Chris Meloni is an amazing actor who has such a big heart and is so selfless. That goes the same with his partner, Mariska Hargaty. Not only are they partners on the show but they are each others acting partners as well. I think that is one of the many reasons that they work amazingly together and the reason they are SUCH good friends. You can see the chemistry between the characters as well as the actors. Stabler and Benson are not two people they act as one. Chris makes you feel the passion that he feels while playing Det. Elliot Stabler. You can really feel his emotions as an actor and how important this show is to him. When he did not win his Emmy he just said that he was just happy that he was nominated and got the recognition for his role. AS he said know what you do is the most important and that he love what you do, you do not need some award to tell you how good you are. Mariska has said that she has given him her own personally award.
Chris and Mariska Quotes
Question: What do you enjoy best about playing opposite Mariska Hargitay?
Chris Meloni: She's a big bundle of good energy. We have a wonderful chemistry together, both on and off screen. Pure joy.
Question: Now how do you feel about Mariska? Dish.
Chris: I love her immeasurably. The limited time I have here would never give my feelings justice.
"I love to act. I need to act. It's the big itch I need to scratch." - Chris Meloni
"Meloni and Hargitay -- who play partners Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson -- trade playful kisses and clown around by bumping bellies." - article from the Bergen Record.
"In one day your whole life changes. Chris Meloni's my life and I don't sleep." Mariska Hargitay
Question: Do you think Mariska is hot?
Chris: Hell yes!
"It's not easy and he's not easy. But there is a safety net that, as hard as it is when we clash, I know that it's going to be good." Mariska Hargitay, Venice magazine interview
"I think Chris Meloni sets the bar so high for telling the truth. I trust him. He is disciplined; he cares so much that it's like I go to work every day with a sense of security." Mariska Hargitay, Venice magazine interview
Question: Are you allergic to anything?
Chris: Idiots and boorish people
Question: Who on the set of SVU have you do you feel closest to?
Chris: I think Belzer and Mariska.
Question: How freaking FABULOUS is Mariska Hargitay?
Chris: Look up the word in the dictionary and you see her picture.
"I knew he'd get the part as soon as I saw him at audition." - Mariska about Chris
"He's the perfect package. Smart, good-looking and so filled with fire. He was bound to finally explode. " Mariska about Chris
"I don't believe in smug, sanctimonious idiots so I would not play Jerry Falwell." - Chris Meloni
He doesn't wear underwear." - Mariska about Chris
"When Chris auditioned, he was so bizarre, there was no way I was willing to let anybody else have that role." - David Wain, director of Wet Hot American Summer
"There's something about those two and how close they are without there being anything sexual that makes you believe that there are still beautiful things in the world amidst all the chaos. Their friendship is truly beautiful." - describing Mariska and Chris's relationship
Mariska: "Now's not the time Chris."
Chris: "It's always the time."
- Chris and Mariska on the Today show, when Chris hugged her on air.
"I spend more time with her than anyone else." - Chris on Mariska
"I spend more time with Chris than his wife." - Mariska
"I think it should be a law that CM and MH should have to appear in a new picture together every week or so, and we could call it art and justify it by saying that they are beautifying the world."
“I just gotta say, my nipples are hard as rocks, so I can only imagine what yours must be like!” - Chris to Mariska
What's it like working with Chris?
He's one of the most intense, focused, passionate truth seekers I have ever known. He cares so much about acting that he's a true inspiration to all of us who do this. He embodies the notion of someone who lives in his own skin and is totally comfortable with himself. Being on the show with him – and working with him – is like having a big safety net because he's so pure. I think that's the highest compliment I could give to anyone. - Mariska
How do you feel about awards, especially with regard to the way your show has not been recognized to the extent some believe it deserves?
Getting the recognition would be great, but it's like I already gave Chris an Emmy, and he knows that. When you know you're doing something good, you don't need that extra thing. The SAG nomination was very bittersweet for me because I feel that he and I are acting partners as well as partners on the show. I couldn't have done it without him. He's my other half, whether that's good, bad or sick. We've been doing this for five years; I don't think I could do the show without him. - Mariska
What's it like working with Mariska?
It's been a very good, fulfilling, interesting journey. We've had a lot of great fights, a lot of great vacations together, and I think our pairing has had a profound effect on both of us in our personal lives as well as our professional lives. I think we've learned a lot from each other, and that will be a nice thing to walk away with once this ride ends. - Chris
Meloni is the prototypical alpha male, the cocksure rogue who takes the measure of every room he enters and promptly makes it his own. But his impassioned disquisitions on acting make it clear that inside beats the heart of an artist. And Hargitay's beautiful, bubbly exterior belies depths of empathy and vulnerability that fuel her portrayal of Benson, whose anguish as the child of a rape is both an asset and a liability on the job. - Article from Emmy Magazine
"I doubt it seriously, but hey, stranger things have happened. I'd get it on with Benson. Sure, bring her on! I'm not afraid." --Chris Meloni regarding the possibilities of an on-the-job romance
"Anywhere you go with Mariska, the parade follows." - Chris
"He's my other half, be it good, bad or sick." - Mariska about Chris
"Chris's daughter is in my wedding party and she's walking down the aisle first - don't make me cry (she cries). I love Chris's daughter like I'd love my own. I don't want to get too personal about Chris, but he's inspired me so much as a parent." - Mariska
"I'm so close to Chris Meloni; it was a toss-up whether he was going to give me away or my dad, but in the end my dad won!" - Mariska
"It ain't wrong! It ain't wrong! I paid my dues!" --Chris Meloni on getting to work with Mariska Hargitay
"Hot detective love. Is it wrong?" - Chris Meloni about his now infamous lip lock with Mariska
Question: Mariska said your daughter was in her wedding. How did they both look?
Meloni: The most beautiful women in the room: my wife, Sophia, Mariska.
Question: I got a thing for Mariska. Any chance her marriage won't work out?
Meloni: For $50,000 I'll sabotage the **** outta that relationship.
"I'm just a chick who likes shiny things." - Mariska
"Hargitay jumps on Meloni's back; he playfully grabs her butt." - article
"We really just hit it off. We walked in to the screen test laughing. We said, 'Hold on a second,' and I finished telling her a story. The producers were like 'Wow, nice chemistry.'" - Chris about his first meeting with Mariska.
Question: On that subject, I noticed in a response to a previous question regarding the photos of Benson and Stabler's 'prelude to a kiss' - you said that you and Mariska were just joking around while shooting promos. Is that true - is there really no smooching to look forward to?
Meloni: Only if you catch us in my trailer. this show is to him. Q: What is your favorite sexual position?
Chris: One that involves my genitalia.
Mariska: (when asked what it was like to work with Chris Meloni) He is simply amazing. One of the most passionate, dedicated, talented actors I've ever worked with. He's a genius. And a hot one at that.
(On whether or not he's sick of talking about his Oz costar Lee Tergesen): "Talking about Lee is like eating a big fat chocolate sundae. I know it's bad for me, but I can't help myself. I catch myself doing it all the time, or dreaming about it. I'm trying to quit cause it's ruining my girlish figure and I can't fit into any of my clothes the way I used to..."
CM: I don't walk around with a halo above my head or any kind of sainthood. But there is a power - a beautiful, a wonderful byproduct.
Christopher Meloni: (on life)
I believe in doing ones best not to **** with others because it's just not nice to do- I've fallen short of that goal many times but it is always a philosophy that is with me.
Christopher Meloni: (on sexuality)
I may be a sarcastic **** at times but I think anybody who knows me would know sexual orientation is so irrelevant to me and the friends in my life. Also I think being in the "arts" I am surrounded by gay bi etc and most all have made their peace with who or what they are- it's a non issue.
Christopher Meloni: (on co star Marika Hargitay reaction to his Emmy nomination)
She was funny, because she was the salty old veteran giving me loving advice. "See Chris, now this is the truth. You have been nominated, and that's the truth." Whenever I didn't get nominated, and everyone around me would be disappointed, I would say, "Look, I tell you truthfully, it's fine. Awards don't mean anything." But then once it happens... Mariska was kind of my Zen master. So I embraced it and accepted it and said, "Yes, it is the way."
Mariska: (on Chris’s Emmy nomination) I was crying, I was so happy. And he goes, ‘So what, I sucked the first few years?’
Christopher Meloni: (on going back to be Elliot Stabler after a break) I put the jacket on, strap the gun on the hip, and it's there. After nearly seven years, it's almost Pavlovian.
Christopher Meloni: (on the demands of 'SVU')
After nine months of the SVU season - 15-hour days, every day - you're just ... more liquid than solid. You're done. They really have to pour you into a wheelbarrow and take you home and say, 'See you in three months'. It feels like I'm in boot camp. I mean, it has been this ... this beautifully hellish experience.
Christopher Meloni: (on his future in 'SVU')
I’ve never worked so hard, having come in already pretty banged up, and there’s also an accumulative effect of doing it for over six years. You’re limping a little bit. It’ s hard to say that but it’s the truth. You get mentally and emotionally beat up.
Christopher Meloni: (on the strangest place he's had sex)
In a bathroom stall in a women's room in a nightclub.
Christopher Meloni: (on what he's complimented on)
My ass or my eyes. My smile. Or my ass.
Christopher Meloni: (what kind of underwear he wears)
I hang loose.
Christopher Meloni: (on co-star Mariska Hargitay’s 2006 Emmy win):
That’s my girl. She’s busy breastfeeding now, so she’s also glad she got a chance to show off her new breasts!
Mariska: “When you see a girl like me bustin' perps, there ain't no time to be pretty.”
Mariska: "I thought, you can't be up here and not play golf, because it's so gorgeous. So I went out and tried to hit some balls."
Talking about learning to play golf.
Mariska: "I have a T-shirt that is the most beautiful blue that my husband made for me with a big "S" on it. It's short for a name that my husband named me. But I won't tell you what it is."
Talking about her favourite thing in her wardrobe.
