Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann’s Relationship Timeline

Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann can credit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for their marriage.

Hargitay has been starring as Detective Olivia Benson on the hit NBC series since 1999, and the pair met during season 3 when Hermann was brought on for a guest appearance as defense attorney Trevor Langan. The duo started dating shortly after filming wrapped when Hermann asked Hargitay to accompany him to church.

After dating for two years, Hargitay and Hermann tied the knot in 2004. Two years later, they welcomed son August Miklos Friedrich, then adopted daughter Amaya Josephine and son Andrew Nicolas in 2011.

“I think there is such beauty in the divine architecture of how this family was built,” Hargitay told PEOPLE in 2019.

From meeting on SVU to their long, supportive marriage, here’s a look at Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann’s relationship.

Early 2002: Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann meet on the set of Law & Order: SVU and go on a church date

Hargitay first met Hermann when the actor was cast in a guest-starring role in season 3 of Law & Order: SVU.

Years later, Hargitay appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show, where she recalled that her first thought after seeing Hermann on set was, “Who is that Clark Gable, superhero guy that I need to marry today?” When the pair were introduced, the actress admitted that she “was nervous,” so she tried making a joke to break the ice, but it didn’t really land.

Immediately after wrapping up his season 3 guest appearance, Hermann asked Hargitay to attend a church service with him. The actress later told PEOPLE that she knew right away Hermann was the man she was going to marry.

“We went to church together, and it was like getting hit with a lightning bolt,” she said. “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.”

August 28, 2004: Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann get married
After about two years of dating, Hargitay’s prediction came true when the couple tied the knot in Santa Barbara, California, in 2004.

“We got married and we knew that it was going to be good,” the actress later told PEOPLE in 2019. “We sort of knew that we found the right one.”

Hermann recalled decided to get hitched after witnessing the warmth surrounding Hargitay on her 40th birthday.

“I actually saw Mariska with all of the people that she loved around her,” he told PEOPLE. “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.’ ”

June 28, 2006: Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann welcome their first son

January 11, 2024: Mariska Hargitay calls Peter Hermann “the man of my dreams”
In a cover story interview with PEOPLE, Hargitay listed meeting Hermann as one of the big life milestones she hit later in life.

“I didn’t get cast [on SVU] until I was 35 and then the show kept going as I aged. At 45, we’d been on for ten years and I just met my husband [when Hermann had a guest role on the show.] The man of my dreams,” she said. “I got married at 40. I had August [her eldest son] at 42. So it was like defying all the odds.”