Law & authority is one of those television phenomena that has been around for so long and spawned so many sequels and spin-offs that it’s virtually impossible for anyone who owns a TV not to have come across it in some form. Starting with the original Law and order in 1990, these procedural crime stories about the world of law enforcement and justice formed the basis for a staggering number of episodes across seven shows and over three decades. Their impeccable pace and reassuring reinforcement of the audience’s desire to see good triumph over evil in a relatable world has made this a franchise that will last for years and years to come.
Any television series that has been around for that long requires the work of a bewildering array of talented actors to keep the whole enterprise afloat. This means that for many up and coming actors, working on such a highly regarded series could be just the breakthrough they’ve been looking for. Coincidentally, one of the longest-running series (per USA today) in the cannon Law & Order: special unit for victims (aka SVU) featured not only early appearances from stars-to-be, but also cameo appearances from big names looking to join the Law & authority universe. With that in mind, we look at seven big stars that popped up SVU which you may have forgotten.
7 Zoe Saldana
For Zoe Saldana found massive success in three of the greatest sci-fi franchises of all time (star trek, avatar, and the MCU through Guardians of the Universe), she paid her dues as a working actor making her rounds in small roles in various television shows and movies. She has actually been featured in the Law & authority universe twice, but we’ll focus on her second appearance because the role is more important. In the 2004 SVU episode “Criminal”, Saldaña plays the protective daughter of a criminology professor with a criminal past. The episode tackles police bias in a striking way by making one of the main cast (Captain Cragen, played by Don Florek) so blinded by his hatred of this former criminal that he ignores the evidence right in front of him.
While there are few scenes, Saldaña stands out for establishing her character’s justified attitude toward law enforcement with every facial expression and word she says. Likewise, we feel how difficult it is for her to turn to them for help when her father jumps into the deep end after the wrongful conviction of murdering the woman he loved. It’s a relatively small role that imbues her with real power.
6 Sarah Paulson
According to her IMDb, the Law & authority episode “Family Values”. Sarah Paulson‘s first on-screen acting credit. In the episode, she plays a 17-year-old girl suspected of murdering her mother. The episode showcases the talent she would spend decades honing, resulting in her current status as an acting icon. In 2010, she returned to the franchise in the SVU Season 11 episode “Shadow”. This time, she plays a woman who killed her mother (and father) to guarantee she won’t be expunged from the will.
This time, Paulson can play things around a bit and nibble on the scenery. You never doubt that she killed her parents and the fun part is watching her barely disguise that fact before blowing up and revealing the rage boiling beneath the surface. It’s not a particularly funny character, but there’s a campy glint in Paulson’s eye that’s entertaining to watch – even if the rest of the episode isn’t great.
5 Bradley Cooper
Although he is the current marquee name associated with the SVU season 6 episode “Night”. Bradley Cooper is just one of four famous faces featured in this dark and violent story. While investigating a series of unsolved rapes, Stabler and Benson meet a woman who advocates for undocumented women. She’s played by Rita Moreno, who you probably remember as Anita in the first big screen adaptation of West Side Story. They trace some fingerprints to a powerful but villainous lawyer played by Cooper.
You hate him from the moment he appears on screen. Not only is he smug, but he also seems to enjoy touting his understanding of the law over humans as if it were to excuse his asshole behavior. His client (who is identified as a rapist) is played by Doctor Otto Octavius himself, Alfred Molina, another genius with a dark side. Perhaps the most incredible and unexpected guest in the episode is one Angela Lansbury. Instead of solving the murder like she was supposed to Murder she wroteshe is a cold, cruel woman who tries to protect her criminal son from criminal prosecution.
4 Robin Williams
For all who hoped to see Robin Williams play the Joker in one Batman movie, the season 9 episode of SVU (entitled “Authority”) is as close as you’re going to get. He plays a man with a personal vendetta against anyone in authority, thanks to his trust in a doctor who let his pregnant wife die. While he doesn’t cause the kind of mayhem the clown prince of crime would, he comes pretty close by inspiring the masses to rise up against their employers and the status quo in an effort to shake them out of their cattle-like to exist.
He defends himself in court after convincing a fast food manager to sexually assault an employee (and wins), stages a pillow fight on the courthouse steps, disguises his voice to create false alibis, and even has a secret lair. As dramatic and hard to take seriously as his antics are (the comic book tone doesn’t fit it SVU, and as superficial as the episode’s arguments are, Williams never wavers in his performance. We totally buy him as a real man who has allowed tragedy to corrupt and twist him in horrible ways.
3 Sebastian Stan
The season 13 Law & authority episode “Sheltered” has some problems. On the one hand, it is about punishing the perpetrator of several public shootings that left four dead. On the other hand, the person in question is a teenager who was taken away from his family and raised by a stranger who did not want to give him a social life, making him completely co-dependent. That moral conundrum is an interesting one, but McCoy’s adamant belief that the shooter was in complete control of his mental faculties (when he clearly wasn’t) muddies the waters a bit. However, what shines through that dark conflict is Sebastian Stanthe performance of the teenager in question. The then-future Marvel star balanced some intense emotions and he does so with absolute fearlessness. Ty Burrell (a bonus entry for this list) is also very good as the man who corrupted this poor boy. It is clear why both actors became so well known.
2 Serena Williams
Of all the stars on this list, the inclusion of Serena Williams is perhaps the most strenuous. Her role in the Season 5 episode “Brotherhood”. is really a cameo, at best. However, she is one of the most recognizable athletes in the world and “actor” is not the first thing that comes to mind when she is mentioned. That’s why she’s definitely a huge star that you probably forgot she was in Law & Order: SVU.
The episode is about ritual sexual abuse by a sorority and how institutions have a way of protecting the guilty, no matter how horrific their crimes are. Williams plays Chloe Spiers, a college basketball star who was one of many young women exploited by a fraternity brother, who filmed himself having sex with them and spread the videos online. Her character isn’t on screen for very long, but she fulfills the crucial plot function by providing detectives with an important piece of information that takes them one step closer to finding their killer.
1 Maarten Short
Honestly, the only conceivable way to forget that Maarten Short was in such a horrific episode of SVU as “pure” is if you’ve never seen it, or never heard of Martin Short (which seems unlikely). In the episode, the titular unit tries to find a missing young woman and is constantly hindered by a proposed psychic played by short. He seems to have supernatural knowledge of not only the kidnapping, but also of the detectives. He makes them run in circles as he tries to conduct their research effectively and find out exactly what his angle is.
As viewers, we find out early on, but the tension comes from the question of whether the detectives will put everything together in time to save the woman. Everything gets really dark once the truth about Short’s character and his motivations is revealed. Short is truly disturbing in the role of this utterly vile human being with beliefs that horrifically mirror much of the toxic masculine rhetoric circulating the internet in real life. Let this episode serve as a reminder of how repulsive and dangerous it is to assume you’re entitled to something simply because of your twisted notions of what it means to belong to the male gender.