Hargitay wins two Emmys for mother’s film before hosting awards
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Mariska Hargitay has won two Emmy Awards for her HBO documentary "My Mom Jayne", taking Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Programme. The film explores the life of her late mother, actress Jayne Mansfield, and a long-standing mystery over Mariska's biological father. The wins, announced at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, came just over a week before Hargitay is due to host the televised Primetime Emmy Awards on 14 September, capping what has already been a landmark year for her career, alongside her Broadway debut and 28th season starring in "Law & Order: SVU".
Accepting her awards, Hargitay paid tribute to feminist campaigner Gloria Steinem, who died that Wednesday aged 92, quoting her advice to "tell your own story" and describing making the film as a way of getting to know her mother. "My Mom Jayne" beat films including "John Candy: I Like Me" and "Ocean with David Attenborough", while Hargitay's directing win saw off competition from Rebecca Miller, whose Martin Scorsese docuseries went on to win Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series in a separate category.
- Hargitay wins two Emmys for documentary about mother Jayne Mansfield
- Comes ahead of her hosting the Primetime Emmys on 14 September
- She paid tribute to Gloria Steinem, who died days earlier
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Mariska Hargitay is best known as the star of Law & Order: SVU, but she has also become a documentary filmmaker. Her HBO film "My Mom Jayne" tells the story of her mother, the 1950s and 60s actress Jayne Mansfield, who died in a car crash when Hargitay was three, and delves into a private family secret about who Hargitay's real father was.
The Emmys are the top American television awards, split into a lower-key Creative Arts ceremony for categories like documentaries and directing, and the star-studded Primetime ceremony broadcast live. Hargitay's film has now won prizes at the Creative Arts event, shortly before she takes on hosting duties for the main Primetime show.
The awards cap what has been described as a standout year for Hargitay, who has also made her Broadway debut alongside her long-running SVU role. Her acceptance speech also touched on the death of Gloria Steinem, a prominent figure in the American feminist movement, whose words Hargitay quoted while discussing why she made the film.
Full account
Mariska Hargitay has arrived at this year's Emmy Awards already a winner, picking up two trophies for her documentary My Mom Jayne days before she takes the stage to host the main Primetime Emmys ceremony on 14 September. The prizes were awarded at the Creative Arts Emmys, held on the Saturday evening in Los Angeles as part of the lead-up to the televised show, which airs on NBC and streams on Peacock as part of the 78th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
My Mom Jayne, made for HBO, sees Hargitay examine the life of her mother, the actress Jayne Mansfield, while also delving into a long-standing question over the identity of her biological father. The film won Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, beating titles including John Candy: I Like Me, Marty, Life Is Short, Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! and Ocean with David Attenborough. Hargitay was also honoured with the award for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program. The wins take her overall Emmy tally to three, adding to the best actress prize she won in 2006 for her role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Collecting the award for the documentary special, Hargitay paid tribute to the feminist campaigner Gloria Steinem, who died earlier in the week aged 92, recalling Steinem's advice to "tell your own story" and reflecting that making the film had allowed her to get to know her mother properly for the first time. Accepting the directing prize, she admitted it had taken her time, after beginning the project during the pandemic, to accept that the story was hers to direct, and she used the moment to encourage other women to tell their own stories too.
Speaking to reporters backstage, Hargitay described the wins as unexpectedly meaningful given how different documentary-making is from her acting career, and framed the achievement as part of a broader run of new challenges she has taken on this year, including her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing and her decision to host the Emmys, a job she said she agreed to almost on a whim. She acknowledged that preparing to host had proved far more demanding than she had been led to believe, joking that the promised rehearsal schedule turned out to be much longer than advertised, though she said she was relishing working with writers from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on her material ahead of the main ceremony.
Where outlets differ
The Hollywood Reporter centres on Hargitay's backstage remarks about hosting nerves, her 'saying yes' philosophy and NBC allegedly understating the rehearsal workload, giving less space to the acceptance speeches themselves.
The second source foregrounds the on-stage acceptance speeches, including Hargitay's tribute to Gloria Steinem (who had died days earlier), and provides more context on the awards show's structure, air dates and the rival nominees My Mom Jayne beat.
Only the second source details the competing nominees in the documentary special category and notes other awards Ocean with David Attenborough picked up separately.
The Hollywood Reporter emphasises Hargitay's overall career Emmy total and comparison to her 2006 acting win more explicitly than the other account.
Coverage
- The Hollywood Reporter — Mariska Hargitay Lands Two Emmys for ‘My Mom Jayne’ Ahead of Hosting Gig
- Deadline — Mariska Hargitay Wins Two Emmys For ‘My Mom Jayne,’ Thanks Gloria Steinem From Stage
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