EMMY TALLY: One*
HOW SHE GOT THE GOLD: As Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, in 2006, for NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
NOW THE NOMS: Hargitay has an additional seven nominations as lead actress for Law & Order: SVU. She is nominated this year in the categories of documentary and directing for My Mom Jayne. [Ed note: She won both Emmys she was up for during Night One of the 78th Emmy Awards.] She also won a 2019 News & Documentary Emmy as a producer of I Am Evidence, which won Best Documentary.
AWKWARD ACCESSORY: “I was trying to design a holster so I could always have my Emmy statues with me when I needed inspiration. But it was kind of a disaster — I kept banging them into doorways. Now I just keep them in my office. Much easier.”
FAMILY PRIDE: “The year I won, my father was in the hospital. I drove there straight from the ceremony and gave him the statue. It was my way of sharing the victory with him. The way that sphere is being held aloft by the statue, that’s the same way I felt supported by my dad all my life.”
WORTHY EFFORT: “There are so many ways our work gets validated: We get to entertain, make people laugh, make people cry. I’m in the very fortunate position where the stories we tell on SVU and that I told in I Am Evidence help people heal. Then to have that work celebrated, honored and acknowledged with an Emmy is a truly extraordinary, next-level experience.”
This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, issue #11, 2026.
[*Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to Hargitay winning two more Emmys on September 5, 2026, at night one of the 78th Emmy Awards.]