Mariska Hargitay has revealed the SVU guests she knew would be stars: "I called it!".

The TV veteran shared her talent-spotting abilities, naming two actors she knew had star quality.

Appearing on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast, Mariska, 61, explained there had been "two people that I went, 'Holy God'," during her 26-year run on the crime procedural drama.

Little Miss Sunshine star Abigail Breslin, she said, was only seven years old when she made a huge impression on Mariska.

"She was so young on the show," she explained. "She kept doing this dance between takes, some kind of dance, and I started doing it with her. It was some kind of nursery rhyme schtick... and then they would say 'Action,' and I swear to God, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

Abigail, she said, "would turn, one tear, and start lip quivering. No acting. I remember going, 'What the f**k, are you like Meryl Streep?'"

As soon as the director called "Cut", Abigail would "go back to her nursery rhyme," Mariska explained.

The other star she had spotted, Mariska said, was White Lotus star Meghann Fahy.

"When she did the show, I was like, 'Let me tell you something. I'm just gonna tell you right now, you're gonna be a big movie star. You're gonna be a huge star'," she recalled.

"She was so sparkly, internally, like an internal sparkle... It's so exciting to see them go on and go, 'I called it. I called it!'"