After the actors Terry Serpico and Kadia Saraf filmed their first ''Law & Order: SVU'' scene, Mr. Serpico resorted to note-passing -- and contacting Ms. Saraf's manager -- to continue their conversation.

To express his interest in Kadia Saraf after meeting her on the set of ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,'' Terry Serpico resorted to a grade school tactic: passing Ms. Saraf a note.

''I'm shy, and I really don't have any kind of game,'' said Mr. Serpico, 58, an actor who plays Tommy McGrath, the chief of detectives, on the show.

He and Ms. Saraf, who is 45 and also an actor, met last July, on her first day of filming after being cast as U.S. attorney Anya Avital. Though they only filmed one scene together -- a fake press briefing -- Mr. Serpico described their interaction as memorable, and not only because he stepped on Ms. Saraf's foot while delivering a monologue. (She forgave him.)

In between takes, they chatted about topics including family, where each is from, past lives and astrology; Ms. Saraf practices kabbalistic astrology, a style based on the Hebrew calendar. ''She was focused and well-spoken and attractive and exceptionally smart,'' Mr. Serpico said. ''I was drawn to her.''

''I wanted to give her my number is what it came down to,'' Mr. Serpico added, so he later sought out a production assistant. ''I said, 'Look, I don't know how kosher this is, but can you get a note to this actress?''' The assistant eventually delivered a message on his behalf, but not before Ms. Saraf had learned about Mr. Serpico's interest from her manager, whom he had also contacted to be put in touch with her.

From their initial conversation on set, Ms. Saraf said that she felt ''a genuine connection with Terry.'' But for her, seeing where that connection might lead was at first not a priority. ''I wasn't there to make friends,'' she said. Plus, she added: ''There were no sparks or fireworks.''

That she didn't instantly fall head over heels actually worked in Mr. Serpico's favor. Ms. Saraf said she would not have agreed to a date with him a few weeks later if she had felt too strong an attraction when they met. ''I was told your soul mate is usually not the person you're attracted to right away,'' she said.

The mother of three children -- her sons Rain and Shia are 15 and 11; her daughter, Noa, is 13 -- Ms. Saraf's previous marriage of six years ended in divorce in 2013. But her soul-mate-only approach to dating came more recently. In August 2020, she started studying kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, at the Kabbalah Centre in Manhattan, a subway ride away from her home in Forest Hills, Queens. ''That was the catalyst,'' Ms. Saraf said.

She...