Quotes from Mariska Hargitay

Meisner technique was different than anything I'd ever experienced. It's a really great way to be accountable to your craft and to yourself, but also it takes that kind of focus and dedication to learn anything.

I realize that you have to show up for your life.

I have a more developed sense of my priorities. Life has so much more meaning now.

I look at all the things life has allowed me to do, and I feel like the luckiest person in the world.

Being thin is not more important than enjoying life

I think one of the mistakes actors make is we're so focused on what we're going to say.

Life begins at 40, and I'm living proof.

I'm a ready-shoot-aim kind of gal.

Golf made me feel like a loser. So I dismissed it.

Yes. I did more research than I ever wanted to and saw some things I wish I didn't. I went on ride-alongs, spent time with Homicide, Cold Case, and SVU detectives, hung out in subways learning how to spot pervs and pick-pockets, viewed an autopsy, went to a police firing range, and witnessed court cases and I read, read, read.

I get very excited about my double stroller. Every time I look at it, I get a shot of adrenaline and joy because I think, This is real!

Our early dating life consisted of trying to figure out whether we were dating.

Criminals are just regular people who didn't have time to read all the laws.

I think people were expecting me to be that kind of glamorous sexpot. So they were always, Wow you're not what I expected.

Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good.

But trust can take you a long way. And my faith takes me a long way. And I think that our pains, our vulnerabilities, and our insecurities can fuel us to be better. To try harder. To dig deeper.

I have so much love that I didn't even know about.

You've got to kick fear to the side, because the payoff is huge.

It's a new skill to have two children that want you at the same time.

You know how you wake up in the morning and sometimes you look gorgeous and other times you look like you got hit by a mack truck? I realized that my mack truck is food. If I have no sugar, yeast or wine, I have no undereye bags and my skin is perfect.

When I read the script sometimes, it's like 'Christ! Enough!' I can't sleep at night sometimes. There's the occasional script that just hammers you, that you can't shower off.

I have everything I need. Our house is very joyful.

My heart just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

If I eat clean, I look 10 years younger.