“Law & Order”'s Allison Siko Shares Her Earliest Memory of Working with Christopher Meloni on “SVU” More Than 2 Decades Ago (Exclusive)

“Law & Order”'s Allison Siko Shares Her Earliest Memory of Working with Christopher Meloni on “SVU” More Than 2 Decades Ago (Exclusive) https://ift.tt/FUnwvz4

"Oh, this is someone to look up to. This is someone to learn from,” she tells PEOPLE of her first impression of Meloni

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Allison Siko

NEED TO KNOW

• Allison Siko first began working with on-screen father Christopher Meloni more than 20 years ago on Law & Order SVU
• She tells PEOPLE that when they worked together, she thought, "This is someone to learn from"
• She shares that their first scene was a simple one, but how he handled it left a mark on her

Allison Siko first began working with on-screen father Christopher Meloni more than 20 years ago. 

At the Law & Order 25th Anniversary Celebration in New York City, Siko talks to PEOPLE about her first memory of working with Meloni. While the 64-year-old has famously portrayed NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 1999, Siko, 37, first appeared as his daughter, Kathleen, in 2002.

“Aww, Dad. I mean, my earliest [memory] is from a little episode titled ‘Popular,’ way, way back. That was my first time stepping into Kathleen's shoes," she shares. "It was a simple scene. I was in the kitchen. He came on in, and he was like, 'Kathleen, get off the phone.' I went, 'Dad.' And then I left."

“But the thing was, unfortunately for him, he must have had a long day," she continues. "Something was happening where the lines kept getting flubbed, and so we were doing take after take after take. And he had to keep taking a swig of a non-alcoholic beer every time. And it just was like, oh, wow."

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Allison Siko and Christopher Meloni

"To see somebody working really hard, but not letting it get to them, like sticking with it... it was one of the first true testaments to being like, 'Oh, this is someone to look up to. This is someone to learn from,'" she adds.

While Siko, who was just a young teenager when she joined the show, has "learned so much" from Meloni throughout the years, she notes that that lesson stuck with her the most.

"That was the start of like, oh yeah, things can be tough. Make believe and pretend is not as easy as it always looks, but it's definitely worth it in the end,” Siko shares.

Siko played Meloni’s fictional daughter on SVU for 18 episodes spanning across 19 years. She then joined Law & Order: Organized Crime again as Kathleen Stabler in 2021. 

Siko tells PEOPLE she believes her younger self wouldn't be surprised to learn she was still immersed in the Law & Order world all these years later.

“Oh, I mean, she'd be like, ‘Yeah, of course.' Because I like to say I'm on the Betty White plan. I started young, and I never want to stop. I want to keep going just like she did," she says, noting that the late legendary actress was someone she "looked up to a lot."

"The fact that we started when we did, and we're still going, I love that. That's how it should be in a way. If you're telling good stories, keep telling them because we like to tell stories as humans, so I know I want to tell stories for the rest of my life."

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been running for 27 seasons, starring Mariska Harigatay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino and Tony Goldwyn.

Law & Order, meanwhile, kicked off its 25th season on Jan. 8, airing on NBC and streaming on Peacock.