About[]
Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation from 2009–2015, 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.
After beginning her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, Plaza had her first leading film role in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). She has 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).
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 paternal grandfather, Ismael, was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and moved to the mainland US when he was 17 years old. Her mother is of Irish and English descent. She has also stated that she has Taíno ancestry.
Plaza has stated: "I'm half-Puerto Rican. But, yeah, I have a huge family and tons of cousins in Puerto Rico." 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.
Career[]
2006–2015: Beginnings and Parks and Recreation[]
Plaza 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 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. She received universal praise throughout the entire show for her performance as the deadpan employee, 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 provided a guest voice for the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Mall Girl Pearl" with Betty White.
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.
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 played a large role in Happiest Season as well.
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 plays Harper, a lawyer vacationing in Sicily with her husband, Ethan, played by Will Sharpe.
On August 25, 2022, Little Demon premiered on FXX. The series stars Plaza (who is also an executive producer), with 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 in an undisclosed role, potentially as a coven member, in the Disney+ series Agatha: Coven of Chaos, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Personal life[]
Plaza has been in a relationship with writer and director Jeff Baena since 2011. In May 2021, Plaza revealed that she and Baena are married, referring to him as her husband in an Instagram post.
In a 2016 interview with The Advocate, she stated: "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."
Plaza suffered a stroke when she was 20 years old that caused temporary paralysis and temporary expressive aphasia. A couple of years later, she had a transient ischemic attack while on the set of Parks and Recreation.
Filmography[]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Killswitch | Girl with Head Wound |
| In Love | Julie | |
| 2009 | Mystery Team | Kelly Peters |
| Funny People | Daisy Danby | |
| 2010 | Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | Julie Powers |
| 2011 | Damsels in Distress | Debbie |
| Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You | Jeanine Breemer | |
| 10 Years | Olivia | |
| 2012 | Safety Not Guaranteed | Darius Britt |
| A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III | Marnie | |
| 2013 | From Up on Poppy Hill | Sachiko Hirokouji |
| She Said, She Said | Woman in Park | |
| Failure | Woman | |
| The End of Love | Aubrey | |
| The To Do List | Brandy Klark | |
| Charlie Countryman | Ashley | |
| Monsters University | Claire Wheeler | |
| Center Jenny | Monika Nark | |
| 2014 | Life After Beth | Beth Slocum |
| About Alex | Sarah | |
| Ned Rifle | Susan | |
| Playing It Cool | Mallory | |
| Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever | Grumpy Cat | |
| 2015 | Addicted to Fresno | Kelly |
| The Driftless Area | Jean | |
| 2016 | Dirty Grandpa | Lenore |
| Joshy | Jen | |
| The Pistol Shrimps | Herself | |
| Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates | Tatiana Darcy | |
| 2017 | Take My Nose... Please! | Herself |
| The Little Hours | Fernanda | |
| Ingrid Goes West | Ingrid Thorburn | |
| 2018 | An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn | Lulu Danger |
| 2019 | Child's Play | Karen Barclay |
| 2020 | Black Bear | Allison |
| Happiest Season | Riley Johnson | |
| 2021 | Best Sellers | Lucy Stanbridge |
| King Knight | Pine Cone | |
| 2022 | Emily the Criminal | Emily Benetto |
| Spin Me Round | Kat | |
| 2023 | Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre | Sarah Fidel |
| TBA | The Ark and the Aardvark | Brain |
| 2006 | 30 Rock | NBC Page |
| 2009–2015, 2020 | Parks and Recreation | April Ludgate |
| 2011 | Portlandia | Beth / Bookstore Customer |
| Troopers | The Princess | |
| 2012 | NTSF:SD:SUV:: | The Rememberer |
| 2013–2014 | The Legend of Korra | Eska (voice) |
| 2013 | Drunk History | Sacagawea |
| Maron | Herself | |
| 2014–2015 | Welcome to Sweden | Herself |
| 2015 | Golan the Insatiable | Dylan Beekler (voice) |
| Castle | Lucy | |
| 2016 | SpongeBob SquarePants | Nocturna |
| Comedy Bang! Bang! | Lady Aubrey / Herself | |
| RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars | Herself / Guest Judge | |
| Drunk History | Aaron Burr | |
| HarmonQuest | Hawaiian Coffee | |
| 2016–2020 | Criminal Minds | Cat Adams |
| 2017 | Easy | Lindsay |
| 2017–2019 | Legion | Amahl Farouk / Shadow King
Lenny Busker |
| 2019 | 34th Independent Spirit Awards | Herself (host) |
| Drunk History | Cleopatra | |
| 2019–2020 | Crank Yankers | Bernadette |
| 2020 | 35th Independent Spirit Awards | Herself (host) |
| Muppets Now | Herself | |
| Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine | Ashley | |
| 2021 | Cinema Toast | Karen |
| Calls | Dr. Rachel Wheating | |
| Duncanville | Nina | |
| 2022 | The White Lotus | Harper Spiller |
| 2022–present | Little Demon | Laura Feinberg |
| 2022 | The Simpsons | Amber Duffman |
| 2023 | Saturday Night Live | Herself; host |
| 2023–2024 | Agatha: Coven of Chaos | TBA |
Awards and nominations[]
| Award | Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALMA Awards | 2011 | Parks and Recreation | Favorite TV Actress – Supporting Role | Nominated |
| 2012 | Safety Not Guaranteed | Favorite Movie Actress – Comedy/Musical | Won | |
| Parks and Recreation | Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in Comedy | Nominated | ||
| American Comedy Awards | 2014 | Parks and Recreation | Best Comedy Supporting Actress – TV | Nominated |
| Chlotrudis Awards | 2013 | Safety Not Guaranteed | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2018 | Ingrid Goes West | Best Actress | Nominated | |
| 2021 | Black Bear | Best Actress | Nominated | |
| Golden Globe Awards | 2023 | The White Lotus | Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film | Nominated |
| Golden Raspberry Awards | 2017 | Dirty Grandpa | Worst Supporting Actress | Nominated |
| Gotham Awards | 2012 | Safety Not Guaranteed | Best Ensemble Cast | Nominated |
| 2022 | Emily the Criminal | Outstanding Lead Performance | Nominated | |
| Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards | 2021 | — | Acting Achievement | Won |
| Imagen Awards | 2010 | Parks and Recreation | Best Supporting Actress – Television | Nominated |
| 2012 | Parks and Recreation | Best Supporting Actress – Television | Nominated | |
| 2013 | Parks and Recreation | Best Supporting Actress – Television | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Parks and Recreation | Best Supporting Actress – Television | Nominated | |
| 2018 | Legion | Best Actress – Television | Nominated | |
| 2021 | Black Bear | Best Actress – Feature Film | Won | |
| Independent Spirit Awards | 2018 | Ingrid Goes West | Best First Feature | Won |
| 2023 | Emily the Criminal | Best Lead Performance | Pending | |
| Best First Feature | Pending | |||
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2018 | Legion | Best Villain | Nominated |
| Riviera International Film Festival Awards | 2021 | — | Icon Award | Won |
| San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | 2021 | Black Bear | Best Actress | Nominated |
| San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Awards | 2023 | Emily the Criminal | Best Actress | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | 2023 | The White Lotus | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Pending |
| St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards | 2012 | Safety Not Guaranteed | Best Actress | Nominated |
| Young Hollywood Awards | 2012 | Safety Not Guaranteed | Breakthrough Performance – Female | Won |
| 2014 | — | Cuz You're Funny | Nominated |