Nick Amaro

Nicholas "Nick" Amaro is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Danny Pino. Amaro is a detective with the Manhattan SVU at the 16th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.

Background

Amaro's father, Nicolas Amaro, Sr. (Armand Assante), was abusive to both his mother and him, and later fled to Miami, Florida. Amaro attributes his firm belief in divorce to watching his mother, Cesaria (Nancy Ticotin), suffer through her marriage. Amaro testifies against his father when Nicolas is accused of beating his new wife, Gabriela, but the elder Amaro is acquitted. After the trial, Amaro and his father make a tentative reconciliation.

Amaro is fluent in Spanish, and was married at the start of his tenure with SVU, with a young daughter named Zara.

His wife, Maria (Laura Benanti), is stationed overseas for a year, reporting in Iraq, and their marriage is strained by her deployment. In the fourteenth season premiere, she reveals to Amaro that she is accepting a job in Washington, D.C., and following an argument they separate. Amaro questions if Maria was diagnosed with PTSD, and expresses his regret that he did not try harder to understand what she was going through. Maria offers to reconcile with Amaro if he moves to California with her and Zara. He ultimately refuses to do so, however.