Mariska Hargitay’s ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Salary Finally Revealed – Find Out the Eye-Popping Figure

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Mariska Hargitay has been making a lot of bank with her role as Olivia Benson. The “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star’s salary has finally been revealed in a Variety report. Hargitay has played the character for over 27 years after first debuting in 1999. She was 35 at the time and turned 62 in 2026.

The actress has won numerous accolades for the series, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama.

Her dedication is such that, barring one film in 2001 and one TV movie in 2004, Hargitay has never appeared in any other live-action acting role in the last 27 years, apart from her role as Olivia Benson.

Now, the Variety report has revealed how much “SVU” has raked in for Hargitay, and why it has financially benefited her to remain with the show.

Mariska Hargitay Is Paid $850,000 Per Episode For ‘Law & Order: SVU’

Mariska Hargitay is not only the lead star of “Law & Order: SVU,” but is also an executive producer on the series. She took on this additional role in 2014, shortly after “SVU” had completed 15 years. Interestingly, Hargitay was not the primary lead actor of the series.

Christopher Meloni was the original top-billed star from 1999 to 2012. The actor, 65, chose to walk away after contract negotiations stalled. He enjoyed a diverse film and TV career in subsequent years before returning to the “Law & Order” universe. Meloni headed “Law & Order: Organized Crime” from 2021 to 2025, also appearing in a recurring capacity on “SVU.”

Despite initially being billed second, Hargitay has gone on to become the “Law & Order” franchise’s biggest icon. Olivia Benson is largely considered among the most significant fictional characters, making Hargitay television royalty. The actress is celebrating “SVU”‘s 600th episode, having appeared in more than 620 episodes herself across the larger “Law & Order” universe.

Television’s Biggest Stars Earn Incredibly Large Salaries

Another Variety report looked into television’s biggest stars. With TV largely having strayed away from the network template, most of the top earners are film stars who appear in prestige television.

“The TV actor salary game is still a really good business,” one agent told Variety. “There’s still a lot of money to be made as an actor on television. Certainly for the starriest names, those people are still getting toward the upper limit of anything that anyone’s ever made on television.”

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon make a staggering $2 million an episode for “The Morning Show.” Zendaya earned the exact same figure for her work on “Euphoria.” Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short earn $1 million an episode.

Mariska Hargitay Is Among The Highest-Paid Stars On Television

Network TV’s biggest stars actually outpace even the biggest prestige actors. This comes down to episode counts per season. While prestige TV maxes out at 10 episodes with an average of 6-8 episodes a season, network shows generally run for 21-22 episodes.

As a result, stars like Meredith Pompeo and Mariska Hargitay earn a lot more than their cable or streaming TV counterparts. Pompeo revealed in 2025 that she earns more than $20 million a year for “Grey’s Anatomy”; she is also a producer on the medical drama series.

Hargitay’s $850,000 salary likely leads to a season-wide payout of 17.85 million to $18.7 million per season. The actress has had more reason to celebrate recently, having bagged two Primetime Emmy Awards for producing and directing her documentary “My Mom Jayne.”