Aubrey Plaza

Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, producer, and comedian. She began acting in local theater productions as a teenager and performed improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. After graduating from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Plaza made her feature film debut in Mystery Team (2009) and gained wide recognition for her role as April Ludgate on the NBC political satire mockumentary sitcom Parks and Recreation (2009–2015).

Plaza played Julie Powers in Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and had her first lead film role as a magazine intern in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). She voiced Claire Wheeler in the animated film Monsters University (2013) and Eska in the animated fantasy action television series The Legend of Korra (2013–2014). In 2014, she starred in the horror comedy Life After Beth and Hal Hartley's drama film Ned Rifle. From 2017 to 2019, Plaza portrayed Shadow King and Lenny Busker in the critically praised FX superhero series Legion, and produced and starred in the medieval black comedy film The Little Hours (2017) and the dramedy Ingrid Goes West (2017). She hosted the Independent Spirit Awards in 2019 and 2020.

Plaza played Riley Johnson in the 2020 romantic comedy Happiest Season and starred in and produced the experimental thriller Black Bear (2020), for which she received critical acclaim. She made her directorial debut and wrote the episode "Quiet Illness" for the anthology series Cinema Toast (2021). In 2022, she portrayed the title character of the crime film Emily the Criminal, which she produced, and the lawyer Harper Stiller in the second season of HBO's anthology series The White Lotus, to further acclaim. She garnered Independent Spirit and Gotham Award nominations for the former and an Emmy and Golden Globe Award nomination for the latter. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023. In 2024, she has portrayed the future Elliott Labrant in My Old Ass, Rio Vidal in the Disney+ MCU miniseries Agatha All Along, and TV presenter Wow Platinum in Francis Ford Coppola's science fiction drama Megalopolis.

Early life and education
Aubrey Christina Plaza was born on June 26, 1984, in Wilmington, Delaware. The eldest of three sisters, she was born when her parents, Bernadette and David Plaza, were 19 and 20. They worked various jobs to make ends meet and attended night school in pursuit of their respective professional qualifications to become an attorney and financial advisor. Plaza was inspired by their work ethic: "My parents are very ambitious and they came from nothing ... They were hustlers, so I think I have that in my blood". Her paternal grandfather was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and moved to the mainland U.S. when he was 17 years old. Raised "Catholic in a very Catholic household", Plaza is Puerto Rican on her father's side and has Taíno ancestry. Her mother, who was adopted, is of Irish descent. In 2023, Plaza told Wired that her 23andMe test showed that she is 31% Irish, 34% Iberian (Spanish), 10% West-African, 7% Native American, and 0.6% Ashkenazi Jewish. While her parents worked, Plaza was raised by her Irish foster grandparents and her Puerto Rican family.

As a child, Plaza loved films and actively engaged in imaginative play. She described herself as shy and quiet until middle school, when she discovered and acted in community theater. She attended Ursuline Academy, an all-girls Catholic school. While in high school, she was student-council president of her school, performed in theatrical productions with the Wilmington Drama League and the Delaware Theatre Company, and made short films as a hobby. She also enrolled at an improv school in Philadelphia. As a teen, Plaza worked at a video store, during which she discovered her love of independent films and filmmakers that inspired her, such as John Waters and Christopher Guest. Waters' satirical film Serial Mom (1994) made a significant impact on her, and she connected with his comedic sensibility. In 2001, she attended New York Film Academy's summer camp for filmmaking. She graduated the following year from Ursuline Academy and moved to New York. Plaza studied film and television production at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 2006.

2004–2009: Career beginnings


Plaza trained and performed improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre since 2004. She also performed at the Laugh Factory and The Improv. Plaza named Amy Poehler as an inspiration for her decision to perform improv. She described her experience at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre as "intoxicating", explaining: "It just truly felt like we are in an underground – literally, underground – theatre doing an art form that is so fucking hard, and just so fun when you get it right." She had several internships, including one at Saturday Night Live for the 2004-2005 season, and worked as an NBC page, during which she appeared in an episode of 30 Rock in 2006. She was also in two short films in 2006, Killswitch and In Love. In 2008, she was part of an Improv Everywhere sketch where she and others took an entire desktop computer and monitor to a Starbucks in New York City. Plaza had a recurring role in the web series The Jeannie Tate Show, played the role of Robin Gibney in ESPN's Mayne Street (2008), and appeared in the first episode of "Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz" on Funny or Die.

In 2009, she made her feature film debut in Derrick Comedy's Mystery Team and played a standup comic and Seth Rogen's love interest in the black comedy-drama film Funny People, directed by Judd Apatow. As she did not have experience performing standup, she signed up for open mic nights at comedy clubs and bars in New York City to prepare for the role. For her audition tape, she performed and recorded five minutes of standup comedy at her friend Donald Glover's standup show. When Plaza flew to Los Angeles for the film, casting director Allison Jones asked her if she wanted to attend other meetings while she was in the city. Jones set up a meeting with Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, who were developing Parks and Recreation. At the meeting, they told her the idea for the show's pilot and that they were considering giving Amy Poehler's character an assistant who was a doltish blonde. Plaza pitched them instead the character of a smart intern who is at the department only for college credit and does not care about the job, which Plaza thought would be an interesting, comedic contrast with Poehler's character. The showrunners liked the concept for the character and created April Ludgate for the pilot. Plaza played the role from 2009 to 2015. She received praise for her performance, and April was considered one of the show's breakout characters.

2010–2016: Rise in film and television
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. She also appeared in Edgar Wright's film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), and in a CollegeHumor short alongside Jason Bateman and Will Arnett. In 2011, she had a recurring role in the sketch comedy series Portlandia, and appeared as a guest judge during a roast segment on The Next Food Network Star. She appeared in "Episode 199" of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast and also had a recurring role as "The Princess" in the comedic sci-fi web series Troopers on CollegeHumor.

In 2012, Plaza had her first starring role in a major film in the comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, playing a magazine intern who answers a curious want ad. Her performance received positive reviews, and 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 portrayed the character 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.

Plaza voiced Eska in the animated fantasy action television series The Legend of Korra (2013–2014). She also voiced Grumpy Cat in the Lifetime Network's television film Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever (2014). Plaza starred in the 2014 horror comedy film Life After Beth about a young woman who returns from the dead, written and directed by her husband Jeff Baena, and in Hal Hartley's drama film Ned Rifle (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. That same year, 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.

2017–present: Career expansion


In 2017, Plaza starred in and produced the films The Little Hours and Ingrid Goes West. The former is a black comedy about medieval nuns loosely based on stories from The Decameron. Both films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In Ingrid Goes West, Plaza portrayed 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." The film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. The following year, she starred in the indie comedy An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn.

From 2017 to 2019, Plaza portrayed both Amahl Farouk / Shadow King and Lenny Busker in the FX series Legion, which was critically praised along with Plaza's performance. The role of Lenny was originally written for a middle aged man. When Plaza was offered it, she requested that the character's dialogue and actions remain, as she did not want it "being tied down to anything gender-wise". David Bowie was an inspiration for her approach to the role. She was given creative freedom with the character and collaborated with directors and choreographers on sequences that were ambiguously described on the page. In 2019 and 2020, Plaza hosted the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2019, she starred in Child's Play, a reboot of the 1988 film, as Andy's mother who brings home a killer doll, Chucky.

In 2020, Plaza played Riley Johnson in the romantic comedy Happiest Season, and produced and starred in the independent experimental thriller Black Bear, garnering critical acclaim for her performance. Black Bear follows a filmmaker who retreats to a cabin in the mountains to find inspiration for her next film. NME wrote that the film "examin[es] the power dynamics in filmmaking", and Collider considered it an exploration of "human relationships, gender dynamics, and celebrity".

In 2021, Plaza wrote and made her directorial debut with the episode "Quiet Illness" of the Showtime anthology series Cinema Toast. Created by her partner Jeff Baena, the series reinvents imagery from public domain films to tell different stories. In crafting "Quiet Illness", Plaza was inspired by actress Loretta Young's experiences and footage of her appearances. She edited various film and television clips starring Young into a psychological thriller about a woman's self-esteem, and cast Christina Ricci as a voice narrator. She described the project as "trippy" with a "pandemic-filming style". Plaza said that she has always had an interest in directing, and she had been writing a project during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also wrote a children's book with Dan Murphy, The Legend of the Christmas Witch (2021), illustrated by Julia Iredale.

Plaza produced and starred as the titular character in the independent film Emily the Criminal (2022), portraying a woman saddled with student debt and compelled into criminal activity. Her performance and the film received critical acclaim, with The New York Times calling it "wonderfully nuanced", Little White Lies writing that it is "perhaps Plaza’s best performance to date", and the Chicago Sun-Times deeming it "richly layered work" and "one of the best performances of the year in one of the best movies of the year". She also appeared in the film Spin Me Round, which premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in 2022. In the second season of the HBO series The White Lotus, Plaza portrayed Harper, a lawyer vacationing in Sicily with her husband. For her performance in the series, she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. On August 25, 2022, the adult animated sitcom Little Demon premiered on FXX, which features the voices of Plaza (who is also an executive producer), Danny DeVito, and Lucy DeVito. In October 2022, Plaza was given the Artist of Distinction Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

At the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards, Plaza received a nomination for Best Lead Performance for Emily the Criminal, as well as a nomination for Best First Feature as producer. In January 2023, she hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time and appeared in multiple sketches. In May, Plaza received criticism for participating in a parody ad for "Wood Milk", which mocked plant-based milks in favor of dairy. In July, it was announced that she would be making her stage debut in an off-Broadway revival of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, a two-hander about strangers who become lovers after meeting at a dive bar, opposite her Black Bear costar Christopher Abbott. She was nominated for the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. Time magazine named Plaza one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.

In 2024, Plaza and her Parks and Recreation costar Nick Offerman reunited in a Mountain Dew ad that aired during the Super Bowl LVIII broadcast. She was confirmed to be starring in John Waters's first film in over 20 years, Liarmouth, based on his novel of the same name. Plaza portrays the future self of Elliott Labrant in the comedy film My Old Ass (2024), and TV presenter Wow Platinum in Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming epic science fiction drama Megalopolis (2024). She will also portray witch Rio Vidal in the Disney+ miniseries Agatha All Along, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is scheduled to premiere on September 18, 2024.

Personal life


Plaza has been in a relationship with writer and director Jeff Baena since 2011. They were married by May 2021. She is bisexual, stating "I fall in love with girls and guys."

Plaza had a stroke when she was 20 years old that caused temporary paralysis and temporary expressive aphasia. Several years later, she had a transient ischemic attack while on the set of Parks and Recreation. Plaza stated that she experiences social anxiety.

Acting roles
According to the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Plaza's most critically acclaimed films include Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), Ned Rifle (2014), Ingrid Goes West (2017), The Little Hours (2017), Black Bear (2020), Happiest Season (2020), Emily the Criminal (2022), and My Old Ass (2024). Her most critically acclaimed television projects include Parks and Recreation (2009–2015), Legion (2017–2019), Calls (2021), Little Demon (2022), The White Lotus (2022), and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023).