Law & Order: SVU’s Peter Scanavino Calls ‘Invaluable’ Friend Mariska Hargitay One of His Parenting ‘Role Models’ (Exclusive)

After becoming a father to three, Peter Scanavino and his longtime friend and costar Mariska Hargitay were able to find something new to bond over — parenthood.

Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of Law & Order: SVU‘s fall finale, the actor, 44, opened up about his relationship with Hargitay, 60, outside of the workplace, sharing that he often looks to her for parenting advice.

“Mariska’s a very playful person,” he tells PEOPLE. “She’s totally collaborative, open to whatever, and that’s really impressive.”

“But then that also carries on to what she’s like as a parent and a friend, open,” Scanavino continues. “And that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her strong opinions and her viewpoints and all that, but she’s completely willing to be open to other points of view and understand and sit there and listen and talk and joke and all that.”

Hargitay is mom to kids August, 17, Amaya, 12, and Andrew, 12, whom she shares with husband Peter Hermann.

“She’s a really inquisitive, strong person that’s open to all kinds of different things, and I think that’s just invaluable as a friend, as a parent, as an actor. And I have a few role models in my life as a parent, and she’s definitely one of them.”

Scanavino, who shares his three kids with wife Lisha Bai, tells PEOPLE that it’s been nice to see his SVU character evolve into a dad, as he can draw from his real-life experience.

“I like it. I think me personally, I’m a bit more experienced as a father than Carisi, so it’s almost kind of nice to revisit that part of myself where you have a young, not a baby anymore, but 2-year-old, 1-year-old that you’re dealing with and just remembering what that was like for me, the kind of excitement and fear and am I doing things correctly?” he says.

“I think a lot of being a parent is second guessing yourself if you’re doing the right thing,” Scanavino continues. “If you should step in, should you help your child, should you let them figure it out on their own? So I’ve already done that and now I get to kind of act it out again with Carisi.”