. Being strong and fearless. It’s sort of this perfect feminist story."
While some stars sometimes seem to move onto new projects, Hargitay is completely satisfied to stay where she is. "I have two diametrically opposed answers. One is: I can’t believe it’s been 25 years, a quarter of a century! And the other is, I can’t see it any other way," she explained.
"I can’t imagine the show ending, and can’t imagine not going on this journey with my cast, my crew," she continued. "I have so much to look forward to. And I’m still growing. I like that you can be so many things at one time. It’s learning to give yourself permission to be all of yourself."
New episodes of Law & Order: SVU air on Thursdays at 9PM ET on NBC.
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