A Drunk Haircut Almost Got Mariska Hargitay Fired From Law & Order: SVU

From the moment the series' very first episode arrived on television, Mariska Hargitay has stood as the face of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." For decades, Hargitay's Detective Olivia Benson has led the program, taking out New York City's worst criminals and securing justice for those on the receiving end of truly heinous crimes. Although, many years ago, Hargitay's "SVU" tenure very nearly came to a premature end. The reason? A haircut from a hair stylist who had just a bit too much to drink, resulting in her hair being trimmed shorter than usual.

As Hargitay recalled during an interview with Yahoo! (via FirstUnlisted on YouTube), the decision was made for her to cut her hair a tad shorter than normal for "SVU." However, while getting her hair cut, she offered the stylist some wine, resulting in them accidentally cutting her hair too short, thus sending her into panic mode. "I went over to the producer's house, and he was like, 'Yeah, that's a problem,'" she said, noting that "SVU" creator Dick Wolf nearly fired her. Thankfully, Hargitay ultimately kept her job, and her hair eventually grew back.

With that, Mariska Hargitay was able to retain her spot as the lead of "SVU," where she remains to this day. Although, that's not to say that she hasn't been fired from projects before, with one letting her go years before she'd become a household name as Detective Benson.

Before kicking off her historic "Law & Order: SVU" run in 1999, in 1995, Mariska Hargitay joined a very different production than the crime procedural she's synonymous with: "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie." The Power Rangers were all the rage back then, and this was their first outing at the movies, so it was the perfect project for Hargitay to join as she found her footing in the entertainment world. Although, when she wound up on the bad side of those involved behind the scenes, they weren't as forgiving as Dick Wolf would be years later over her drunk haircut.

Cast in the role of Dulcea, things were going well for Hargitay on the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" film set until Christmas rolled around. "We were getting close to Christmas, and they had me on hold a lot," she said during an appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," adding that by December 21, she decided to just go home. Hargitay spent the holidays with her family, and on January 3, she got ahold of those working on the film to let them know she was ready to come back. Instead of bringing her back, they fired her for not working through the holiday and replaced her with Gabrielle Fitzpatrick.

While she wasn't able to become a "Power Rangers" icon, Mariska Hargitay certainly became the star of the "Law & Order" franchise — despite an unexpectedly short haircut.