Mariska Brings It Home!

Let's hear it for the girl!

Mariska Hargitay, by winning an Outstanding Actress award at last night's Emmys, has done the thus-far impossible: Proved a lead actor can win an award while working on a "Law & Order" show. In 16 years, with 3 shows, no one had done it before (all the other wins had been for guest stars).

And the only other lead actor to get a nomination was Michael Moriarty, in 1990.

We ran into Mariska and her darling husband (and occasional co-star) Peter Hermann at a pre-Emmy party, and they were just aglow and bubbling about their little new one, August. Mariska did not seem nervous in the least, just curious as to how this would pan out. The episode submitted for Mariska? The completely-excellent-until-the-final-"Die-Hard"-ending one, "911." Also hanging around was executive producer Ted Kotcheff, who was delightful to chat with and who has been in the business for half a century. That ought to be worth an award in its own right.

From an article about the win:

Mariska Hargitay, who won the Emmy for lead actress in a drama series, credited the continuous creative strength of the crime drama "Law & Order: SVU," which is going into its eighth season in the fall, for being recognized so late in the series' run. "It's crazy," she said. "Who wins on a police procedural?"

Hargitay's first thought when she heard her name as winner in the lead drama actress category? "That my dad would be very happy," she said, choking up. Hargitay paid tribute to her father, body-builder Mickey Hargitay, for encouraging her to "make dreams happen, make miracles happen."

So congrats to Mariska and of course to Chris Meloni, who didn't win but did get the nom at least, and congrats to "SVU" for breaking the actor curse!