A Playboy Playmate who rescues dogs? An ex-model turned organic farmer? Here's
who locked up the hearts of Law & Order’s most famous cast members.
Fans of Law & Order are undoubtedly familiar with series staple Sam Waterston, who plays
District Attorney Jack McCoy. Originally booked to appear on the show for just one season in 1994,
Waterston ended up starring on the show for 16 years. However, Waterston was so synonymous with
the police procedural that he even reprised his role when the series returned in 2022.
In an interview with Stephen Colbert he said about the reboot:
"It was like time travel."
Not only has Law & Order made Waterston a household name, he also credits the show with
allowing him to send his four kids to college. Waterston is married to former fashion model
and cover girl, Lynn Woodruff. Waterston and Woodruff met in 1972 when Waterston starred in
William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing in New York City. The longtime couple have lived in
Connecticut since 1978, when they bought a house and farm. Waterston told the Associated Press,
"We raise grass-fed cows and sheep, no antibiotics,
no hormones and sell the meat. It has become partly a mission."
If you were a fan of Law & Order in the 1990s,
then you likely know Benjamin Bratt. The actor portrayed Detective Rey Curtis on
the procedural from 1995 to 1999 and returned for one episode in 2009.
Movie-lovers might also recognize Bratt from Miss Congeniality and the
Oscar-winning animated film Coco, where he voiced the character Ernesto de la Cruz.
Offscreen, Bratt is married to actress and model Talisa Soto, who has appeared in Harts of the
West, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and Island of the Dead. The couple has been married since 2002
and have two children, Sophia and Mateo. In a 2022 interview with Esquire, Bratt said about his wife,
"Most people don't know her. If they see her, what they see is a spectacularly
beautiful woman who worked in the business. But to know her is to really love her."
While most fans associate Mariska Hargitay's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit character with her
onscreen crime-fighting partner Elliot Stabler, played by Christopher Meloni, she's married to
another co-star. Hargitay's spouse is actor Peter Hermann. They met in 2001, when he guest-starred
on the NBC series. As their romance blossomed, Hermann continued to appear on the show.
Eventually, the couple married in 2004. The acting couple have three children:
August, Andrew, and Amaya. They adopted both Andrew and Amaya in 2011.
Although it might seem like Hargitay has it all, including a steady acting career,
she admitted it can be difficult. In a 2018 interview with Us Weekly, Hargitay said,
"I'm not going to say it's easy, it's hard.
I'm learning to [balance]. I try to be super present with where I am."
Mariska Hargitay isn't the only Law & Order: SVU star who met their spouse on a TV show set.
Co-star Christopher Meloni met his wife in 1989 on the set of HBO series "1st and Ten', which he told
Your Tango was, quote, "immensely forgettable." His future wife, Doris Sherman Williams,
was working as a production designer on the project but was in a relationship at the time.
Fortunately for Meloni, he ran into Williams multiple times after their initial meeting,
and the two eventually started dating. The pair exchanged vows in Malibu but settled in New York,
where they raised their two children in an apartment overlooking Central Park.
Williams told Architectural Digest,
"There's no grass in SoHo, and we wanted them to grow up by the park."
While British actor Hugh Dancy might be best-known for playing the role of Will
Graham in NBC's Hannibal, these days, fans can catch him as ADA Nolan Price on Law & Order.
In real life, Dancy is married to Emmy Award-winning actress Claire Danes.
Dancy and Danes met on the set of the movie Evening and got married in France in 2009.
"What if you and I just laughed together for the rest of our lives?
At the Chanel and Tribeca Film Festival Artists' Dinner, Evening co-star Mamie Gummer recalled,
"I was there when it was happening and it's something that I will never forget.
I'm incredibly happy for them. They are perfect for each other."
In addition to being busy actors, the couple also has two sons together.
Dancy told the Evening Standard,
"It's a complicated balance, like any marriage. We have got to be happy as a
unit and I also want both of us to be happy independently and fulfilled in what we do,
so there has to be some elbow room."
Before playing Detective Odafin Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ice-T was
best-known for being a successful rapper. The Grammy-winning recording artist is considered a
genre pioneer. However, besides being a legendary rapper and actor, Ice-T is a husband and father.
Ice-T, born Tracy Marrow, is married to model Nicole Austin, who is publicly known as Coco.
According to the website Coco's World, the couple met on the set of a movie.
In 2011, the pair opened up about how they fell for each other. Ice-T told PR.com,
"Hopefully, your core is what that person's falling in love with. When Coco met me, I had
on a red snakeskin suit, so that's Ice-T's core. She thought it was incredible. She loved it."
"When I finally got a chance to talk to her, I opened with, Is it okay if I flirt with you?'"
The couple showcased that love on their reality show Ice Loves Coco,
which aired on E! from 2011 to 2013. Ice-T and Coco welcomed their first child together in 2015.
From 1999 to 2016, actor Richard Belzer was
a staple on the long-running series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,
in which he played Detective John Munch. Belzer played the character across the Law & Order
universe and on the show Homicide: Life on the Street. Belzer's wife, actress Harlee McBride,
also appeared in multiple episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street alongside her husband.
Belzer and McBride, who is the Law & Order actor's third wife,
married in 1985, four years after their first date. McBride told People,
"Richard softened me a lot. When I met him, I was cynical about men and life,
but he's somebody I've grown to trust and feel comfortable with. Marriage relaxed him too."
Fans of the Law & Order universe know Peter Scanavino as Dominick Carisi, Jr. Since 2014,
he's played the character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Organized
Crime. While actor Scanavino is a performing artist, his wife works as a visual artist.
Scanavino's wife, Lisha Bai, is the founder of Studio Archive Project,
a site that curates work from various artists and facilitates sales to the public.
Scanavino and Bai have three children together.
Former Law & Order star Elisabeth Röhm appeared on the show from 2001 to 2005.
Since then, Röhm has appeared on several shows, including Jane the Virgin, The Oath, and Hawaii
Five-0. Outside her professional life, Röhm also had exciting developments in her personal life.
In 2021, Röhm announced her engagement to producer Peter Glatzer, whose film
credits include the documentary Catching the Sun. The couple, who met through friends,
credited the COVID-19 pandemic with strengthening their bond. In a statement to People, they said,
"Thanks to COVID slowing us down, we had the opportunity to recognize and
acknowledge that the friendship between us had become much more."
The pair got married in October 2021 in a ceremony at their home in Los Angeles.
On Röhm's Instagram, she shared :
"I have some news. […] Beyond happy and blessed to be married to the wonderful Peter Glatzer."
Those who watched Law & Order in its early days may remember actress Jill Hennessy.
Hennessy played A.D.A. Claire Kincaid on the series from 1993 to 1996.
"A search warrant? With this? You can't be serious."
She’s kept busy working since then and has appeared on several television shows,
including Crossing Jordan, The Good Wife, and City on a Hill.
Her husband, Paolo Mastropietro, is an actor, as well.
Mastropietro has appeared in a handful of films, including Cradle 2 the Grave and Exit Wounds. In
addition to acting, the talented couple has opened a New Jersey restaurant named Hennessy Tavern.
Hennessy and Mastropietro got married in Italy in 2000. In 2001,
they held another ceremony in New York, which was officiated by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
The couple has two sons, Marco and Gianni.
Peter Scanavino isn't the only Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star married to an artist.
Longtime viewers of the spinoff, without a doubt, know Dann Florek.
The actor played Captain Donald Cragen from 1999 to 2013. However, since his departure,
he has appeared in episodes of the show, as well as episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Off the set, Florek has been married to his wife Karen Florek for decades.
The pair met when they were college students at Eastern Michigan University
and have been together ever since. While Florek works as an actor,
his wife is a painter and photographer in California. Her work has appeared in several
galleries, including the Deborah Martin Gallery and the Joshua Tree Art Gallery.
Although the couple is successful now, they have been together through financial
and career hardships. Speaking about his wife, Florek told the Chicago Tribune,
"There were times when she was working, and I was making $1.38 a week.
Now we laugh because we might get a $500 check for looping. We'll go
out to a wonderful dinner with it, and we'll laugh, 'Looping! Whoever thought of looping!'"