‘FBI’s Juliana Aidén Martinez Reveals What Mariska Hargitay Taught Her on the ‘SVU’ Set (Exclusive)
It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for Juliana Aidén Martinez, who’s about to debut on her second show in the Dick Wolf Universe.
In 2024, she joined Law & Order: SVU as former homicide detective Kate Silva, and now she’s playing Agent Eva Ramos, the newest addition to the NYC FBI field office. Agent Scola (John Boyd) is still reeling from the heroic death of his last partner, Dani Rhodes (Emily Alabi), but he doesn’t have much time to dwell on it. He and Agent Ramos are immediately thrown into the deep end in Season 8, Episode 3, “Boy Scout,” when a young man is found dead and the case becomes intertwined with an undercover DEA op.
Luckily, Martinez is used to having to jump right in. As a star of SVU Season 26, she got to learn the art of procedural TV from some of the best—and most experienced—in the biz, and came away with unforgettable lessons from both Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T. Those lessons followed her to FBI, and she shared them with Parade.
What did Mariska Hargitay teach you during your time on SVU?
She said, “Always operate at the top of your character’s intelligence.” That was one of the things she bestowed on me, so when I read the scripts, or we’re working on it together as a cast, I’m always like, “Is this the top of my character’s intelligence? What does she know? What does she not know? Is this a logical conclusion that she would get to, based on what we know?” And it keeps things really grounded. She said, ‘Never insult your character’s intelligence, as a woman and as an actor,’ and it’s something I always think about, and that I saw her do on a day-to-day basis.”
What did Ice-T teach you during your time on SVU?
He was just like, such a hype man for me. When we would come to set, we would come to the squad room, and he would see me, and he’s like, ‘Juliana, don’t ever forget you’re dope.” Like, that was really what he would say. And sometimes when I’m about to do an action scene, I’m like, “Don’t ever forget you’re dope, Juliana, don’t forget.’ And that’s something I carry.”
What did you learn from a year on SVU?
These shows can be very fast. We’re creating really great material in a short timespan. I was able to do a Netflix show [2024’s Griselda], and that was a six-episode miniseries. And the time per episode was probably a month, a month and a half. An episode here is like eight days, so it’s so compressed. And you have to be so on top of it, and so perceptive and solution-oriented and really collaborative. It really feels like you’re working at the height of your craft in compressed time. And that was something I was able to see from those actors who have worked on these shows for so long. They’re just so good at what they do.”
I think it’s a lot of self-care. When I was first working on SVU, I think I did an interview, and I said something the first three months, I was having a hard time sleeping, because a lot of the cases were really triggering for me. And I was just like, “How do you do it?” And I just saw my castmates being like, ‘You have to have an ability to take care of yourself.’ And that’s something I’m learning with my cast here. John, Missy, Zeeko, they are very concerned about taking care of their body and their mind and having the ability to relax and laugh. We laugh a lot on set, and [we] know that we’re in this together and it’s going to be okay. And I think that really is what helps us.”
If Kate Silva, to me, was someone that was trying to escape the shadow of her dad, and there was a shyness to her and a penance that she was serving, Eva is like a front-footed, opinionated and clever and kind of sassy woman. She’s a lady of the town, and she’s not afraid to say what she thinks. And that’s really cool to play, because it’s someone that is like, ‘I know what I know, and I don’t care what you think about it.’ She’s chic. She’s a classy lady.”