Olivia Benson

Captain Olivia Margaret "Liv" Benson (born February 7, 1968) is the commanding officer of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. Before taking over SVU, Benson worked as an SVU detective and was partnered with Elliot Stabler for over thirteen years. After Elliot's resignation, Benson partnered primarily with Nick Amaro before she became a sergeant and took over the SVU unit from Captain Donald Cragen. In 2015, she was promoted to Lieutenant.

When she was a detective, her badge number was #4015. As a sergeant, her badge number was #01139. As a lieutenant and captain, she no longer has a badge number.

In 2019, she was promoted to Captain by Deputy Chief William Dodds. (SVU: "I'm Going To Make You a Star")

Family

Olivia was born on February 7, 1968 as the product of the rape of her mother, Serena Benson in the spring of 1967 by a food salesman named Joseph Hollister, who later committed suicide. At the time of the rape, Serena had been working in the cafeteria of Columbia University. Serena was an alcoholic who emotionally and physically abused Benson. Serena died from injuries sustained in a fall in 2000 when she was drunk walking out of a bar, which left Benson deeply saddened. Olivia never visited her mother's grave, until a case left her shook (SVU: "Hammered").

Benson has a half-brother named Simon Marsden. She didn't find out about her brother until she illegally ran her DNA through a kinship analysis in 2007 (SVU: "Haystack"). Simon was later accused of a series of break-ins and one rape, for which he was later cleared. Simon makes his way into her life again in 2012, this time with a family of his own, including a daughter he named Olivia after her aunt. Simon sought her help in keeping his family intact but this failed. (SVU: "Child's Welfare") In 2019, Olivia bumps into Simon after a few years and wanted him to have lunch with her and Noah, but when he didn't show up, Olivia tried calling him, but he never answered. One day, she gets a call from the morgue and when Olivia went to go see who it was, she found out it was her half-brother Simon. Olivia found out that he actually died of an overdose. (SVU: "Murdered at a Bad Address", "Trick-Rolled At The Moulin'")

In 2010, Olivia was appointed to be the legal guardian of Gladys Dalton's cocaine afflicted premature daughter who passed away after Benson gave the doctors permission to perform surgery to try and save her life. (SVU: "Savior")

Olivia is appointed Calvin Arliss' legal guardian too, but her legal guardian rights were then terminated by Calvin's mother Vivian Arliss through his paternal grandparents. After her legal guardian rights were terminated, she is shown to still have kept in contact with Calvin, since he came over to New York on Halloween to see Olivia. (SVU: "Trophy", "Rescue", "Missing Pieces"). At one time during the investigation of Vivian's case, Olivia suspected that Vivian was her half-sister because Vivian's mother was also a student at the same university as Olivia's mother.

In 2014, after the Season 15 finale, Benson becomes the court-appointed custodial guardian of Noah Porter, an orphaned baby who she rescued from child pornographers. The appointment is for a trial period of one year, with the option to apply for legal adoption at the end of that period; Although the year is rocky due to Noah's health issues and the demands of her job, Benson formally adopts Noah a year later at the end of Season 16, with the name of Noah Porter Benson.

Noah's biological mother was Ellie Porter and his biological father was Johnny Drake who was Ellie's pimp. Ellie died of a drug overdose and Johnny Drake a.k.a. Johnny D was shot and killed by Detective Nick Amaro while trying to escape from the courthouse during his trial.

Later on, when Noah was about 8-years-old, Olivia found out that Ellie's mother Sheila Porter was alive. She allowed Noah to have a relationship with his maternal grandmother Sheila until he was kidnapped by a man hired by Sheila. Olivia found out about it and Sheila was sent to prison for kidnapping.

Personality and sexual assault

Benson is deeply sympathetic to victims of sex crimes and as a result, she is often quick to believe victims' stories. Her former partner Elliot Stabler was often more skeptical of victims' accounts, which often brought the two partners into conflict. Benson's ability to sympathize with victims is a tremendous asset, but there are times when it comes back to haunt her.

In "Undercover", she went undercover in a women's prison to find a serial rapist and was almost raped herself until Detective Odafin Tutuola, also undercover there as a guard in the facility, managed to save her just moments before the man (a fellow guard) could violate her.

Afterward, Benson developed a severe case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but has been receiving counseling for the assault and has been seen dealing with it more constructively. (SVU: "PTSD")

While speaking to a victim of a separate rape, the victim asked her if she was better having dealt with her rapist, and Benson told her that she was better, but that she wouldn't ever forget what happened. (SVU: "Smut")

At the end of the season 14 finale "Her Negotiation", Benson is kidnapped by serial rapist/murderer William Lewis.

Lewis makes her watch while he rapes and tortures the mother of his attorney, kills her father and later a police officer who attempted to pull him over. He then beats and tortures her, burning her with cigarettes and wire hangers, and holds her hostage for four days. Just as he is about to rape her, she breaks free and attacks, handcuffs him, and holds him at gunpoint. When he taunts her, she loses control and beats him within an inch of his life with an iron rod. She is rescued by her fellow detectives moments later, and Cragen puts her on mandatory leave so she can recover. (SVU: "Surrender Benson")

She returns to work in the following episode, "Imprisoned Lives", which takes place two months later, but is still haunted by the experience as seen when she was harsh on a conspirator who aided a pedophilic kidnapper . She begins seeing a therapist to cope with the trauma. It is later revealed that Lewis survived and is in jail awaiting trial.

In "Psycho/Therapist", Lewis fires his new attorney and chooses to represent himself. He calls Benson as a witness and accuses her of assaulting him because he rejected her sexual advances. She vehemently denies it and lies under oath that he had broken free of his restraints and lunged at her. Lewis is found guilty of kidnapping and assaulting a police officer, but the jury, led by a foreperson with a deep hatred for Benson, voices doubts about Benson's story and acquits him of attempted rape. The episode closes with Benson weeping on the courthouse stairs and, four months later, Lewis being wheeled away on a stretcher faking an illness.

In "Beast's Obsession", Lewis uses the distraction caused by his (self-induced) cardiac incident to escape from prison. He then rapes a teenage girl, kidnaps her younger sister and threatens to kill her unless Benson tells the truth about her testimony. Benson holds a press conference and admits that she lied on the witness stand. When Lewis does not release the girl, Benson tracks him down and surrenders to him. With his hostage watching, Lewis at first attempts to rape Benson, but changes his mind when she refuses to show him fear; instead, he forces her to play Russian roulette with him. As a police squad closes in, Lewis taunts her one last time before committing suicide right in front of her. In order to prevent the girl from having further trauma, Benson tells the girl to turn around so she doesn't see Lewis kill himself.

In "Post-Mortem Blues", she is brought before a grand jury to explain her admission and Lewis' death. Her career is threatened until Declan Murphy tells the grand jury that he instructed Benson to lie in her press conference, thus clearing her of Lewis' death and possible perjury charges. Murphy then makes Benson his second-in-command until he got transferred out for a undercover assignment.

She later identifies with a woman named Sarah Walsh who, like her, was sexually assaulted twice and helps both her and herself in dealing with these incidents. Sarah was raped at gunpoint by a man name Michael Wedmore. When she was sexually assaulted the second time, she was raped by a man named Cameron Tyler.

While a dedicated officer, Benson is more likely to go to bat for women she deals with during cases than men and has shown skepticism during cases where women are the offenders and men are the victims, or allows her sympathy for the victim to cloud her judgment and make her commit actions without thinking. This was exemplified when she interrogated a man until he confessed to a crime which he was later found to be innocent of and sending him to prison for life, which could have been avoided if she was thinking clearly enough to check on the evidence. (SVU: "Justice Denied")

On The Job

Benson is extremely empathetic and often comforts rape or abuse victims. Sometimes, she goes too far helping victims, particularly in her first year in the Special Victims Unit, which sometimes lands her in trouble. She has a strong hatred for rapists, domestic and child abusers, pedophiles and child molesters, which she never hides. She also hates it when women, men or children lie about being raped, which is particularly shown in the April Troost and Christine Hartwell cases and shows anger and coldness towards them even if they continue to claim they were raped.

Benson has been assaulted a large number of times on the job but is usually able to bounce back with little to no injuries. In 2021, she got into a car accident and was injured, with her leg broken. She was still able to work but mainly in the office. She was able to return to outside work a few weeks later. Another time in 2010, she unintentionally inhaled steam coming from a boiling pot of poisonous mushrooms. While interrogating a suspect, she started saying nonsensical statements before passing out unconscious. Upon waking up in hospital, she appeared to have a headache but there were no serious concerns or any harm done towards her and was quickly able to return to work once she had been dismissed from hospital.

Benson was violently physically assaulted on the streets one night by gang members in front of a terrified Noah, with the gang members also attempting to murder both her and Noah but failing at this. This left her with a huge black eye. As a result of the brutal assault towards Benson, the case was taken over by the Bronx Special Victims Unit, with Mike Duarte leading the case.

Once the case concluded and the criminal who had put a hit on her and Noah was arrested and imprisoned along with the gang members who assaulted her, Stabler drove Noah home and attempted to kiss Benson. However, Benson recoiled, stating that she wants to kiss him, but she is scared that if they entered a romantic relationship with each other, it won't work out. Stabler reassures her and tells her that it might work out if they both give it a try, but Benson still refuses to kiss him, telling Stabler that she is not ready to be in a romantic relationship with anyone yet which upsets both of them. (SVU: "Blood Out")

When Muncy found a recording of Velasco confessing to murder, she showed Benson the recording, who told Muncy to take a week off as well as to not to respond to any phone calls or texts from Velasco before firmly warning her that if she told Velasco that she or Benson knew about the recording, she would be heavily demoted to a low ranking law enforcement job, which Muncy understood. (SVU: "Intersection")

When Velasco came in for work and asked Benson what case they were investigating, Benson coldly replied they were investigating him, giving him a dirty look before walking away from him, who looked stunned. After Velasco was cleared of all charges, Tutuola firmly told him that he didn't have to show any of his loyalty to him or Churlish but to Benson. Tutuola eventually told Benson that Churlish had done an impressive job interrogating Velasco. Benson told Tutuola to tell Churlish to see her about a job, eventually hiring Churlish to take the position previously held by Rollins. Meeting Velasco in public, Benson sternly chastised Velasco for his unprofessional interrogation methods before telling him that it was not to happen again, which Velasco understood. (SVU: "King of the Moon")

In May 2023, she was shot in the hip in the line of duty in Dublin, Ohio, by Tracy Horner, who responded to a $100,000 bounty that was put out on her and Stabler on the dark website known as Shadowërk, which they were investigating. Working together with Stabler, Benson killed Horner in return, and Stabler took her to a local urgent care, where Benson was treated. Her wounds proved to not be serious, and Benson was released after all of the pellets were removed, although she was left sore. (OC: "With Many Names")

In January 2024, Benson witnessed a kidnapping taking place after she saw Maddie Flynn sitting in her abductor's van while on her way home from Rollins and Carisi's babies christening with Noah. Despite Maddie sitting in the passenger seat looking calm and normal, Benson knew that something was not right, which was later proven right when Maddie's parents reported their daughter missing after she disappeared while they were shopping. Benson became further upset when her colleagues doubted if she really saw Maddie in the van or if she was really in trouble considering she looked calm and normal. (SVU: "Tunnel Blind")

As the time since Maddie was abducted went by and the search for her continued, Benson became more determined to find her to the point where she started to become distressed in her downtime. One morning, while going for a jog, she saw a van that was similar to the one that Maddie had been abducted in. Running onto the road stopping traffic, she burst open the van door hoping to find Maddie in the passenger seat but found the seat empty and the driver to be completely unrelated to Maddie's case. The annoyed driver angrily asked Benson what she was doing and yelled at her to shut the door. Benson apologized and shut the door and moved off the road, breathing heavily. (SVU: "Truth Embargo")

After several months, Benson got a break in the case after a cryptic message from Maddie made its way to her, along with a picture that heavily resembled the girl. She was able to confirm her suspicion with her parents and her squad, though unsure investigate and she acquires help from a federal agent when the case hits too close to home. After a thorough search, the combined resources led to all parties being able to track the young girl to a secluded area and arresting her abductor. Benson then locates the traumatized girl, who begs to go home to her family, a promise Benson fulfills. At the hospital, she reunites the girl with her relieved parents. (SVU: "Zone Rouge")

Sometime later, Benson discovered Maria, a young girl, she saved years ago has followed in her footsteps and became a police officer. She initially sought to approach her at her police academy graduation but backed out, after thinking it wasn't meant to be. Following a case, she finally found the strength to meet her. Benson later visited Maria at her home, where she revealed her identity by showing the newspaper of them in her rescue. To her great joy, Maria recognized her and quickly hugged Benson out of gratitude and invited her inside for dinner to catch up. (SVU: "Probability of Doom")

Personal life

While Benson tries to keep her work and personal life separate, several cases have made her upset to the point where she has been unable to sleep or focus on enjoying her life outside of work. She has had several past romantic relationships, with all of them ending, mostly due to work conflicts. Her most notable relationship is with Ed Tucker, who she dated from 2016-17. Despite Benson clearly despising Tucker in the first fifteen seasons, her attitude and demeanor towards him changed dramatically in the sixteenth season before they officially started dating in the seventeenth season, despite several of her fellow detectives disapproving, particularly Rollins. Regardless of their disapproval, they still supported Benson with her relationship with Tucker. However, Benson and Tucker broke up in 2017 after Tucker planned on retiring, which he convinced Benson to do as well. While initially thinking of it, Benson changed her mind about retirement, stating she still had so much work to do, resulting in her and Tucker breaking up due to their differences in near future life aspirations.

Before adopting Noah, Benson wished for a child but due to her career which gave her lack of time for relationships, she was unable to ever conceive a child. During one case, Stabler noticed that Benson was bothered by a case involving stolen embryos and tried to mention bringing up having a child, which bothered and irritated Benson. She later confided in Stabler that she had tried to adopt a child years ago but due to her career, her request to adopt was denied. Despite her request being denied, a judge granted permanent custody of Noah to Benson after both of Noah's biological parents were killed, with his mother being murdered and his father being shot to death by Amaro in defense after a courtroom shoot off. As a mother, Benson is caring and understanding but also strict when she needs to be. She often worries about how Noah will turn out due to his biological parents' dodgy past as criminals but is frequently reassured that he will turn out fine due to her great parenting and having custody of Noah since he was a baby.

Skills and abilities

Benson speaks some Spanish, Russian, Italian, and French. She is also able to read the Miranda Rights in two or three other languages. (SVU: "Prodigy")

Early life

Benson found out about the man who raped her mother and others. He knew about his daughter and kept track of her. He once tried to call her but got Serena instead. (SVU: "Philadelphia", "Florida") Benson was a graduate of Siena College. (SVU: "Stalked")

Benson and Serena seemed to care about each other a great deal. (SVU: "Payback") Serena was worried about Benson working in the Special Victims Unit. Serena died from injuries she sustained during a fall down the subway stairs by a bar in 2000, (SVU: "Taken"), Benson said her mother was a drunk. Benson became involved with a child who was neglected by her parents the way Benson felt neglected by her mother. (SVU: "Abuse") Benson said she was in love with an older man and that she "couldn't have loved him more." (SVU: "Wanderlust") Benson once told Casey Novak about an incident when she was 16, an older student of her mother asked her to marry him and when she told Serena that she was leaving, her mother who had been drinking flew into a rage and went after her with a broken bottle. Benson kicked her mother into a wall and ran to Simone Bryce for help. After arguing with ADA Sonya Paxton about alcoholism and seeing her drunk in court, she was moved to leave flowers at her mother's grave. (SVU: "Intoxicated")

Officer-involved shootings

Roger Silver (SVU: "Disrobed")
Eric Plummer (SVU: "Wrath")
Gordon Rickett (non-fatal) (SVU: "Rage")
Miles Sennet (non-fatal) (SVU: "Burned")
Sergeant Tom Cole (SVU: "Next Chapter")
Robert Paul Byers (SVU: "Silent Night, Hateful Night")
Albert Diaz (non-fatal) (SVU: "Jumped In")
Tracy Horner (alongside Stabler) (OC: "With Many Names")

Trivia

As of Amaro's One-Eighty, Benson is the last remaining main character from the first season of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. However, Cragen, Munch, and Stabler have made guest appearances.
She is a graduate of Siena College. (SVU: "Stalked")
She became a detective with SVU in May 1998. (SVU: "Stalked")
Benson and Stabler were partners for 13 years, not 12 as commonly referred to. (SVU: "Swing")
Her blood type is A+. (SVU: "Choreographed")
Benson's cell phone number is +1 (212) 555-0105. (SVU: "Zebras")
Her driver's license number is 71-401-561. (SVU: "Pure")
Benson is an Aquarius due her birthday being February 7th.
She said that, in high school, she had feathered hair and wore acid-washed jeans for her yearbook picture. (SVU: "Florida")
Until Season 24, Benson had never been shot in the line of duty. She had previously been stabbed off-duty in Season 9 while investigating a case and has been assaulted several times, as well as been stalked, kidnapped, and nearly raped and murdered while undercover.
In a deleted scene in Season 2, it was revealed that Serena Benson was never raped. In another deleted scene, Benson met her father, a psychiatrist by the name of Robert Spencer. These scenes are non-canon.
She is the longest-running character in the Law & Order franchise and is currently the longest-running prime-time live-action character, having surpassed John Munch with the premiere of Season 21.
Benson is one of two main characters in the Law & Order franchise who are products of rape.
Benson has been assaulted more than any other main character in the Law & Order franchise, with her getting assaulted at least once every season she has been in.
She has had more onscreen promotions than any other main character in the Law & Order franchise, with three from Detective to Sergeant to Lieutenant to Captain (possibly four, though it is not stated if she moved detective grades before becoming a Sergeant). Most other characters have had one (though it also unknown if Odafin Tutuola may have gotten a higher detective grade before he was promoted to Sergeant).
Benson is fluent in several languages, such as Italian, Spanish, Russian, and French. Alongside that, she can read the Miranda Rights in two different languages.
She is the only main character in SVU who has dated a fellow member of the Special Victims Unit, that being Brian Cassidy.
Benson is the only main character in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit whose parents and siblings are all deceased. Alongside that, she, along with Peter Stone and Alexandra Cabot, are the only characters in the series who have lost a parent and a sibling during their time on the series. Stone lost his father before his first appearance, though his first appearance was his funeral in "The Undiscovered Country". He also sees his sister, Pamela Stone, murdered in the episode "Remember Me Too". When Cabot came back from witness protection in the episode "Ghost", she stated that her mother had died sometime before and could not attend the funeral.
She was born on February 7, 1968, which would make her 56 as of 2024.
She has arrested three of Noah's biological relatives (his parents, Johnny Drake and Ellie Porter, and grandmother, Sheila Porter)
With the death of Simon, her only known living biological relative is her niece Olivia Marsden.
There were plans for Benson to leave the series halfway during the thirteenth season in plans to revamp the series in a similar style to that of the ninth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent but these plans were ultimately scrapped.
She was voted Law & Order's second greatest detective on the Hallmark Channel poll in 2010; She was beaten by Robert Goren (who won the poll) while beating Lennie Briscoe (who came in third).
In the twenty-third season, Benson was injured in a car accident and had to use crutches. In real life, Hargitay had broken her ankle after falling over at the Black Widow movie premiere and was taken to hospital by ambulance. Her injury was written into the start of the twenty-third season so she could continue to film the series while being injured.
Benson is one of two main characters on SVU to not appear in a guest or recurring role on the series she starred in, the other one being Kim Greylek.