Inside Mariska Hargitay's 22-year marriage to her 'love,' Peter Hermann

Peter has had a long-running, recurring role as defense attorney Trevor Langan on Law & Order: SVU, appearing in 36 episodes between 2002 and 2026.

He's also known for playing Charles Brooks on Younger, Jack Boyle on Blue Bloods and Dr Michael Burke on the soap opera Guiding Light, which was actually his debut TV role.

More recently, he portrayed George Campbell in season two of the Sex and the City spin-off, And Just Like That…

The couple started dating in 2002 after they first crossed paths on the set of Law & Order: SVU when Peter guest-starred in season three. 

Speaking about the first time they met on set, Mariska told InStyle: "I just about passed out when I saw him there. I thought: 'That's my husband.'"

After filming wrapped on Peter's guest appearance, the actor invited Mariska to a church service and she knew there and then that he was the one. 

"We went to church together, and it was like getting hit with a lightning bolt," she said on The Drew Barrymore Show. "I just started sobbing. Peter thought I was crying because I was so moved by the service. No, it was because I was just overwhelmed, realizing he was the one."

Peter popped the question on Mariska's 40th birthday. Reflecting on the joyous moment, he told People in 2019: "I actually saw Mariska with all of the people that she loved around her, it was like seeing this person who was now in the soil… which was this abundance of people and this abundance of love and I thought, 'I want to be part of that soil.' "

In 2004, Mariska and Peter tied the knot at the Unitarian Historical Chapel in Santa Barbara, California, in front of 200 guests. 

Mariska later told People: "We got married and we knew that it was going to be good and I think we both knew...we found the right one. I never thought it could be this good...That I waited and married the right one and it’s better than I thought it was. Because sometimes you take a snapshot and you go, 'I can't believe this is my life.'"

The couple are proud parents to three children. They welcomed their first son, August, in 2006. Five years later, in 2011, their family expanded again when they adopted a baby girl named Amaya Josephine. Less than a year later, they adopted another child, a baby boy named Andrew.

Mariska previously revealed that it was "always part of the plan" for her and Peter to adopt.

"August wanted siblings, and Peter and I both envisioned this big family because we both come from that," she told Good Housekeeping. "Plus, we just had so much love to give."