Talk:Mariska Hargitay

Possible Szekely heritage?

As a long-standing fan of Law & Order: SVU and someone who has had a long-standing fascination with the country of Romania, I have long wondered if Mariska Hargitay has Szekely heritage on her father's side. Her, father who is Mickey Hargitay, a Budapest-born Hungarian-American, obviously has the last name of Hargitay, which literally means "of Hargita". That 'Hargita' to which is being referred on that Wikipedia page, one can easily read (as of now, 12:52pm EST on 16 Nov 2019), is Hargita County. One can also read on the Wikipedia entry for that, that of all of Romania's 41 counties, it has the highest percentage/proportion of Hungarians of any part of Romania. They form the largest minority in Romania. There is a contiguous concentration of Szekelys in Romania called Székely Land, which is comprised of 2 & 1/2 counties all adjacent to each other, listed in degree of most highly Szekely-populated to least highly Szekely-populated - Hargita County, Covasna County, and Mures County. There is a real identity to Szekelys as they are ethno-linguistic and also rooted to a particular locale. There are only roughly half a million to three quarters of a million people who identify as Szekely. Over the last (nearly exactly) century, since Transylvania was ceded to Romania from the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I, while most Hungarians have left cities throughout other parts of Transylvania to go to Hungary, the Szekelys have stayed largely put in Szekely Land in Romania. This seems pretty significant to me.

Of course, I am not citing any sources external to Wikipedia, all I can say to any possible readers is to try to "assure good faith" on my part when I bring up the above and also state, truthfully, that neither I, nor anybody I know of (to my knowledge) had anything to do with putting this information up on Wikipedia. The reason I bring this up is that I have long wondered about any relevancy this might have to Hargitay and her life, as it has certainly been big and colorful, but also considerably tragic.

In the process of creating this edit, I checked articles relevant to the terms provided above, and was surprised not to find anything like a "List of famous Szekely" people. I am pretty sure that 4-time 1984 Olympic Champion Ekaterina Szabo is and that the famous wife (and coach and former national-team coordinator of the USA Women's National Gymnastics Team) of Bela Karolyi, Márta Károlyi is, based on her hometown of origin, as well as my having known 3 Szekely women in Toronto, at least one of whom also said she was.

Has anybody heard anything about Mariska Hargitay having asserted this as part of her heritage? I think it could make for a very interesting discussion, herein and/or elsewhere.

QuakerIlK (talk) 18:23, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

Magdolna or Magdolina

@Tbhotch: you reverted some IP-edits that changed her middle name from Magdolina into Magdolna.

Why? — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 15:02, 12 September 2020 (UTC)

It appears that this IP edit introduced "Magdolina" in the infobox in July without a source. User:Jcuello80 (a user with 3 edits) changed her name in the lead 5 days later, still without a source. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 15:14, 12 September 2020 (UTC)

Wait, the Encyclopedia of world biography (https://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2006-Ei-La/Hargitay-Mariska.html) (which was the only linked source at the time) actually says "Magdolina". Well that's confusing, but now I added 6 sources that say otherwise. And notablebiographies.com appears to be on the Wikipedia:Spam blacklist. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 16:03, 12 September 2020 (UTC)

Found the reason: MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist/archives/April 2019#Advameg sites (city-data.com, filmreference.com, etc.). The notablebiographies.com link is also used as a source for several other facts:

• "A few weeks later, Mansfield married the director Matt Cimber, who had directed her in a 1964 production of the William Inge play Bus Stop."
• "After the death of their mother, the three siblings were raised by their father and his third wife, Ellen Siano."
• "She left before completing her degree when she began her acting career."

These statements should get different sources. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 16:14, 12 September 2020 (UTC)

Magdolna is a Hungarian woman's name. There is a Wikipedia page for the name, listing half a dozen women (all apparently Hungarian). And fwiw, the Hungarian Wikipedia article on Mariska Hargitay gives her second given name as Magdolna (not Magdolina). — Richwales (no relation to Jimbo) 16:27, 12 September 2020 (UTC)

@Alexis Jazz: You answered your answer here. If notablebiographies.com is unreliable, it should be removed altogether. (CC) Tbhotch^™ 19:33, 12 September 2020 (UTC)

@Tbhotch: Done. I just wondered why you reverted edits that were actually correct. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 03:41, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

Add ER cast member

She was a desk clerk on ER and dated Dr Green (Anthony Edwards) 2600:6C40:1E00:3A8E:9044:AF98:5947:EC8C (talk) 21:36, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

lazarus man

why is there no mention of her appearance in lazarud man episode 15 the angel maker? 24.186.7.12 (talk) 07:38, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

Honorary Degree from CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice

In 2023, CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice awarded Hargitay with an honorary degree. 108.27.222.124 (talk) 14:34, 25 March 2024 (UTC)