As we celebrate Father’s Day today, celebrities are no different from the rest of us in honoring a father’s influence, which lasts a lifetime.

Mariska Hargitay

The actress (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”) was 3-1/2 when her mother was killed in an auto accident.

“We grew up in a household where my dad said, ‘Hey, if I’m wrong, tell me.’ He said, ‘If you don’t learn something new every day, you’re an idiot.’ His whole thing was learn something new, gather information. You can learn from anybody. He made me get that everyone has something to say. I try to listen,” she says.

“If I hear the rule, I question it. I like that I’m a questioner. But on the same token, I grew up in a European family where parents are respected. They’re strict. You kiss your parents hello, goodbye, tell them where you’re going … Having my mother taken from me at such a small age, I’m grateful for my stepmother and grateful to have had a dad that loved me and was there.”

Randy Newman

Although his father was a doctor, the songwriter-singer’s two uncles were famous composers in Hollywood.

“When I was 6 years old, all of a sudden I woke up and there was an upright piano in my room, in case I was Mozart,” he recalls. “My father wanted me very badly to be in the music because he loved his brothers … that looked real good to him, show business. I’ve often had thoughts: I didn’t grow up like people who loved music, who’d buy every record and copy guitar licks. There are guys I know in the music business who heard Bartok for the first time, and it changed their lives … I often wondered if I hadn’t been directed, would I have done something else?”

Jamie Foxx

The actor remembers a moment when his dad made all the difference.

“I’m in the regional track meet, high jumping. I missed at six feet — twice — waiting for my father to show up ‘cause I thought, ‘Man, where IS he?’ A burgundy Thunderbird right by the fence, I see him. I ended up taking second place and ended up going to state (finals). That means I was ranked second in the region and 23rd in the whole state of Texas. Changed my life because it gave me that ‘thing.’ ”

Gwenyth Paltrow

The actress recalls celebrating her father’s 40th birthday on a trip to Hawaii.

“I was about 10 years old, and I would meet my dad every morning; we would get up at 6 o’clock and we’d have coffee and take a walk. I remember thinking, ‘He’s regarding me as a grown-up.’ It was the first time I felt understood and validated that I had made the transition from little girl to an older girl. I remember when my father saw that first play I did, he came back after the play and said, ‘I don’t think you should go back to college. I think you should really pursue this.’ He gave me such confidence in that.”

Tom Hanks

The actor’s parents divorced when he was very young.

“I was raised by my dad. I think I had probably the best kind of upbringing you could possibly have for an actor. I moved around a lot. Actually my background was like Army or Air Force brats — same thing — a lot of brand-new social circumstances that either break you or make you … I don’t know why, but the ability to present yourself to a room full of strangers — which is what acting is more or less — and seeming as though you’re familiar to them and faking them out somehow, part of that is the natural aspect of me doing what I do for a living.”