Mariska Hargitay will host the Emmy Awards on September 14: the first woman in this role in 15 years

NBC has announced that Mariska Hargitay, 62, will host the 78th Emmy Awards ceremony, scheduled for September 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. This choice marks a turning point: no woman has held the role since Jane Lynch in 2011. Before her, only Ellen DeGeneres (in 2001 and 2005) and Heidi Klum, during a joint presentation in 2008, had hosted the event. The ceremony is usually entrusted to male late-night talk show hosts or comedians. This choice coincides with NBC's centennial; the network broadcasts the ceremony and is also the home of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since its debut in 1999. "Mariska has earned her place among television icons. Few actors have made such a mark on the small screen," said Jen Neal, executive vice president of live events for NBC/Peacock.

Olivia Benson's 27 seasons, one Emmy win and eight nominations

Mariska Hargitay is best known for portraying Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 1999, a role that holds the record for the longest screen time in an American primetime drama series. She is about to begin filming the show's 28th season. She won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006 and was nominated eight times in the same category between 2004 and 2011. She also won an Emmy for Outstanding Documentary Feature in 2017 as a producer of I Am Evidence. Her documentary about her mother, 1950s star Jayne Mansfield, titled My Mom Jayne and broadcast on HBO, is also nominated this year.

"A tremendous honor": the actress's words to introduce the ceremony

“Highlighting important stories has always been the guiding thread of my career,” Mariska Hargitay said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to host the 78th Emmy Awards as NBC celebrates its centennial and to pay tribute to this extraordinary community of creators. Whether it’s an actor, a director, a costume designer, or a sound engineer, we all share the same laughter, the same tears, and the same eagerness to see what’s next.”