Many know Sabrina Carpenter as the no-nonsense singer who has been dominating the pop charts this year with hits off her Grammy nominated album, Short n’ Sweet. Her popularity has skyrocketed in the past year, even earning her a holiday variety special on the 2024 Netflix schedule. But, with her recent musical success, it’s easy to forget she's long been in the entertainment sphere. Carpenter was a child actress, and her first big role was a guest spot on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. With that, Carpenter recalled that gig's impact on her.
The “Feather” songstress made her debut amid Season 12 of the NBC primetime drama, in an episode titled “Possessed.” A now-viral clip shows the young actress talking to Detective Elliot Stabler, seeing as this was 2011, before Chistopher Meloni made his exit from the show. As someone who is a chronic binger of old SVU episodes, I’ve definitely seen this one before, but I’m going to need to rewatch it after hearing Carpenter tell Teen Vogue about the experience:
My first job was a guest starring role on Law and Order: SVU. I’d just turned 11 and I filmed it here in New York City actually. It was a very very crazy moment in my life. I always thought that I would start with comedy or I’d do musical or something in that world, and it was very hard hitting drama. But it taught me a lot and it made me fall in love with acting.
With this added context, the scene is all that more impressive, and I can say she absolutely slayed this episode. Additionally, SVU is not for the light-hearted. As its iconic intro states, the topics and cases covered in the show are “especially heinous” and are “vicious felonies,” as sex crimes usually are.
So, for Sabrina Carpenter to be searching for something in comedy or musicals and to then land this very heavy drama, it speaks volumes to her acting and emotional maturity as a pre-teen. Honestly, the performance will give you chills, check out a bit of it below:
The ability to sell such emotion with very morally taxing subject content is what make Law & Order guest roles such great indicators of star power and acting longevity in the industry. Not every guest star on a L&O show goes on to be famous in Hollywood, but the sheer number of them that do make it big can’t be a coincidence. Of course, there’s Sabrina Carpenter but also Amanda Seyfried, Abigail Breslin, Bradley Cooper, Milo Ventimiglia… the list goes on.
If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times more: are you really a famous actor if you’ve never been on SVU? Check out CinemaBlend's video rundown of famous guests:
Of course, the “Taste” singer then went on to be a lead on Girl Meets World and several other Disney and Netflix projects like Adventures In Babysitting and Work It. While she had been singing for many years before 2020, post COVID pandemic The Hate U Give actress decided to really focus on her music career, seemingly taking a break from regular acting gigs. Well, it seems to have paid off if you ask me, given the people's pop princess is in the middle of a sold-out world tour for her sixth studio album Short n’ Sweet, which also earned her six Grammy nominations.
However, I don’t think the triple-threat star (real ones remember her short stint as Cady in Mean Girls The Musical on Broadway) is at all done with acting. Her recent music videos for “Please Please Please” and “Taste” prove she still has a passion for storytelling and is as compelling as ever in any role she takes on. And A Nonsense Christmas is enough to convince someone that she would do fabulously in a comedy role. This variety special really showcases Sabrina Carpenter’s wide range of talent, and I would highly recommend anyone with a Netflix subscription check it out.
As for Law and Order: SVU, the fan-favorite detective drama is still producing star talent as one of the longest running primetime TV shows, even in its 26th Season. While the new crew is fantastic, and still being led by the amazing Mariska Hargitay, it really is fun to watch old episodes from the 2000s to try and see what famous Hollywood stars you can spot back in the day. Every episode of SVU, including Sabrina Carpenter's episode, is available to watch for anyone with a Peacock subscription.
