'Law & Order: SVU': Octavio Pisano Upped To Series Regular

We’ll be seeing more of Octavio Pisano on Law & Order: SVU. Pisano, who portrays Detective Joe Velasco, has been promoted to series regular on the NBC procedural.

Pisano’s Joe Velasco is a former undercover and detective under Chief McGrath (Terry Serpico) who’s been assigned to the SVU. Pisano has appeared in 3 episodes so far, beginning with the season 23 premiere.

Season 23 picked up mere hours after last season’s finale, where Catalina Machado (Zabryna Guevara) was arrested for trafficking single mothers living in shelters in a complex housing-for-sex scheme. She now wants to flip on her superiors in exchange for a deal with the feds, and names a powerful congressman as the big fish. It’s a make-or-break case for the NYPD and puts enormous pressure on the entire SVU squad to get a conviction.

Pisano’s promotion follows the recent exits of two key cast members — Jamie Gray Hyder, who played Officer Kat Tamin, and Demore Barnes, who portrayed Deputy Chief Christian Garland.

Starring Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU chronicles the lives of the Special Victims Unit of the New York City Police Department, an elite squad of detectives who investigate crimes of sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence.

Ice T, Peter Scanavino and Kelli Giddish also star.

Law & Order: SVU is TV’s longest-running primetime live-action series. It received a three-year renewal in 2020, taking it through Season 24.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment. Dick Wolf is creator and executive producer. Warren Leight, Julie Martin, Hargitay, Norberto Barba, Arthur Forney and Peter Jankowski are executive producers.

Pisano starred alongside Michael Chiklis in the CBS All Access limited series Coyote. He was cast in the pilot for the New York Undercover reboot created by Dick Wolf and in Tyler Perry’s If Loving You Is Wrong. Pisano’s film credits include Ms Purple directed by Justin Chon (Blue Bayou), Badsville, Powder & Gold and Smartass. Pisano is repped by CAA, manager Carissa Stewart at GSA Entertainment and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.