My Mom Jayne is a 2025 documentary film directed by Mariska Hargitay. The film examines the life of Hargitay's late mother, Jayne Mansfield. The film had its world premiere in the Cannes Classics section of the 78th Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2025, where it was nominated for the L'Œil d'or. It received a limited theatrical release on June 20, 2025, and was released on HBO and HBO Max on June 27, 2025.
Production
Director Mariska Hargitay was only three years old when her mother, actress Jayne Mansfield, died in a car accident. Hargitay stated, "This movie is a labor of love and longing. It's a search for the mother I never knew, an integration of a part of myself I'd never owned, and a reclaiming of my mother's story and my own truth." While her family was initially hesitant about her choice to make the documentary, they gave their blessing and agreed to appear in the film. In the documentary, Hargitay also went public with the story of her biological father, Nelson Sardelli.
Release The film was announced on April 8, 2025. It premiered in the Cannes Classics section of the 78th Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2025.
It screened at the Tribeca Festival from June 13 to 15, 2025, and received a limited theatrical release on June 20, 2025 through which it qualified for consideration for an Oscar nomination. It was released on HBO, as well as HBO's streaming service HBO Max, on June 27, 2025.
Reception Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Accolades Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result AARP Movies for Grownups Awards January 10, 2026 Best Documentary My Mom Jayne Astra Film Awards January 9, 2026 Best Documentary Feature Astra TV Awards August 15, 2026 Best Documentary TV Movie Cannes Film Festival May 24, 2025 L'Œil d'or Cinema Eye Honors January 8, 2026 Outstanding Broadcast Film Critics' Choice Documentary Awards November 9, 2025 Best First Documentary Feature Best Biographical Documentary Primetime Emmy Awards September 5–6, 2026 Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special Mariska Hargitay, Trish Adlesic, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Lauran Bromley, Anna Klein, and Steven Bennett Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program Mariska Hargitay Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program Tony Hardmon Producers Guild of America Awards February 28, 2026 Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures Mariska Hargitay and Trish Adlesic
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