Mariska Hargitay steps behind the camera for the first time with My Mom Jayne, a deeply personal documentary that puts the spotlight on her late mother, Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield. The feature-length film premieres Friday, June 27 at 8 PM ET/PT on HBO, and will be available to stream on Max.
This marks Hargitay’s directorial debut—one that’s been decades in the making. She was only three when Mansfield died in a 1967 car crash that made headlines worldwide. In My Mom Jayne, she begins an on-camera journey to better understand the woman behind the tabloid iconography, leaning into family archives, private recordings, and long-unspoken memories.
The doc features intimate interviews with Hargitay’s siblings and stepmother, as well as Mansfield’s former press secretary. There’s plenty of glitz—film clips, archival footage, and behind-the-scenes snapshots—but the emotional spine comes from Hargitay’s effort to untangle her mother’s legacy from the pin-up caricature that defined her brand. That duality, and Mansfield’s struggle to outgrow it, is central to the film’s emotional pull.
Two-time Oscar nominee Trish Adlesic, who previously collaborated with Hargitay on HBO’s Emmy-winning I Am Evidence, produced the doc.
My Mom Jayne sits at the intersection of Hollywood myth and personal reckoning, reframing a legacy while offering Hargitay a chance to reclaim her own story.
