Aubrey Plaza

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 (2009–2015), and later featured in the FX drama series Legion (2017–2019).

Plaza had her first leading film role in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). She also appeared in the films Mystery Team (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), 10 Years (2011), The End of Love (2013), Ned Rifle (2014), The Driftless Area (2015), Joshy (2016), Ingrid Goes West (2017), An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018), Child's Play (2019), and Black Bear (2020).

In 2021, Plaza authored a book The Legend of the Christmas Witch along with her creative partner Dan Murphy and illustrator Julia Iredale.

Early life and education

Plaza was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Bernadette, an attorney, and David Plaza, a financial advisor. She has two younger sisters, Renee and Natalie.

Plaza was named after the song "Aubrey" by Bread. Her father is Puerto Rican and her mother is of Irish and English descent. She has also stated that she has Taíno ancestry. According to a 23andMe DNA test, Plaza found that her genetic background was 30–34% Iberian, 30–31% Irish, 8–9.9% West African, 7% Native American and 0.6% Ashkenazi Jewish.

Plaza has stated: "I was like the only diverse kid in my high school, and I'm half-Puerto Rican. But yeah, I have a huge family and tons of cousins in Puerto Rico," and that she grew up "very Catholic in a very Catholic household". She graduated from Ursuline Academy, an all-girls Catholic school, in 2002. In high school she was student council president and participated in productions with the Wilmington Drama League. She studied film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 2006.

Plaza suffered a stroke when she was 20 years old that caused temporary paralysis and expressive aphasia. A couple of years later, she had a transient ischemic attack while on the set of Parks and Recreation.

Career

2006–2015: Beginnings and Parks and Recreation

Plaza has had many internships, and worked as an NBC page. Plaza has performed improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater since 2004. She also performed stand-up and has appeared at the Laugh Factory and The Improv.

Plaza starred in the online series The Jeannie Tate Show, and starred 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, Daisy, 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. For her performance as the deadpan employee, she received universal praise throughout the entire show, being referred to as 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 where she also 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 "seeking a companion for a time traveling adventure". Her performance in the film was critically acclaimed.

She won the award for Breakthrough Performance (Female) at the 2012 Young Hollywood Awards (YHA).

In 2013, she had the leading female role as Sacagawea in Drunk History episode "Nashville" in the segment on Lewis and Clark Expedition.

In 2013, she also had the starring role in the CBS Film The To Do List. In an impromptu attempt to promote this film, Plaza ran onto the stage and grabbed Will Ferrell's MTV Movie award for "Comedic Genius" with the film's name written across her chest and a drink in hand, this resulted in her being ejected from the studio lot at which the ceremony was held.

At the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, Plaza's film, Life After Beth, which was written and directed by her now-husband Jeff Baena, premiered. Plaza also voiced Grumpy Cat in the Lifetime Network's original movie Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever (2014).

2016–present: Legion and further film roles

She starred in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates alongside Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick and Adam DeVine. The film was released on July 8, 2016. Her role as the rebellious Tatiana earned her critical praise.

In 2016, 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 had the only speaking line in a commercial for the Apple iPhone 6s, demonstrating "I'm peeking my flight. I'm not peeking my flight. I'm peeking my . . . wait, I missed my flight."

She first played the role of Cat Adams, a contract killer, in Season 11 of the CBS television show Criminal Minds. She returned to the role in Seasons 12 and 15.

In 2017, Plaza both starred in and produced two films, The Little Hours and Ingrid Goes West. It was announced that she would star in indie comedy An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn in 2018.

Plaza starred as both Amahl Farouk / Shadow King and Lenny Busker in the FX series Legion from 2017 to 2019. On February 23, 2019, Plaza hosted the 34th 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 February 2020, Plaza starred alongside Bill Murray in a short parody of Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse in order to promote the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards.

In 2020, Plaza produced and starred in independent film Black Bear and played a large role in Happiest Season as well.

Plaza is set to produce and star in the Netflix comedy film Hope.

Awards

In 2018, Plaza was awarded an Impact Award by the National Hispanic Media Coalition for her work on the film Ingrid Goes West.

Plaza received the 2021 Actor Achievement Award from the Hollywood Critics Association for her role in Black Bear.

Personal life

Plaza is married to writer and director Jeff Baena. They have been in a relationship since 2011 and have collaborated on several films. In a May 2021 social media post, Plaza revealed that she and Baena are married, referring to him as "my darling husband."

In 2016, Plaza mentioned in an interview with The Advocate: "Girls are into me — that's no secret. Hey, I'm into them too. I fall in love with girls and guys. I can't help it."

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos