Mariska Hargitay Reflects on Her 25-Year Friendship with Christopher Meloni: He 'Changed My Life' (Exclusive)

Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni are going to be partners for life. 

The actress, producer and director opens up to PEOPLE for this week’s cover story about her friendship that spans more than two decades with Meloni.

“We met and the rest is history,” says the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star. “It's iconic. [He’s] somebody who's changed my life so much, somebody I love.”

Hargitay, 59, and Meloni, 62, first met during the audition process for SVU when she mistakenly thought he was actor John Slattery — a story Hargitay knows is “famous” some 25 years later, as is the tale of how they waltzed into their big moment with the executives.

“[Chris] was telling me a story as we walked into the network executive screen test, and he finished his story,” she recalls, adding that he's always had “cajones."

“It was just like that from the minute one," she says. "It was just off and running.”

The duo's onscreen chemistry as Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson has proved to be just as strong as their friendship, too — and Hargitay had big feelings right away.

“I was like, 'If they match me with him, this is my role.' And he said the same thing. He goes, 'I want her.' And then he and I got it," she recalls, citing Meloni's "energy, confidence, power," and "the way he looked."

She continues: "He was the guy. I just knew he was the guy from reading the script. He was New York, this dark horse, but funny, light. I'm so grateful that those magical stars collided.” 

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After Meloni departed the series as Stabler in 2011, Hargitay’s Benson stepped into her own, rising through the ranks from detective all the way to captain of the SVU. Now, Meloni is back starring on his own Law & Order spinoff show Organized Crime, and the two series often crossover. 

Fans have been rooting for Benson and Stabler to get together romantically since the show's near inception, and Hargitay loves to describe the chemistry she shares with Meloni as “easy, effortless and earned.”

So, when asked to describe what the two share without using those words, Hargitay ponders the question. 

“It's intense,” she says after a long pause, "it's intimate, and it's reassuring.”

For more on Mariska Hargitay, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here. 

Law & Order: SVU returns to NBC for its 25th season on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 9 p.m. ET, followed by Law & Order: Organized Crime at 10 p.m. ET.