Mariska was born on the 23rd of January, 1964 in Santa Monica, California, USA. She was born into a high class family, with her mother being Jayne Mansfield, a top actress in the 50s. Likewise, her father Mickey Hargitay was also an actor/ model who had been crowned the Mr. Universe. Born and raised in the USA, she is of Hungarian descent and has mixed ethnicity. Raised as the youngest of three children, she saw her parents get divorced in 1963, but lived together as their divorce was not legalized. With her father married to another woman, she and her brothers lived with their step mother, after their mom died. As a child, she studied at the Marymount High School, and built herself as an athlete, a cheerleader and a model. Upon her graduation in 1982, she went to study at the UCLA and enrolled in the School of Theater Film and Television. She started to appear in a couple of dramas and theatre acts, before participating in the beauty hunt programs.

In 1982, she won the Miss Beverly Hills USA title, which was her first noticeable achievement. Appearing in the music video of "She Loves My Car" song, she ended up 4th in the Miss California beauty competition in 1983, after which she made her debut through Ghoulies. She thought of never appearing in a TV drama role again, until she was offered a role in Down Town (1986), followed by her role of Carly Fixx in Falcon Crest. Some of her other notable roles have come in Tequila and Bonetti (1992), Can't Hurry Love (1995), All-American Girl, In the Heat of the Night, Leaving Las Vegas and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995). With multiple awards and nominations to her names, she has had a very successful career and undeniably has got a wide fan following as well.

A very beautiful and attractive woman, it is not hard to guess where her looks and charms came from. With her dark brown eyes and long brown hair, she has a very curvy and attractive body, which she has not held back to expose. With many hot photos available in the media, she has also played in some bold roles and is considered to be sexy by her fans. With a height of 5 feet and 7 inches tall, her bosy measurements read 36-25-36 inches, and her last recorded weigh was about 62 kg. With a total of 6.5 million followers on Twitter, her estimated net worth value in 2015 is 45 million US dollars.