Mariska Hargitay and Jamie Lee Curtis are opening up about their incredible lives and careers.
The stars took part in a conversation for Variety‘s Actors on Actors series, out now.
During their chat, the Law & Order: SVU actress and the Halloween icon spoke about their respective families and childhoods, as well as their recent reunion when Mariska was making her documentary My Mom Jayne. They also discussed their current projects, and Mariska doing her first play.
Check out the highlights inside…
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On their early history together:
Jamie Lee: Nobody knows this — you grew up in a pink house on Sunset Boulevard, which was once owned by Sonny and Cher and later purchased by Tony Curtis. He married this very young woman [she signals displeasure by raising her eyebrows]. He bought this house, and [you and I] met. There is a photograph of us standing in the driveway. We never saw each other after that. You ask yourself, “Why don’t we know each other when we have so much history with our families?”
Mariska: We were sisters from another mother or father.
Jamie Lee and Mariska on their long-awaited reunion:
Mariska: I was at the Beverly Hills Hotel. I had just started shooting my movie, My Mom Jayne. I was talking to [actress] Amy Landecker, saying you and I used to live next door, but we don’t know each other. She immediately connected us. I can’t remember if you called me or I called you.
Jamie Lee: It doesn’t matter.
Mariska: But it was like a missing piece of my life. And that first phone call was so emotional, because when we have histories like ours, we are in such a unique and singular position that people just can’t understand it unless they’ve lived it. You’re one of the most deeply sensitive, empathetic and compassionate humans that I’ve met. Your unique lens on my story was extraordinary.
Jamie Lee: You explained to me that you were making a doc and had come back to Los Angeles and started going through [your mom’s] storage unit. But you didn’t tell me the secret you held for a very long time. I’m guessing there were people close to you who knew the story of your birth father [entertainer Nelson Sardelli]. Once it becomes a sensational secret, it’s going to get shared. You came to my house. I made a little lunch. I think I may have baked a little lemon cake for you.
Mariska: You made a little pasta salad.
Mariska on Jamie Lee and Mariska watching each other’s projects:
I had to separate you as an actor, because you were also just this sister that I got — one who understood my movie. I know that it brought up so much for you. Both of us have these complicated pasts. But you texted me six months ago and said, “Your show has been on for 87 years — I can’t watch it all. Give me the top 10 episodes that you would want me to see, because I want to know you as an artist.” I asked you the same question about The Bear. I watched three episodes, and [the first two] were so magnificent. What you did, the layers and the pain you brought. But then I saw the episode “Ice Chips” [where Jamie Lee‘s character, Donna, sits with her estranged daughter in labor]. I couldn’t even comprehend it. And that you do it in two takes …
Jamie Lee on her own career highlights:
My favorite job ever was a sitcom I did back in the day called Anything but Love with Richard Lewis. It was fantastic. I’d never been in front of a live audience. John Ritter was one of the producers of the show. I loved him. We were auditioning actors for the part of a rogue guy who kept coming on to me in a scene. Every actor who came in backed me up against a desk, and I had to push him off. After one guy left, John Ritter came over to me and he whispered in my ear, “You have really funny legs.” Then I got to do True Lies. My character, Helen, was a fish out of water. She’s a housewife who becomes a spy. It was about doing things physically you aren’t supposed to do. I remembered John Ritter — freedom comes from fearlessness.
Jamie Lee and Mariska on powerful women working together:
Jamie Lee: But you are the f–king heartbeat of [Law & Order: SVU]. That entire machine is driven by you. At the center of the work is you also as a humanitarian, you as an advocate for women who’ve been abused. You also wear it outside of work; I wear it outside of work. It’s part of the other sisterhood of caring. Women are not often in positions of leadership. For the first time, you have a woman running [SVU]. How important was that for you?
Mariska: It’s everything. Michele Fazekas, who is now our showrunner, is hilarious and talented. We also have a female directing producer named Brenna Malloy, who pushes me to new heights.
Jamie Lee: [You and I] are two women over 60, both on shows that have women showrunners and directing producers. I’m only on [Scarpetta] because Nicole Kidman said, “Jamie is on the show, right?” I was a producer. I just wanted to be a boss; I didn’t want to have to put on the gear.
Mariska and Jamie Lee on doing her first play:
Mariska: This is a dream come true for me, to play in a different sandbox. I am very unlike Olivia Benson, but nobody knows that except for my friends. Being onstage has been my lifelong goal. [In my 20s], I became friends with the amazing [stage actress] Kathleen Chalfant. She said, “Don’t sell out and do TV.” An hour later I got SVU. So that was a hard call to make. Getting this call from my agent with the offer for the play Every Brilliant Thing, I was pinching myself. Can you come?
Jamie Lee: Of course I’m going to come.
Mariska Hargitay and Jalen Brunson are good friends, and you may not know the story behind their bond! Find out how it happened.
The post Mariska Hargitay & Jamie Lee Curtis Reveal They Actually Met as Children Years Before Their Emotional Reunion appeared first on Just Jared - Celebrity News and Gossip | Entertainment.