Before she became an Emmy-winning TV icon as Olivia Benson onLaw & Order: SVU,Mariska Hargitaywas just another talented young actress hustling for her big break. That’s part of what makes her 1993 appearance onSeinfeldso memorable. Not only was she an actor looking for her own big opportunity, but she wasalso playing someone doing exactly the same thing.Over 30 years later, the cameostands out as a hidden gem in Hargitay’s career.
Mariska Hargitay Guest Starred in the Season 4 Finale of ‘Seinfeld’
Season 4 began when NBC executives approached Jerry after his stand-up set topitch the idea of developing a sitcom with him. He doesn’t have any ideas, so naturally, George steps in, insisting theycreate a show about nothing, and that they co-write it together. The premise of the show is basicallySeinfelditself, with Jerry playing a version of himself, while the roles of George, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Kramer (Michael Richards) would have to be cast with other actors. The season-long arc follows the development, writing, and eventually the casting and taping of the pilot episode, all infused with the typicalSeinfeldhumor and absurdity.
In the two-part season finale, George and Jerry are holding casting sessions with the NBC execs whenin walks Hargitay’s Melissa to audition for Elaine. The men immediately notice how beautiful she is, but she tries to break the tension by joking that the waiting room looks like a “bald convention,”which offends George immediately. She quickly apologizes for her “faux pas,” but Jerry brushes it off, clearly smitten and eager to see more.
Already on the wrong foot with George, Jerry chooses to read opposite her, since it’s a scene between Jerry and Elaine. In an even more meta move,Jerry and Melissa read a moment lifted directly from the Season 2 episode “The Deal,”where Jerry and Elaine negotiate the awkward terms of becoming “friends with benefits.” Hargitay’s delivery is flirty and genuine, and you’re able to see exactly why Jerry is captivated. Still,it’s a very short audition session because George cuts it off, uninterested in entertaining Melissa for the part.
“The Pilot” Is the Most Meta Episode of ‘Seinfeld’
Ultimately, Melissa doesn’t get the job. The role of Elaine in the show-within-the-show goes instead to Sandi Robbins (Elena Wohl), a method actress who insists everyone call her Elaine and commits fully to the bit by pretending to date Jerry off-camera. She even insists on styling her hair “like a wall,” a clear nod to Elaine’s hairstyle from earlier seasons. Part 2 of “The Pilot” showsthe fictional taping ofJerry, with Michael Barth (Jeremy Piven) as George and Tom Pepper (Larry Hankin) cast as Kramer.
One of the Best ‘Seinfeld’ Characters Almost Never Happened
It would have been a totally different show.
Piven had the unusual challenge of playing a character within a character, which was essentially a version ofLarry David, the co-creator ofSeinfeld. Hankin, meanwhile, hadactually auditioned to play the real Kramerbefore Michael Richards ultimately got the role. And whileSeinfeldwould go on torun for nine seasonsand become one of thegreatest sitcoms ever made, the fictionalJerrypilot doesn’t fare so well. In the world of the show, NBC ultimately passes on the project, leaving Jerry and George’s dreams of sitcom stardom dashed. Maybe if Melissa had been cast as Elaine, it would have had a better shot.
Mariska Hargitay Has an Impressive TV Legacy With ‘Law & Order: SVU’
Hargitay only has a few lines, but she’s so funny that it’s easy to see why the real Jerry Seinfeld was genuinely taken with her audition. In fact, in a recent interview withAlex CooperonCall Her Daddy, Hargitay revealed sheonce thought she’d be a comedian instead of a dramatic actress. She recalled how, in those early years, a Long Island psychic told her she would becomefamous for her “serious face,” which she didn’t believe at the time, since she was mostly doing comedy.
Of course, just six years after herSeinfeldcameo,Hargitay would be cast as Olivia Benson onSVU, launching a career that redefined what network drama could be. Watching her in “The Pilot” now feels like seeinga young actress about to break big in a completely different genre.Today, she’s known as thelongest-running female characterin a primetime drama, which is a legacy no one could have predicted from her short but memorable sitcom appearance.
Whether you’re a fan ofSeinfeldor just a Mariska Hargitay fan, “The Pilot” stands as a brief but early indicator ofthe talent and rangeshe would bring to every role. She may not have become the sitcom star she once imagined, buther cameo remains a standout moment in the series. The episode itself is layered withinside jokes and meta referencesthat have only grown funnier in hindsight. “The Pilot” still holds up as one of the most self-aware episodes of how TV shows get made, and the fact that Hargitay’s audition is part of it only makes it more special.
The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.
