Mariska Hargitay found her prince on Law and Order set

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Mariska Hargitay proved her matchmaker pal wrong when she found love on the set of 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.

The 55-year-old actress' friend had been worried that Mariska would never meet a man because she was working such long hours on the TV show but Mariska surprised her when she fell for guest-star Peter Hermann.

Speaking on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Mariska explained: "She threw a dinner party for me and she was like, 'Mariska, you need to get out more' ... I could never go anywhere because 15 hours a day, 16 hours a day (on set) every day.

"She said, 'No prince handsome is going to walk in on the show and you're going to marry him.'"

The couple first met in 2002 when the 52-year-old joined the show in a recurring role as attorney Trevor Langan and she admitted he had her feeling "giddy" from day one.

Mariska said: "I was so nervous and a little bit giddy. It was funny because (co-star Chris) Meloni was there. He was watching me and he'd never seen me act like this - ever."

After 15-years of marriage - and 21 seasons - the crime fighting couple now have three children together - sons August Miklos Friedrich, 13, and Andrew Nicolas Hargitay, eight, and eight-year-old daughter Amaya Josephine.

Later this month, the family of five will dress up for Halloween and they always choose a theme.

Last year, the gang dressed up as 'The Avengers' with mum and dad as Black Widow and Captain America, August as Hawkeye, Andrew as Iron Man and Amaya as Valkyrie.

However, Mariska is not quite sure what the family will get up to this year.

She explained: "This year, the littles - we call them (the youngest two) the littles - decided they wanted to be 'Descendants'. Of course I hadn't seen this movie and didn't know what it was. I was like, 'You guys pick it, I'm in,' and August was like, 'No.'"