Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation from 2009–2015, which starred longtime former cast member Amy Poehler and featured in the FX drama series Legion (2017–2019). In 2022, she starred in the second season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus, for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination.
Plaza had her first leading film role in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). She also appeared in the films Mystery Team (2009), Funny People (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), The To Do List (2013), Life After Beth (2014), Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016), Child's Play (2019), and Happiest Season (2020). Plaza has produced and starred in the films The Little Hours (2017), Ingrid Goes West (2017), Black Bear (2020), and Emily the Criminal (2022).
Plaza had many internships and worked as an NBC page. She has performed improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater since 2004. She also performed standup comedy and has appeared at the Laugh Factory and the Improv.
Plaza starred in the online series The Jeannie Tate Show and as Robin Gibney in ESPN's Mayne Street. She appeared in the first episode of "Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz" on Funny or Die. She played Seth Rogen's love interest in 2009's Funny People, directed by Judd Apatow. She appeared in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Derrick Comedy's Mystery Team, which debuted at 2009 Sundance. She appeared in a CollegeHumor short alongside Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.
She played April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation from 2009 to 2015. She received wide praise for her deadpan performance and was considered one of the show's breakout characters.
On March 12, 2010, Plaza performed at A Night of 140 Tweets: A Celebrity Tweetathon for Haiti, produced by Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Ben Stiller, and Mike Rosenstein, at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2011, she appeared on Portlandia. Plaza appeared as a guest judge during a roast segment on The Next Food Network Star in 2011. She appeared in Episode 199 of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast. She also had a recurring role as "the Princess" in the comedic sci-fi web series Troopers on CollegeHumor.
In 2012, she was featured in Father John Misty's music video for the song "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" from the album Fear Fun and in 2014 she was in Cassorla's "Bona Fide" video, in which she made her saxophone-playing debut. In 2012, Plaza earned her first starring role in a major film, alongside Mark Duplass, in the comedy Safety Not Guaranteed. Plaza played Darius, a jaded intern who answers a curious want ad. Her performance was critically acclaimed. She won the award for Breakthrough Performance (Female) at the 2012 Young Hollywood Awards. During a 2012 filming of an episode of Parks and Recreation at the White House, she met Vice President Joe Biden and stole his notes about her from his desk.
In 2013, she had the leading female role as Sacagawea in the Drunk History episode "Nashville" during a segment on Lewis and Clark's expedition. In 2013, she also had the starring role in the CBS Film The To Do List. In an impromptu attempt to promote the film, Plaza ran onto the stage at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards and grabbed Will Ferrell's award for Comedic Genius, inspired by Kanye West's interruption of Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, with a drink in hand while the film's name was written across her chest. She was ejected from the studio lot where the ceremony was held.
At the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, Plaza's film Life After Beth, which was written and directed by her husband Jeff Baena, premiered. Plaza also voiced Grumpy Cat in the Lifetime Network's original movie Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever (2014).
In 2016, Plaza starred in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates alongside Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick and Adam DeVine. Her role as the rebellious Tatiana earned her critical praise. Then, she was a guest star on Harmonquest, as a gnome named "Hawaiian Coffee" and portrayed Aaron Burr in the "Hamilton" episode of Drunk History. She also provided a guest voice for the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Mall Girl Pearl" with Betty White.
In 2016, she portrayed Cat Adams, a contract killer, first in Season 11 of the CBS television series Criminal Minds, and then again in Season 12 and 15. In 2017, Plaza both starred in and produced two films, The Little Hours and Ingrid Goes West. The latter premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and later earned the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Plaza starred as the social media obsessed fan of a celebrity played by Elizabeth Olsen. Variety film critic Peter Debruge praised Plaza's performance writing, "Plaza's tortured performance captures all of this, which is saying something for an actress whose blasé persona hinges on the fact that she can't be bothered: Nobody plays ambivalence better, and yet, Plaza allows herself to seem vulnerable here". In 2018, she starred in the indie comedy An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn.
Plaza starred as both Amahl Farouk / Shadow King and Lenny Busker in the FX series Legion from 2017 to 2019. In both 2019 and 2020, Plaza hosted the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2019, she starred in Child's Play, a reboot of the 1988 film, as Karen Barclay, Andy's mother who brings home a killer doll, Chucky. In 2020, Plaza produced and starred in independent film Black Bear and starred in Happiest Season. In 2021, Plaza wrote a children's book, The Legend of the Christmas Witch, along with co-author Dan Murphy and illustrator Julia Iredale. Plaza produced and starred in the film Emily the Criminal, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. She also appears in the film Spin Me Round, which premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in 2022.
In January 2022, it was announced that Plaza would star in the second season of the HBO series The White Lotus. Plaza played Harper, a lawyer vacationing in Sicily with her husband Ethan, played by Will Sharpe. For her role, she received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. On August 25, 2022, Little Demon premiered on FXX. The series stars Plaza (who is also an executive producer), alongside Danny DeVito and Lucy DeVito. On October 16, 2022, Plaza was given the Artist of Distinction Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. In November 2022, Plaza was cast as witch Rio Vidal in the Disney+ series Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In 2023, Plaza received backlash for her participation in an ad for the dairy industry that mocked plant-based milk. On July 26 it was announced that she would be making her stage debut off-Broadway in the revival of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea opposite Christopher Abbott. Although the show received mixed reviews, Plaza was credited for making a strong first attempt on stage. She claimed to be nervous to take the stage, although she had done so more than 15 years earlier.
In 2024, Plaza and her Parks and Recreation costar Nick Offerman reunited in a Mountain Dew that aired during the Super Bowl LVIII broadcast.
Plaza made her hosting debut on January 21, 2023, the tenth episode and the first show of New Year 2023 of Saturday Night Live's 48th season, with musical guest Sam Smith.
Plaza also reunited with her former Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler and reprised her character April Ludgate on Weekend Update alongside Poehler as Leslie Knope, in which April talks about young people to get involved in local government.
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