PAULA PATTON ('PRECIOUS') JOINS 'LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT' FOR MULTI-EPISODE STINT AS NEW ADA

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- July 21, 2010 -- Actress Paula Patton ("Precious") will be joining the cast of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" for a multi-episode stint as ADA Mikka Von, it was announced today by Creator and Executive Producer Dick Wolf.

Patton, who was nominated for multiple honors including the SAG Award (ensemble), NAACP Image Award (Supporting Actress) and the Critics Choice Award (ensemble) for her role as Ms. Blu Rain in the Oscar winning film "Precious," will play a charming and savvy ADA who works with the Special Victims Unit on the Wolf Films/Universal Media Studios series, entering its 12th season on NBC.

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" premieres September 22 in a new time period, Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on NBC.

"When I saw Paula Patton give that terrific performance in the multi-Oscar nominated Precious, I knew she'd be perfect for SVU's new Assistant District Attorney -- she's funny, warm and witty with a penchant for justice. And it happened. She's starting in episode five. How cool is that?" executive producer Neal Baer said.

Patton is currently filming Sony's �Jumping the Broom� and other credits include the feature films "Just Wright�, �D�j� Vu� and �Swing Vote.�

Dick Wolf, Ted Kotcheff, Neal Baer and Peter Jankowski are Executive Producers of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," which stars Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Richard Belzer, B.D Wong, Tamara Tunie and Dann Florek.