Mariska Hargitay Says She and Her Father Nelson Sardelli Are 'Very Close': 'Nothing Has Been Left Unsaid' (Exclusive)

Liz McNeilTue, May 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM UTC

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Nelson Sardelli and Mariska Hargitay on June 13, 2025Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty -

Mariska Hargitay says of her father, Nelson Sardelli, "Nothing has been left unsaid and we arrived at a very beautiful place"

A year after her acclaimed documentary My Mom Jayne, she says Sardelli is "very excited" that she's making her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing

Hargitay will perform her first show on May 26

A year after Mariska Hargitay’s acclaimed documentary My Mom, Jayne was released, in which she reintroduced the world to her mom, actress Jayne Mansfield— and introduced her biological father Nelson Sardelli, she says she and Sardelli "have arrived in a beautiful place."

In the film, she went deep into the life and loss of her mom, who died in a 1967 car crash at 34 years old. The actress may have played the dumb blonde but was anything but. Rather she was a mom of five, who spoke to five languages, played multiple musical instruments and was determined to forge her own path.

Hargitay also revealed the identity of her biological dad, Nelson Sardelli, 91, a Las Vegas entertainer, who had an affair with her mother while she was temporarily separated from her second husband, actor Mickey Hargitay, the dad who raised Mariska and her brothers after their mother’s death.

Nelson Sardelli and Mariska Hargitay on June 13, 2025
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Though she’d known the secret for some three decades, it wasn’t until the astounding revelation in the film that she shared the story publicly.

Now, making her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing(she opens on May 26), the star spoke about her relationship with her father in this week’s PEOPLE cover story. “It's an extraordinarily deep relationship and complex, but nothing has been left unsaid and so it feels clear and clean,” says Hargitay, 62.

“He got to say so many things to me that he never thought he would get a chance to say,” she continues. “It's so comfortable and easy and I'm very close."

She sees Sardelli as often as she can, at least a few times a year.  “I just saw him a few weeks ago,” she says. “I went to Las Vegas to see The Eagles at the Sphere, and I surprised him. He was so happy.”

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Mariska Hargitay photographed for PEOPLE in New York City on May 11, 2026
Credit: Mary Ellen Matthews

“Every moment is a gift and he's very funny, and so we have a lot in common and we always laugh,” she says with a smile.

As for her Broadway debut, her entire family, including her dad, husband Peter Hermann and their three kids, August, Amaya, and Andrew, are all cheering her on. “He's very excited,” she says. “I think he's always very excited when I'm doing new things.”

Mariska Hargitay
Credit: Mary Ellen Matthews

The play, which addresses grief, loss and the "brilliant things" that give life meaning, spoke to Hargitay in many ways. And the fact that she’s now making her debut at 62 and her mom made her Broadway debut at age 22, also fills her with wonder.

“I used to see myself as so different from how she was and that I wanted to do it differently, and that my career was serious and this is how I do it — and that's how you did it and that's fine, but that's not how I'm doing it," she explains. "And now I feel like you were so amazing. You were so young and determined and fearless and you went to Hollywood by yourself with a 4-year-old child and built this career.”

Mariska Hargitay with her children August, Andrew, Amaya and husband Peter Hermann on June 13, 2025
Credit: Guy Aroch

“I don't think that I could do that,” she adds. “And so now as an adult woman, as a mother, looking back on what she accomplished, it's astounding. I see the determination and the focus, and the drive and the ambition and the follow through to achieve what she did.”

Tickets for Every Brilliant Thingare on sale now.

For more on Mariska Hargitay, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”