Her dad Nelson.
Mariska Hargitay’s new documentary, “My Mom Jayne,” doesn’t just explore the life of her famous mom, actress Jayne Mansfield. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, also reveals the real identity of her biological father.
For the first time, the “Law & Order: SVU” actress has revealed that her father is not actually bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay. Thirty-six years ago, she found out her biological dad is a retired Las Vegas showman named Nelson Sardelli.
“It was like the floor fell out from underneath me,” she said of learning the truth, stating that she was “living a lie” for decades. “Like my infrastructure dissolved.”
Mansfield had a brief affair with Sardelli, 90, before she reconciled with Mickey. She and Mickey divorced in 1964.
Mariska Hargitay and Mickey Hargitay during “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” 100th Episode Party at TAO at TAO in New York. WireImage for Universal Television Productions
Mickey Hargitay, Jayne Mansfield backstage at the Westbury, L. I. Music Fair. Bettmann Archive
Jayne also was mom to daughter Jayne Marie with first husband Paul Mansfield, sons Miklós “Mickey” and Zoltán with Mickey and son Antonio “Tony” with third husband, Italian movie director Matt Cimber.
Mariska recalled seeing a picture of Sardelli in her 20s and demanding the truth. Mickey initially insisted that he was her biological father. He later died at age 80 in 2006.
Mariska would go on to meet Sardelli for the first time when he performed in Atlantic City, N.J. She was 30 years old at the time.
“I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment,” the actress recalled him saying during an interview with Vanity Fair.
Mariska Hargitay and mom Jayne Mansfield. Photo 12/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of HBO
Although emotional, Hargitay had a difficult time with their exchange and began to act like her iconic NBC character.
“[I went] full Olivia Benson on him,” she told the outlet. “I was like, ‘I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything from you.… I have a dad, ‘ ” she recalled telling him. “There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.”
Sardelli and his other two daughters — Mariska’s half sisters — participated in the documentary, in addition to Mariska’s other siblings Jayne Marie and Tony.
At 61, the actress felt that there was no need to keep the identity of her biological father a secret from the public any longer.
“I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,” she said. “I’m Mickey Hargitay’s daughter — that is not a lie.”
Mariska Hargitay poses during a photocall for the film “My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay” at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. AFP via Getty Images
Mariska further opened up about the loss of her mom in her doc, which she directed. On June 29, 1967, Mansfield died instantly in a car crash when the car she was riding in struck the rear of a trailer truck on US Route 90 east in New Orleans, Louisiana. Driver Ronald B. Harrison and Mansfield’s companion, Samuel S. Brody, were also killed.
Mariska, who was just 3 years old at the time, and her siblings Mickey Jr., 8, and Zoltan, 6, all survived the crash.
Mansfield appeared in more than two dozen films during her career, including 1956’s “The Girl Can’t Help It” and 1957’s “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”
Mariska Hargitay and husband Peter Hermann at the premiere of the film “Die, My Love” at the 78th international film festival in Cannes on May 17, 2025. Natacha Pisarenko/Invision/AP
“My mother was this amazing, beautiful, glamorous sex symbol — but people didn’t know that she played the violin and had a 160 IQ and had five kids and loved dogs,” Mariska told People in 2018. “She was just so ahead of her time. She was an inspiration, she had this appetite for life, and I think I share that with her.”
Mariska, for her part, has been married to fellow actor and “Younger” alum Peter Hermann since 2004. The couple are parents of three children — August Miklos Friedrich, born 2006, Amaya Josephine Hermann, born 2011, and Andrew Nicolas Hermann, born 2011.
“My Mom Jayne” will be released on HBO on June 27.
