Dun-dun! Whether it’s Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson heroically putting her life on the line to save yet another special victim or Hugh Dancy’s Nolan Price playing prosecutorial hardball, the characters of “Law & Order” and its spinoffs are nothing short of legendary. The Dick Wolf universe has given countless performers the opportunity to dig down and get deep; here, we’ve compiled their most illuminating observations on performance, presence, and persistence in the industry. These are their stories.
Pay attention to your surroundings.
“All you have to do is be clear with your intention and your thought. I’m telling you, it’s that simple: Be present. Listen…. We can’t be a conduit for the scene without being present and really learning how to listen and answer.” —Mariska Hargitay
“You have to create an inner life and story going on, so that your silences are still dialogue. You’re saying something, or you’re answering something, or you’re asking something even though you don’t have a line.” —Chris Noth
“Acting is reacting. You can’t react if you’re not paying attention, if you’re not listening. If you’re making it about yourself, then you’re pretty much setting yourself up to fail and you’re not going to do your partner any good either.” —Reid Scott
Good acting is all about trust.
“Slow down, don’t worry so much, stand behind your craft, rely more consistently upon that which you were taught, and trust it.” —Benjamin Bratt
“I think the most important thing that I’ve learned is to trust in stillness. It’s really hard for actors to trust that they’re enough or that they’re doing enough.” —Mariska Hargitay
“Sometimes you have to go to the place that would be wrong in order to find what would be right. If you immediately go with what you think would be right, then you get locked too much into one way of doing something, and you cut yourself off from all kinds of wonderful, impulsive moments.” —Chris Noth
“You’ve got to have confidence and trust in your cast. You have to have confidence and trust in your director, in your editor. It’s such a team effort, I really think you have to pull yourself out of it and just trust everyone around you.” —Reid Scott
Put in the work, keep growing, and have fun!
“Be prepared. I would memorize my lines and hold the pages in my hand to indicate that it’s not the final performance. But if the audition is being taped, they want your eyes.” —Benjamin Bratt
“Fill yourself with art. It’s so much better to become an artist before you’re an actor than an artist because you’re an actor. You’re gonna be ahead of so many people when it comes to storytelling, blocking scenes, knowing literature, being able to imagine a sculpture or a painting that you loved once. This kind of stuff is vital.” —Vincent D’Onofrio
“I use an amalgamation of all the things I’ve learned, depending on what the scene requires. Every [technique] that I’ve learned has built on one another, and every style has only enhanced the other things and made me go deeper.” —Mariska Hargitay
“It’s not enough to be an actor, learn the craft, emote your heart out. It’s about understanding the biz; try to catch on to where the business is at so you know where it’s going.” —Christopher Meloni
“Don’t wait too long to start having fun. I saw other people having fun and I was afraid of it, because I was too serious about the work.” —BD Wong