Olivia Benson

Detective Olivia Benson is a fictional character on the TV drama ', portrayed by Mariska Hargitay.

Related Topics:
Fictional character - Mariska Hargitay

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Benson works as a detective in the Special Victims Unit, which investigates sex crimes. As played by Hargitay (who won a Golden Globe in 2004 for her portrayal), she is tough, compassionate, and completely dedicated to her job, to the point that she has no personal life to speak of.

Related Topics:
Sex crimes - Golden Globe - 2004

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This dedication, however, sometimes wreaks havoc on her emotional state: she empathizes with victims of sexual assault so much that, when an abuser evades justice or a victim suffers, she holds herself personally responsible. She has also occasionally let her compassion for victims of abuse cloud her professional judgement, an example being a case in which she fought her boss, Captain Don Cragen, to get leniency for a woman who killed her rapist.

Related Topics:
Empathizes - Sexual assault - Abuse - Don Cragen - Rapist

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Benson's empathy for victims has roots in her personal life; she was a child of rape, and her mother was a physically and emotionally abusive alcoholic. Her mother died in a drunken accident before they could make peace, a source of great emotional pain. She often worries that her biological father passed his violence and aggression onto her.

Related Topics:
Rape - Abusive - Alcoholic

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She has a close friendship with her partner, Detective Elliot Stabler. They are so close, in fact, that Stabler's wife often feels jealous of the time they spend together, as his job often keeps him away from home. Benson and Stabler's relationship is not without friction, however, as they frequently take different stances on cases they investigate.

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She had a brief affair with one of her SVU colleagues, Detective Brian Cassidy, but she broke it off when he got too close. Cassidy left the precinct shortly afterward.

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On two separate occasions, Benson was forced to kill a suspect. She was especially haunted by the second incident, in which a man she had helped send to prison on what later turned out to be faulty evidence started killing abuse victims she had once worked with; she felt partly responsible for his crimes and was stricken with guilt over his death, even though she killed him in self defense.

Related Topics:
Prison - Evidence - Guilt - Self defense

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