Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a spin-off of the crime drama Law & Order, follows the detectives who work in the "Special Victims Unit" of the 16th District, New York City Police Department, a unit that focuses on crimes involving rape, sexual assault and child molestation, as well as any crime loosely connected with any of the three, such as domestic violence, kidnapping and child abandonment. Since its debut in September 1999, the series has generally shown four detectives working the unit, though at times, five, under the leadership of Captain Donald Cragen. The unit also has a prosecutor assigned from the DA's office, and frequently interacts with specific medical examiners and the unit's psychiatrist George Huang.
Three of the regular characters have appeared in three other NBC series: Captain Donald Cragen (Florek), who was on the first three seasons of Law & Order, Sergeant John Munch (Belzer), formerly a Baltimore detective on Homicide: Life on the Street. This character also made appearances on Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Arrested Development, The Beat, The X-Files and the HBO series The Wire. Alexandra Cabot (March) was a lead character in the first and only season of Conviction where she had been promoted to Bureau Chief Executive ADA.
The characters of Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler were named for creator Dick Wolf's children. Wolf's third child, daughter Sarina, had a character named for her, Benson's mother was named Serena, as well as former ADA Serena Southerlyn on the original Law & Order and Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
| Character | Portrayed by | Occupation | Season | #Episodes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | ||||
| Olivia Benson | Mariska Hargitay | Junior Detective/ Senior Detective |
Main | ~282 | ||||||||||||
| Nick Amaro | Danny Pino | Detective | Main | 9 | ||||||||||||
| Amanda Rollins | Kelli Giddish | Detective | Main | 10 | ||||||||||||
| Elliot Stabler | Christopher Meloni | Senior Detective | Main | ~272 | ||||||||||||
| John Munch | Richard Belzer | Senior Detective/ Sergeant |
Main | 226 | ||||||||||||
| Odafin Tutuola | Ice-T | Junior Detective/ Senior Detective |
Main | ~258 | ||||||||||||
| Chester Lake | Adam Beach | Junior Detective | Recurring | Main | 20 | |||||||||||
| Monique Jeffries | Michelle Hurd | Junior Detective | Main | Recurring | 25 | |||||||||||
| Donald Cragen | Dann Florek | Captain | Main | ~280 | ||||||||||||
| Dr. George Huang | B.D. Wong | Psychiatrist | Recurring | Main | 140 | |||||||||||
| Dr. Melinda Warner | Tamara Tunie | Medical Examiner | Recurring | Main | Recurring | 203 | ||||||||||
| Alexandra Cabot | Stephanie March | Assistant District Attorney | Main | Guest | Recurring | Main | Recurring | 94 | ||||||||
| Casey Novak | Diane Neal | Assistant District Attorney | Main | Guest | Recurring | 111 | ||||||||||
| Kim Greylek | Michaela McManus | Assistant District Attorney | Main | 13 | ||||||||||||
Olivia Benson is a detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, which investigates sex crimes and abuse. She is primarily partnered with Elliot Stabler, until he retires after season 12. She is tough, empathetic,[1] and completely dedicated to her job, to the point that she is seen as having no personal life. Her dedication sometimes wreaks havoc on her emotional state as she empathizes with victims of sexual assault, having been the child of rape and later the victim of sexual assault while undercover. She has allowed her compassion for victims of abuse to sometimes cloud her professional judgment and impede her ability to remain impartial. Hargitay has received both a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Benson.
John Munch was a detective and now a Sergeant, in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. A conspiracy theorist and dedicated detective, Munch is first partnered with Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), whom he thinks of as a kind of younger brother, alternately poking fun at him and imparting (often questionable) advice on life and women. When Cassidy leaves the precinct in 2000,[2] Munch is briefly partnered with Monique Jeffries (Michelle Hurd),[3] and then with Odafin Tutuola (Ice-T).[4] He and the gruff, uncompromising Tutuola get off to a rough start, but gradually came to like and respect each other.
The character was first created for the NBC police drama Homicide: Life on the Street, where he worked as a homicide detective with the Baltimore Police Department. The character was based on Jay Landsman, a central figure in David Simon's true crime book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, a documentary account of the homicide unit's operation over one year.[5] After the series cancellation in 1999, the character was transferred to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, having appeared within the original Law & Order in cross-over episodes. Within the series, it is eventually said he left Baltimore after his wife cheated on him with a friend. Munch has been the only fictional character played by a single actor to appear on eight different television shows: Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, The X-Files, Arrested Development, The Beat and The Wire.
Odafin "Fin" Tutuola is a detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. He was raised in Harlem and he served in the United States Army, where he saw combat in Mogadishu.[6][7] A former undercover narcotics detective, Tutuola replaced Monique Jeffries after she left the squad in 2000. He transferred out of narcotics after his partner was shot. He initially has a rocky relationship with his colleagues in SVU, especially his partner John Munch and Olivia Benson. He sees the world in black and white, with all criminals equally deserving of prison regardless of extenuating circumstances. He also keeps a tight rein on his emotions, refusing to talk about his problems or to admit that the grisly nature of his work often affects him. He rarely talks about his personal life, not revealing he has a son to his fellow detectives until the sixth season. As the series progresses, he becomes closer with Munch and saves Benson from being raped. However, he also begins clashing more frequently with fellow detective Elliot Stabler. As of the Season 8 episode "Screwed", he is assigned Chester Lake as his new partner. After Lake kills a suspect, Stabler accuses Tutuola of tipping him off before he is taken into custody, and checks his phone records. Tutuola admits he called Lake, but says he did not expect him to run. Stabler quasi-apologizes for not trusting him, but Tutuola dismisses his apology because he believes Stabler will always be the same "bulldog". Afterwards, he requests a transfer from the squad, however the man in charge of transfers is a former colleague of Tutuola's who holds a grudge against him. Tutuola resolves himself to being "stuck" and his captain, Don Cragen, orders him to investigate a case with Stabler, who he calls a "headcase" and "cranky-balls". In more recent episodes, Tutuola has again warmed to Stabler. In 2009's "Solitary", when a suspect injures Stabler, Tutuola nearly throttles the suspect for attacking his "friend".
Donald Cragen is the Captain of the Special Victims Unit. A former homicide detective, he is portrayed as a somewhat stern but understanding father figure to the detectives who work under him and he gives them a great deal of leniency because he trusts their ability to get results, although he had an early habit of haranguing them about the weaknesses of their investigations. He was an alcoholic for much of his early career, but goes sober after pulling his service revolver on a taxi driver in a drunken rage.[8] He has remained sober since, even after the death of his wife in a plane crash. Florek originally portrayed the character from 1990 to 1993 in the original Law & Order series. In that series, Cragen was investigated by internal affairs for corruption. During the investigation to prove his innocence, he discovered that he was being framed by his former captain and mentor, whom he turns in. He has maintained bitter relations with the police bureaucracy ever since.[9] He is later transferred out of the Anti-Corruption Task Force before transferring to the newly formed Special Victims Unit.
Nick Amaro is a New York detective who transferred to the Special Victims Unit from Warrants and Narcotics.[12] He mentions that his wife, Maria (Laura Benanti), is doing overseas reporting in Iraq. Since Maria has been deployed in Iraq, she feels Nick often "interrogates" her.[13] Amaro is fluent in Spanish,[14] and has a living mother (Nancy Ticotin) and a 4-year-old girl named Zara (Alison Fernandez).[15] While Rollins was used to flush out a suspect, Amaro risks losing a suspect after punching him repeatedly, as the suspect was attempting to rape Rollins.[16] Amaro is a firm believer in divorce, and he tells Olivia that his parents had an abusive relationship where his father abused his mother before he walked out of their lives and moved to Miami, FL when he was young.[17] Amaro does not have any sympathy for anyone who rapes children or the mentally disabled, and once had an urge to physically assault a suspect, but Benson told him a solution would be to ensure that the perpetrator(s) never see the light of day.[18]
Amanda Rollins is a detective from Atlanta, Georgia and moves to New York City to join the Special Victims Unit, amazed at the work Detective Benson has done over the past few years.[20] Shortly after transferring, Rollins deals with a serial rapist who originated in Atlanta that began to victimize women the further he moved up the East Coast. Rollins does all she can to prove to Detectives Benson and Amaro that her rapist is in New York, almost falling victim to him in an attempt to flush him out; he took a preference to blonde and athletic women.[16] Rollins has mentioned that she has a sister who has psychotic problems and abuses drugs, and that while she was still a detective in Atlanta, there was an accident that occurred that allowed for her to transfer to the SVU.[18] During a sting operation, Rollins tells Fin that one way she acquired her shield was doing sleazy undercover work, such as going undercover as a prostitute.[13]
Elliot Stabler is a detective in Manhattan's 16th Precinct, also known as the Special Victims Unit, which investigates sex crimes. A former Marine and a dedicated detective, he has a 97 percent closure rate, but his dedication can turn to obsession and cause him to take cases personally. At the start of the series he is married with four children. He separates from his wife Kathy during the series, and she files for divorce, but they reconcile after she becomes pregnant with their fifth child. He identifies as a Catholic, and his faith sometimes complicates the cases he works on. His partner is Olivia Benson, with whom he generally has a good working relationship, but it is not without tension and friction.
In the Season 13 premiere, Scorched Earth, it is revealed that Stabler has made the decision to retire from SVU.
Monique Jeffries was a police detective with Manhattan's 16th Precinct, which investigates sex crimes, and one of the initial detectives in the SVU unit. Earlier in the series, she is partnered with various detectives, including Brian Cassidy. Initially, she is only seen at headquarters, doing research and showing up in court for various cases to represent the department. After Cassidy's departure near the end of the first season, she partners with Munch and begins going actively on investigations. Shortly after this, she is physically and emotionally shaken when a car explodes while she is pursuing a fleeing suspect. Survival of the incident leaves her feeling "restless", and she has a one night stand with a man she recognized as a suspect in a previous sexual assault case the unit had investigated. After she confesses this to a department psychiatrist, who is working for a commission investigating problems in various police units, she is taken off active duty and ordered to receive treatment. Captain Don Cragen, feeling she has become "reckless" and "a danger" to herself supports the decision. Finding desk duty intolerable, she cleans out her desk and leaves her gun and badge on the desk of Captain Cragen. In the second season, it is revealed that she was eventually reinstated and transferred to the Vice Unit.
Detective Chester Lake transferred to the Manhattan SVU from the Brooklyn Special Victims Unit at the end of the eighth season and was partnered with Detective Fin Tutuola. He is of Native American ancestry, specifically Mohawk, and speaks proudly of his ancestors. He also used to compete as an amateur mixed martial artist under the name "Naptime", but had to quit after tearing his ACL. In the final episode of the ninth season, Lake begins attending meetings of individuals in Philadelphia who share information on "cold" murder cases. He later shoots and kills a fellow police officer, who was suspected of raping two illegal immigrant girls ten years ago, killing one. Lake disappears while his fellow detectives investigate. They are able to prove Lake killed the other cop in self defense after he was shot at himself by a second NYPD officer with a history of brutality. Lake is found, wounded, and taken to the hospital. The second officer, however, is released after the jury deadlocks. The officer is killed the same night and Lake is found standing over the body and makes no denial to his fellow SVU detectives. He is arrested and last seen in the series sitting handcuffed in a police car. It was confirmed on April 18, 2008 that Beach would not be returning to the series to reprise the role in the subsequent season.[22]
Brian Cassidy was a detective in the SVU during the series' first season. The youngest and least experienced member of the precinct, he has a genuine desire to put rapists and child molesters in prison, but lacked the professional detachment necessary to deal with the often grisly sex crimes. He often has trouble concealing his anger and revulsion toward the cases he investigates and this created friction between him and his colleagues, made worse when they poke fun at his relative lack of sophistication. A genuinely talented and driven police detective, he makes a real effort to learn from the other members of the precinct, particularly Munch, whom he thinks of as a sort of older brother/mentor figure. He has a brief affair with Olivia Benson, and has trouble dealing with her after the relationship ends. Cassidy was written out of the show midway through the first season. Cragen sends him to interview a young girl who was repeatedly raped and brutalized, causing Cassidy to realize that he cannot emotionally handle the types of crimes that a SVU detective must deal with on a daily basis. Cragen then offers to assist Cassidy with a transfer to another department, narcotics.
Detective Danielle "Dani" Beck was Detective Olivia Benson's temporary replacement in season 8, while Benson was on an undercover assignment (Mariska Hargitay was on maternity leave). Dani had a husband, a cop named Mike Dooley, who was shot and killed in the line of duty. Off to a rocky start at first, she and Stabler eventually gained a mutual respect for one another. A turning point in their relationship occurred when they shared a passionate kiss after celebrating a case at a bar, although post-kiss nothing more than increased sexual chemistry was ever implied. Following a case involving child abuse in which a traumatized adopted girl, whom Beck had been caring for, attempted to burn down her apartment and kill them both, Beck said to Stabler she could not stand working in the Special Victims Unit anymore unless he asked her to stay. Stabler reluctantly said he could not make that decision for her, so Dani decided it would be best to return to her old post at the Warrants squad. Hargitay returned to her role as Benson in the following episode.
Dr. Huang is an FBI forensic psychiatrist and criminal profiler, specializing in studying sexual predators and their victims. Though he is liked and respected by the SVU detectives and they generally defer to his professional judgment, his diagnoses sometimes hinder prosecutions, particularly where he finds mental illness, making defendants either not fully responsible for their crimes, or not fit to stand trial. He frequently observes interrogations of suspects, advising detectives on how to best interact to obtain a confession. Very little is known about Huang's personal life, other than that he is gay, which he noted in "Hardwired", has a sister (noted in "Inheritance"), and that he speaks Cantonese and Mandarin.
Dr. Warner is the NYC medical examiner. She served as a doctor in the U.S. Air Force during the Gulf War. She is married and has a teenaged daughter. Though originally a recurring character she more recently became a regular cast member, and was most prominently featured in the episodes "Blast" and "Harm", the former seeing her becoming directly involved, through a series of circumstances, in the efforts to rescue an eight-year-old kidnapping victim who has just been diagnosed with leukemia, and the latter seeing her testifying against another physician who is accused of helping the military to develop torture techniques. She is well liked by most of the SVU staff, though briefly goes against Stabler when he accuses her of botching a DNA test on Benson, expected to absolve her of a homicide (the DNA is later discovered to have been intentionally doctored to make Benson look guilty).
Dr. Skoda is a psychiatrist who works with the New York Police Department. In addition to his own private practice, he often testifies for the prosecution as an expert witness on whether a defendant is legally sane to stand trial. He also profiles suspects and offers advice to the district attorneys regarding witnesses' and suspects' mental state.
Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers was a recurring character in the Law & Order franchise. She was the medical examiner on SVU throughout the first season and has since been replaced by Dr. Melinda Warner. She also had a recurring role on Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Dr. Rebecca Hendrix is a former police officer who was at the police academy with Detective Benson.[23] She left the force to become a psychiatrist. She appears for three episodes in the series' sixth season, to replace series regular B.D. Wong while he was performing in Broadway's Pacific Overtures.[24] Within the series, it is said that Wong's character George Huang is on special assignment with the FBI back in Washington. Masterson reprises the role in the seventh season episode "Ripped" and in season eight's "Philadelphia". Mike Barry of Anton News stated that Masterson was "best known" for playing the role between 2004 and 2007.[25]
Cabot first appears in the SVU episode "Wrong Is Right", when she is hired to work with SVU as their permanent ADA. She survived an assassination attempt by a drug cartel's hitman and then entered the Witness Protection Program. She returned to testify against her assassin and she had returned to the DA's office in season 10. She also appeared in the short-lived Law & Order spinoff Conviction. Cabot was absent for the first four episodes of the 11th season to do some training in Albany in order to return to work with the SVU detectives by the fifth episode ("Hardwired") after EADA Sonya Paxton entered court-ordered alcohol rehab. She left SVU in the season 11 episode "Witness" to work for the International Criminal Court to seek justice for rape victims in the Congo. She later returned in "Scorched Earth".
Elizabeth Donnelly was SVU's Bureau Chief Executive Assistant District Attorney for 12 episodes from season 3 to 6 and season 10. In the District Attorney's office, she serves as the supervisor for Cabot, and her successor Casey Novak. Donnelly is elevated to judge in season 7. In the season 10 episode "Persona", Donnelly takes a leave of absence from her role as a judge and resumes her previous role as ADA, to prosecute a cold case she was involved with in the 1970s, when a battered woman (Brenda Blethyn) murdered her husband. She admits to Det. Olivia Benson that she was somewhat responsible for the woman absconding from custody and therefore took on the case due to "unfinished business." Her role in the escape leads to mishaps in the justice system being termed "doing a Donnelly" for many years to follow. This episode calls attention to the difficulty Donnelly experiences as a woman working in the justice system. But the revelation that the fugitive had been pregnant at the time of her crime leads Donnelly to what, for her, is an act of leniency. She leaves the office, yet again, and returns to the role of a judge.
Casey Novak was SVUs Assistant District Attorney (Seasons 5–9), who replaced ADA Alex Cabot. Although she quickly loses her innocence when dealing with sex crimes, she still shows uneasiness when dealing with the gray areas of human involvement, preferring the letter of the law to the messiness of each individual reality. Nonetheless, Novak has a 71 percent success rate in the cases she prosecutes, whereas the average for prosecutors is 44 percent. After initial hesitation, she becomes particularly close to Stabler as they bond over being Catholic and a love for sports. It is revealed that in her final year of law school, Novak was engaged to a man (Charlie) who suffered from schizophrenia. She ended the relationship when his symptoms became so severe she felt she could no longer be intimate with him. In 2002, Charlie attacked her in her home during a psychotic episode. She convinced the police not to press charges, but ended the relationship. He eventually became homeless, and was found dead as a "John Doe" in the spring of 2007. She developed a deep compassion for the mentally ill afterward, but still feels guilty for not being able to help him. She states that she is a big supporter of the U.S military. She says that her father was an M60 Door Gunner on a Huey during the Vietnam War. His helicopter crashed three times and he received a Purple Heart. In her final year as the SVU ADA, she grew increasingly more reckless and unsure in her prosecution. It is implied that friend and former boss Liz Donnelly aided in her censure, leading to her replacement by Kim Greylek.
It is revealed that Novak was censured for three years, and re-hired by the DA's office. This is explained in SVU episode "Reparations", where she returns to SVU to prosecute a rape case, with Law & Order: LA Deputy District Attorney Jonah Dekker representing the defendant. Casey not only finds herself at odds with Dekker, but also Judge Petrovsky, who she had previously lied to in the season 9 finale ("Cold"), which ultimately led to her censure.
Kim Greylek was the SVU's Assistant District Attorney who replaced Casey Novak at the beginning of Season 10. Greylek previously worked in the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women in Washington, D.C. where she had the nickname of "The Crusader." A dogged prosecutor, she pushed the detectives to make cases for the sake of politics in favor of pursuing actual offenders. She can be unrelenting, threatening to charge a defendant with a hate crime for raping two women and of having a teenage boy charged with assaulting a police officer so he can be tested for HIV. After appearing in only 14 episodes, the character was written out of the series as having left the unit to return to Washington. Greylek was replaced by former unit ADA Alexandra Cabot.
Sonya Paxton was SVUs Executive ADA who temporarily replaced Alexandra Cabot for four episodes in the 11th season, starting with the season premiere ("Unstable"). Working in the Appeals bureau, she was the first to get a Capital Conviction in New York when the then newly-elected Governor Pataki brought back the death penalty in 1995. Paxton was sent down by Jack McCoy to 'clean the house' in the 'he-said, she-said unit' due to too many convictions being overturned. However, things started out rocky as she butts heads with the SVU team, particularly Detective Stabler. In the second episode of Season 11 ("Sugar") she and he get into a heated argument after Paxton calls the suspect's lawyer after he declines his right to counsel twice. In the fourth episode of the season ("Hammered"), when a man drinks heavily and goes home and murders a woman he met at a bar, the defense blames alcoholism for the murder during the trial. Intending to use a computer-generated video mockup of the crime, Paxton accidentally plays a version in which the defendant's face is superimposed onto the attacker. The following morning, she arrives 45 minutes late to a mistrial hearing, appearing distraught and blaming a "fender bender". Judge Moredock asked if she would need medical help, but the defendant pointed out that she was drunk. Judge Moredock ordered Benson to come with a breathalyzer, which revealed her blood alcohol level was .082, resulting in a mistrial. The Judge ordered Paxton to seek treatment, prompting her temporary departure. At the end of "Hammered" she returns to the SVU squad and apologizes to the team, stating that she intends on making amends to each and every one of them.
She later appears in the episode "Turmoil", meeting Cabot outside the courtroom and telling her to watch out for Benson and Stabler, because they are only loyal to each other.
Sonya returned from her alcohol rehabilitation and served as an Executive ADA in the ninth episode ("Gray") of the 12th season to prove to the DA that she hadn't lost her 'winning ways'. In the seventeenth episode ("Pursuit"), she returns again to help out an old friend Alicia Harding who starts receiving personal threats. Paxton was murdered during the episode while investigating the identity of the stalker. While he was attacking her, she was able to obtain his DNA by biting him - which ultimately helped solve the case.
Jo Marlowe is drafted by Jack McCoy in the season 11 episode "Torch" after ADA Alexandra Cabot leaves to help rape victims in the Congo ("Witness"). A former lieutenant, Marlowe had been Elliot Stabler's partner approximately four years before Benson.[26] SVUs Executive Producer Neal Baer describes her character as “a funny adrenaline junkie who loves to be in the middle of everything and shares a past with Stabler. She’s been married before and has a lot of secrets.”[27] In the episode "Shattered", she reveals that she was diagnosed with an "aggressive" type of cancer and had a bilateral radical mastectomy a year before joining the SVU squad.[28]
Replacement for Mikka Von, she premieres mid-season. Hardwicke is a Brooklyn ADA who transfers to Manhattan SVU due to her great admiration for detectives Benson and Stabler. She has a 92% conviction rate (SVU: "Branded").
Executive ADA Michael Cutter (Law & Order) has been promoted to Bureau Chief Executive ADA and transferred to the Special Victims Unit where he is supervising the ADAs assigned to the precinct. Show runner Warren Leight stated, "If Cutter was a bit of a hot head in the past, the passage of time and some added responsibility in his new job has made him more mature, and perhaps a bit more jaded." Roache had to say, "I learned a lot from my time on Law & Order and it's going to be interesting to experiment with Cutter's development in this new context — I think Special Victims is going to be an area where Cutter's passion for justice can really come forth". The season 13 premiere episode, "Scorched Earth" was Cutter's first appearance on SVU.[11]
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technician Ruben Morales | Joel de la Fuente | 2002–present | 52 |
| Officer Ramirez | Donnetta Lavinia Grays | 2003–2007 | 7 |
| Officer Robbins | William H. Burns | 2002–2006 | 6 |
| Chief of Detectives Muldrew | John Schuck | 2004–2010 | 8 |
Full title: New York City Police Department Crime Scene Unit Forensic Technician Officers
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgie | Welly Yang | 1999–2003 | 13 |
| Captain Judith Siper | Caren Browning | 1999–present | 42 |
| Harry Martin | Lou Carbonneau | 2000–2002 | 12 |
| David Layton | Jordan Gelber | 2002–2003 | 8 |
| Burt Trevor | Daniel Sunjata | 2002–2004 | 15 |
| Ryan O'Halloran | Mike Doyle | 2003–2009 | 52 |
| Millie Vizcarrondo | Paula Garcés | 2005 | 4 |
| Dale Stuckey | Noel Fisher | 2009 | 4 |
| Adrienne ‘Andy’ Sung | James Chen | 2011–present | 4 |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUSA Claudia Williams | Pam Grier | 2003–2004 | 2 |
| AUSA Raul Menedez | Robert Montano | 2005 | 1 |
| AUSA Marion Springer | Jayne Atkinson | 2007 | 1 |
| AUSA Christine Danielson | Gloria Reuben | 2010–2011 | 2 |
| AUSA Camilla Velez | Valerie Cruz | 2010 | 1 |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DA Adam Schiff | Steven Hill | 2000 | 1 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| DA Nora Lewin | Dianne Wiest | 2000–2002 | 2 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| DA Arthur Branch | Fred Dalton Thompson | 2003–2006 | 11 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| DA Jack McCoy | Sam Waterston | 2007–2010 | 2 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CADA Charlie Phillips | Jeffrey DeMunn | 2000–2001 | 2 |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC-ADA Elizabeth Donnelly | Judith Light | 2002–2004, 2008 | 12 | Later Judge Elizabeth Donnelly |
| BC-ADA Tracey Kibre | Bebe Neuwirth | 2005 | 1 | Crossing over from Law & Order: Trial By Jury |
| BC-ADA Christine Danielson | Gloria Reuben | 2007 | 1 | Later AUSA Christine Danielson |
| BC-ADA Michael Cutter | Linus Roache | 2011–present[11] | 3 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EADA Jack McCoy | Sam Waterston | 2000 | 1 | Crossing over from Law & Order; later DA Jack McCoy |
| EADA Stan Villani | Ron Leibman | 2001 | 4 | |
| EADA - | Ben Gazzara | 2001 | 1 | |
| EADA Lydia Ramos | Priscilla Lopez | 2008 | 1 | |
| EADA Sonya Paxton | Christine Lahti | 2009–2011 | 7 | |
| EADA Garrett Blaine | Teddy Sears | 2010 | 1 |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADA Abbie Carmichael | Angie Harmon | 1999–2000 | 6 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| ADA Erica Alden | Reiko Aylesworth | 2000 | 3 | |
| ADA Kathleen Eastman | Jenna Stern | 2000 | 2 | |
| ADA Mark | John Benjamin Hickey | 2000 | 2 | |
| ADA David Goreman | Liam Craig | 2001 | 1 | |
| ADA Bettina Amador | Marisol Nichols | 2003 | 1 | |
| ADA Alexandra Cabot | Stephanie March | 2005–2009, 2011–present | 12 | Regular character from seasons 2–5, 11 |
| ADA Brinkman | Nick Basta | 2007 | 1 | |
| ADA Fritz | Albert Jones | 2007–2009 | 2 | |
| ADA Kristen Torres | Lizette Carrion | 2008–2009 | 2 | |
| ADA Samantha Copeland | Melinda McGraw | 2009 | 1 | |
| ADA Kendra Gill | Gretchen Egolf | 2009–2010 | 2 | |
| ADA Jo Marlowe | Sharon Stone | 2010 | 4 | |
| ADA Sherri West | Francie Swift | 2010–2011 | 4 | Later Defense Attorney Sherri West |
| ADA Mikka Von | Paula Patton | 2010 | 1 | |
| ADA Gillian Hardwicke | Melissa Sagemiller | 2010–2011 | 10 | |
| ADA Casey Novak | Diane Neal | 2011–present | 4 | Regular character from seasons 5–9 |
| ADA Rose Callier | Tabitha Holbert | 2011 | 1 |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roger Kressler | Ned Eisenberg | 1999–present | 18 | |
| James Woodrow | Craig Wroe | 2000–2007 | 9 | |
| Pam Alder | Paige Turco | 2001 | 1 | |
| Don Newvine | Frank Deal | 2001 | 3 | |
| Ms. Regal | Liz Larsen | 2001–2002 | 2 | |
| Carolyn Maddox | CCH Pounder | 2001–present | 5 | |
| Gina Bernado | Illeana Douglas | 2002–2003 | 3 | |
| Cleo Conrad | Jill Marie Lawrence | 2002–2008 | 17 | |
| Trevor Langan | Peter Hermann | 2002–present | 27 | |
| Nikki Staines | Callie Thorne | 2003–2004 | 2 | |
| Morty Berger | Michael Lerner | 2003–2006 | 2 | |
| Barry Moredock | John Cullum | 2003–2007 | 6 | Later Judge Barry Moredock |
| Donna Emmett | Viola Davis | 2003–2008 | 7 | |
| Rebecca Balthus | Beverly D'Angelo | 2003–2008 | 5 | |
| Lionel Granger | David Thornton | 2003–2010 | 10 | |
| Lorna Scarry | Mariette Hartley | 2003-present | 6 | |
| Dave Seaver | Michael Boatman | 2003–present | 7 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Lynne Riff | Blair Brown | 2004 | 2 | |
| Chauncey Zierko | Peter Riegert | 2004–2007 | 7 | |
| Oliver Gates | Barry Bostwick | 2004–2007 | 5 | |
| Jason Whitaker | Bradley Cooper | 2005 | 1 | Cross-over episode with Law & Order: Trial By Jury |
| Sophie Devere | Annie Potts | 2005–2009 | 4 | |
| Linden Delroy | J. Paul Nicholas | 2005–present | 11 | |
| Hashi Horowitz | Joe Grifasi | 2005–present | 8 | |
| Charlie Moss | James Naughton | 2006–2007 | 2 | |
| Matthew Braden | Steven Weber | 2007 | 3 | |
| Russell Hunter | Austin Lysy | 2007–present | 7 | |
| Avery Hemmings | Michelle Borth | 2008 | 1 | |
| Julia Zimmer | Kelly Bishop | 2008–2009 | 2 | |
| Miranda Pond | Alex Kingston | 2009–2010 | 4 | |
| Patrice Larue | Jeri Ryan | 2009–2010 | 3 | |
| Dwight Stannich | Robert Klein | 2009–present | 3 | |
| Ms. Owens | Monique Gabriela Curnen | 2010 | 1 | |
| Ingrid Block | Lena Olin | 2010 | 1 | |
| Orville Underwood | David Patrick Kelly | 2011 | 1 | |
| Jonah Dekker | Terrence Howard | 2011 | 1 | Crossing over from Law & Order: LA |
| Stan Exley | Ron Rifkin | 2011–present | 2 | |
| Bayard Ellis | Andre Braugher | 2011–present | 2 | |
| Sherri West | Francie Swift | 2011 | 1 |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judge Kevin Beck | Peter Francis James | 2000 | 5 | |
| Judge Barry Abrams | Patrick Tovatt | 2000 | 1 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Judge Walter Schreiber | John Ramsay | 2000 | 1 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Judge Margaret Barry | Doris Belack | 2000–2001 | 2 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Judge Susan Valdera | Leslie Ayvazian | 2000–2002 | 5 | |
| Judge Mark Seligman | Tom O'Rourke | 2000–2006 | 19 | |
| Judge Alan Ridenour | Harvey Atkin | 2000–present | 18 | |
| Judge Lena Petrovsky | Joanna Merlin | 2000–present | 43 | |
| Judge Arthur Cohen | David Lipman | 2002–2009 | 13 | |
| Judge Danielle Larsen | Sheila Tousey | 2003–2004 | 10 | |
| Judge Walter Bradley | Peter McRobbie | 2003–present | 17 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Judge Lois Preston | Audrie J. Neenan | 2003–present | 20 | |
| Judge Mary Clark | Marlo Thomas | 2004 | 4 | |
| Judge Philip Wyler | William Whitehead | 2004 | 2 | |
| Judge Oliver Taft | Tom Skerritt | 2004 | 1 | |
| Judge Rebecca Steinman | Susan Blommaert | 2004 | 1 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Judge Joseph Terhune | Philip Bosco | 2004–2006 | 6 | |
| Judge Karen Taten | Patricia Kalember | 2004–present | 9 | |
| Judge Elizabeth Donnelly | Judith Light | 2005–present | 13 | |
| Judge Joseph Malloy | Ron McLarty | 2006 | 1 | |
| Judge Peter Harrison | Peter Gerety | 2007–2008 | 3 | |
| Judge Gregory Trenton | John Henry Cox | 2007–2010 | 2 | |
| Judge Barry Moredock | John Cullum | 2008–present | 5 | |
| Judge Hilda Marsden | Swoosie Kurtz | 2009 | 1 | |
| Judge Joshua Koehler | Alan Dale | 2009 | 1 | |
| Judge L. Maskin | Tonye Patano | 2009–present | 5 | |
| Judge D. Andrews | Lindsay Crouse | 2009–present | 7 | |
| Judge Sylvia Quinn | Kate Nelligan | 2010–present | 2 | |
| Judge Marcus Ridiger | Dick Latessa | 2010 | 1 | |
| Judge Sheila Tripler | Anita Gillette | 2010 | 2 |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers | Leslie Hendrix | 1999–2000 | 9 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Dr. Emil Skoda | J.K. Simmons | 2000–2001 | 6 | Crossing over from Law & Order |
| Dr. Melinda Warner | Tamara Tunie | 2000–2005, 2011–present | 70 | Regular character from seasons 7–12 |
| Dr. George Huang | B.D. Wong | 2001–2002 | 20 | Regular character from seasons 4–12 |
| Paramedic Martinez | Joselin Reyes | 2003–present | 14 | |
| ER Nurse Carey Hutchins | Elizabeth Flax | 2003–present | 12 | |
| Dr. Rebecca Hendrix | Mary Stuart Masterson | 2004–2007 | 5 | |
| Dr. Emily Sopher | Linda Emond | 2004–present | 5 | |
| Dr. Kyle Beresford | Stephen Gregory | 2004–present | 18 | |
| Dr. Manning | Amir Arison | 2009–present | 8 |
| Name | Portrayed by | Year | # Eps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kathy Stabler | Isabel Gillies | 1999–2011 | 30 | |
| Maureen Stabler | Erin Broderick | 1999–2007 | 13 | |
| Kathleen Stabler | Holiday Segal | 1999 | 6 | |
| Richard "Dickie" Stabler | Jeffrey Scaperrotta | 1999–2009 | 17 | |
| Elizabeth Stabler | Patricia Cook | 1999–2007 | 13 | |
| Kathleen Stabler | Alison Siko | 2002–2011 | 16 | Replaced Holiday Segal as Kathleen |
| Eliot Stabler Jr. | Various | 2008–2011 | 3 | |
| Bernadette Stabler | Ellen Burstyn | 2008 | 1 | Elliot's mother |
FBI Agent Dean Porter, worked with Benson as her handler during her stint undercover in an eco-terrorist group during season 8. He has also worked with the squad on several federal cases ("Savant", "Screwed", "Florida", "Infiltrated", and "Spooked").
Simon Marsden is Detective Benson's half-brother and caused extensive trouble throughout season 8 for Olivia and the entire squad.
Ed Tucker is a detective in Internal Affairs who usually comes to question the SVU detectives whenever there is an allegation of misconduct. He has been mocked by Stabler every time he has shown up at the unit, and has an ongoing feud with Captain Cragen. Tucker was introduced as a Sergeant, and later promoted to Lieutenant.
An FBI agent, first introduced in the episode "Raw" while working undercover to bring down a white supremacist group. Agent Lewis specializes in undercover work, often working under assumed identities for weeks or even months at a time. Her family (husband and children) are currently living in Europe to protect them from criminals who attempt to retaliate against her. One of these criminals, the leader of the aforementioned supremacist group, ordered a fellow inmate to attack and rape her ("Penetration"). Elliot Stabler has been injured each time she has worked with them, though she was only responsible for one of these.
Sister Peg was a Catholic Nun who lived and worked in New York City. Most of her work involved helping and protecting prostitutes. As such, she sometimes came into contact with Manhattan SVU Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson. She was killed in the 12th season finale episode "Smoked".
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