Mariska Hargitay is getting honest about her family roots.
The 61-year-old actress-turned-director revealed the identity of her biological father in her documentary My Mom Jayne, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this Saturday.
The documentary revealed that the man who raised her, Mickey Hargitay, was not her biological father but rather a former Las Vegas entertainer named Nelson Sardelli.
Mariska revealed that she first learned of Sardelli when she was 25. She brought up the matter with Mickey, the only father she’d ever known but he insisted he was her father, at which the two never spoke of it again.
Mariska found herself wondering about her true ethnicity—if she was Hungarian like her father and her brothers, Zoltan and Mickey Jr., or if she was really Italian like Sardelli.
The Law & Order: SVU actress later addressed the matter in a Vanity Fair interview, revealing that she went to see Sardelli perform in Atlantic City, New Jersey when she was 30 years old.
“I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment,” she described his emotional reaction upon the introduction.
But Mariska ended up giving him a tough time and going “full Olivia Benson on him,” referring to her SVU character.
“I was like, ‘I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything from you.… I have a dad, ‘” she recalled telling him, explaining, “There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.”
She told Vanity Fair that the meeting with Sardelli left her grappling with the feeling that she’s been “living a lie my entire life,” only to realise that Mickey had been the actual father figure for her.
“I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,” she said. “I’m Mickey Hargitay’s daughter — that is not a lie.”
“This documentary is kind of a love letter to him, because there’s no one that I was closer to on this planet,” she noted, reflecting on her mother’s return to Mickey as she knew he would love and provide a stable home life for Mariska.
Sardelli, who is still alive and now in his late eighties, participates in the documentary, as do his other two daughters—Mariska’s half sisters.
In the film, Mariska explains that, at 61 years old, keeping this a secret was no longer necessary. The film’s premiere screening received a five-minute standing ovation at Cannes.
