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Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began performing 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 sitcom Parks and Recreation (2009–2015).
In film, Plaza had a supporting role in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and a leading role in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). From 2017 to 2019, Plaza portrayed the Shadow King and Lenny Busker in the critically praised FX superhero series Legion, and produced and starred in the 2017 black comedy films The Little Hours and Ingrid Goes West. She also starred in the romantic comedy Happiest Season and thriller Black Bear (both 2020) as well as produced and played the title character in the crime film Emily the Criminal (2022).
Plaza received nominations for a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for her role as a strait-laced lawyer in the second season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus (2022). Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023. In 2024, she starred in Megalopolis and My Old Ass and as Rio Vidal in the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries Agatha All Along.
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. Plaza said her upbringing was "very Catholic", and 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. Aged sixteen, she represented Ursuline at a Delaware youth leadership conference held by Joe Biden. As a teen, Plaza's aunt gave her a job 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. She also enrolled at an improv school in Philadelphia and, in 2001, 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.
In 2009, she made her feature film debut in Derrick Comedy's Mystery Team. She then 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 Funny People, the film's 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. They liked the concept for the character and created April Ludgate. Plaza, who said that in real life she was like Poehler's earnestly hard-working character, took inspiration from her younger sister for April's apathetic disposition. 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.
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. 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 Films 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. Also in 2016 she played Lenore in Dirty Grandpa beside Zoey Deutch, Zac Efron and Robert De Niro.
From 2017 to 2019, Plaza portrayed both 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 "examines 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 anthology 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 animation 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 milk 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 epic science fiction drama Megalopolis (2024). She portrayed Rio Vidal / Death in the Disney+ miniseries Agatha All Along, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which premiered on September 18, 2024.
She met writer and director Jeff Baena at a game night in 2011, and they began a relationship. The couple were frequent creative collaborators, with Plaza starring in four of Baena's films. He proposed to her at a site related to the Basque witch trials in Zugarramurdi, before they spontaneously got married in 2021. Deciding to wed on their tenth anniversary together to celebrate, they had a small ceremony in their backyard. They quietly separated in September 2024 after experiencing marital difficulties, and Plaza moved to New York but remained in frequent contact with Baena. On January 3, 2025, Baena was found dead; the cause of death was suicide. Plaza pulled out of presenting at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards (held on January 5) before hosting part of the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special on February 16, during which she paid tribute to Baena by wearing a tie-dye shirt like the ones they wore for their wedding.
A recreational basketball player, Plaza has had two ACL tears from the sport: first in the mid-2010s during a recreational league game, and then in 2024 when she participated in a game of knockout ahead of the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game.
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