Facts about Mariska Hargitay

"When you see a girl like me bustin' perps, there ain't no time to be pretty"

"When my body is strong, I feel stronger inside. I feel more capable of handling emotional situations. Usually I'm more of a inside-out person, but this was a great case of me from the outside in"

"Yes. I did more research than I ever wanted to and saw some things I wish I didn't. I went on ride-alongs, spent time with Homicide, Cold Case, and SVU detectives, hung out in subways learning how to spot pervs and pick-pockets, viewed an autopsy, went to a police firing range, and witnessed court cases and I read, read, read"

"When I was in my early 20s, I had my hair permed. Bad idea! It turned into total frizz. My advice to women is, if you have nice hair already, don't get a perm, leave your hair alone!"

"If I eat clean, I look 10 years younger"

"I think people were expecting me to be that kind of glamorous sexpot. So they were always, Wow you're not what I expected"

"As an actress, there were so many months, years even, when I didn't get work, when I wanted to quit"

"It's a life's journey of finding ourselves, finding our power, and living for yourself, not for everyone else"

"I'm an L.A. girl who became a tough New York cop"

"I have so much love that I didn't even know about"

"When I read the script sometimes, it's like 'Christ! Enough!' I can't sleep at night sometimes. There's the occasional script that just hammers you, that you can't shower off"

"I am proud to be a role model for my viewers. I am finding out that helping victims is as or more rewarding the all the awards I wins"

"I'm living every ten-year-old boy's fantasy. The other day, Chris and I had this big scene where we had to pull out our guns, and I was thinking, 'Here we are in New York City - a place where every actor wants to be - and we are literally playing cops and robbers. How great is that?'"

"I want to be a fun mom. Not a gasping for air mom"

"Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: Deliciusness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good"

"You know how you wake up in the morning and sometimes you look gorgeous and other times you look like you got hit by a mack truck? I realized that my mack truck is food. If I have no sugar, yeast or wine, I have no undereye bags and my skin is perfect"

"You make sacrifices to become a mother, but you really find yourself and your soul"