Aubrey Plaza

Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress and comedian. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She is best known for her starring role as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (2009–2015). She later starred in the FX drama series Legion (2017–2019). Plaza had her first leading film role in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). She also starred in the films Mystery Team (2009), Funny People (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Monsters University (2013), Life After Beth (2014), Dirty Grandpa (2016), Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016), The Little Hours (2017), Ingrid Goes West (2017), An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018), Child's Play (2019), Happiest Season (2020), and Black Bear (2020).

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, and Gary Thompson of The Philadelphia Inquirer questioned whether this role was out of her usual "pretty slacker" range but found her performance "compelling".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.At the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in January 2014, Plaza's film, Life After Beth, which was written and directed by her boyfriend 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 Michael Shannon in a short parody of Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse in order to promote the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards.Plaza is set to produce and star in the Netflix comedy film Hope.

Plaza has been in a long-term relationship with writer and director Jeff Baena since 2011. They live together in Los Angeles, California, and work together often.In 2016, Plaza mentioned in an interview to The Advocate that: "I know I have an androgynous thing going on, and there's something masculine about my energy. 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 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 European-American descent. She has stated that she has Taíno ancestry. 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."Plaza has stated 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. Some years later, she had a smaller stroke called a transient ischemic attack while on the set of Parks and Recreation.