Mariska Hargitay Says She Knew These Two Law & Order Guest Actors Would Become Huge Stars

This article contains discussions of sexual assault and child abuse.

Mariska Hargitay has been starring on the massively popular spin-off series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” since 1999 as Olivia Benson, a detective at the titular Special Victims Unit in New York City who eventually becomes the entire squad’s captain. This is to say that, after well over two decades starring on a network series that hosts a ton of guest stars, Hargitay has gained a good eye for talent. “Special Victims Unit” has famously played host to some of Hollywood’s brightest stars over the years, including but not limited to Cynthia Nixon, Carol Burnett, Robin Williams, Martin Short, and Amanda Seyfried. Really, the show is a “who’s who” of performers; hilariously, future “Hamilton” stars Daveed Diggs and Leslie Odom Jr. showed up in the same Season 17 episode before Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical became a sensation and earned both of them Tony awards. According to Hargitay herself, two guest actors who appeared on NBC’s procedural series way before they gained fame and acclaim really, really impressed her.

Hargitay appeared on Amy Poehler’s podcast “Good Hang” and revealed that when she worked with both Abigail Breslin and Meghann Fahy early in their respective careers, they absolutely astonished her; as she put it, they were “two people that I went, ‘Holy God.'” If you’re at all familiar with Breslin or Fahy, this probably isn’t an enormous surprise; both of these actresses are enjoying excellent careers and have been nominated for major awards since they played admittedly major roles in their respective “Special Victims Unit” episodes. So who did these talented actresses portray on the series, what did Hargitay have to say about them, and what have they been doing since?

In the September 2004 “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” episode “Birthright,” which also happens to be the Season 6 premiere, Abigail Breslin has a major role as a young girl named Patty Branson, who’s nearly abducted by a stranger in Central Park. As Olivia Benson and her then-partner Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) try to figure out why Patty was apparently targeted at the behest of her frightened parents Sarah and Matt Branson (Camilla Scott and Beau Gravitte), they discover that a woman named Michelle Osborne (Lea Thompson) is behind the attempted kidnapping, because she believes that Patty is her biological daughter. (Michelle is actually right about this, but that’s a longer story). Breslin — who also had a stunning guest turn on “Grey’s Anatomy” just a few years later — really impressed Mariska Hargitay, apparently.

“She was so young on the show,” Hargitay recalled of Breslin’s professionalism and versatility at such a young age (she was only seven years old at the time of filming). “She kept doing this dance between takes, some kind of dance, and I started doing it with her,” she continued. “It was some kind of nursery rhyme schtick. I don’t know what it was, but I would just do it with her, and then they would say ‘Action,’ and I swear to God, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.” Then, according to Hargitay, Breslin would return to her silliness once cameras stopped rolling.

In 2006, Breslin led a talented ensemble cast in “Little Miss Sunshine,” which earned her an Oscar nomination at just 10 years old. Since then, you’ve probably seen Breslin in projects like “Zombieland,” “My Sister’s Keeper,” “Scream Queens,” and “Final Girl,” just to name a few.

As for Meghann Fahy, who played a majorly pivotal role in the Season 16 episode “Downloaded Child” in 2014, Mariska Hargitay said that she saw similar starpower in the actress — who didn’t get her big break on “The Bold Type” until 2017. “Another person that I called it, I remember saying it to her, is Meghann Fahy,” Hargitay mused. “When she did the show, I was like, ‘Let me tell you something. I’m just gonna tell you right now, you’re gonna be a big movie star. You’re gonna be a huge star.'”

In “Downloaded Child,” Fahy plays young single mother Jenny Aschler, who leaves her daughter Maddie (Ella Anderson) alone in their apartment for multiple days rather than trusting anyone else to take care of her. Held accountable for child endangerment, Jenny accuses her husband Gary of being violent, which turns out to be true … and there’s something much darker at play here. Eventually, Olivia and her squad discover that not only was Jenny sexually abused when she was younger, explicit images of Jenny as a child were distributed as child pornography to countless men.

“I don’t like use that word ‘star’ because what does that even mean?” Hargitay told Amy Poehler, praising Fahy. “But I just recognized her talent, light, and she was so sparkly, internally, like an internal sparkle… It’s so exciting to see them go on and go, ‘I called it. I called it!'” Hargitay was right; besides “The Bold Type,” Fahy gained fame and acclaim for her Emmy-nominated role on Season 2 of “The White Lotus” and went on to lead projects like “Drop,” “Sirens,” and “The Perfect Couple.”

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is streaming on Hulu and Peacock.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.