5 Facts About Danny Pino, the New ‘Law and Order: SVU’ Detective

After stars Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay announced plans to leave (him) and scale back (her) on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a casting call went out for new star detectives. The winner on the male side was Danny Pino. His character may not have a name yet, but we already like him. So who is Danny, and what do you need to know about him?

Crime procedurals aren’t new for him.

Danny previously spent seven years as a regular on Cold Case, but that’s not the only place he cut his teeth. He also appeared on The Shield, Burn Notice and in a TV movie called Special Investigation: Los Angeles.

He’s bilingual.

A Miami native of Cuban descent, Danny is also fluent in Spanish. I hope this comes up on the show, since Benjamin Bratt (who was a detective on the now-cancelled “original flavor” Law & Order, was often given scenes where he interacted with suspects and witnesses in his native tongue.

He’s a dad.

Chris Meloni’s character, Det. Stabler, was often shown interacting with his family and often reacted more harshly when victims reminded him of his kids. There’s no word on whether Danny’s character will be a parent or not, but in real life he and his wife Lilly have two sons, Luca and Julian.

One of his most famous costars was Madonna.

Danny got his start as a theater actor, and one of his first big roles was in the David Williamson play Up for Grabs in London’s West End. The star of the show was Madonna, who got terrible reviews. Danny played Kel, a young man who decides that he and his wife should invest in expensive works of art.

He beat out several other well-known actors for the part.

A report claims that Danny and four other actors were flown out to New York last week for screen tests. Among the other finalists for the role were Southland star Kevin Alejandro and Ghost Whisperer star David Conrad.