Aubrey Plaza

Aubrey Plaza is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer whose screen persona first became famous for deadpan comedy and later expanded into dramatic, surreal and psychologically tense work. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1984, she studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and performed improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. That training shaped the timing and restraint that became central to her early comic roles.

Plaza's breakthrough came as April Ludgate on NBC's Parks and Recreation. The character's dry delivery, mischievous boredom and unexpected emotional loyalty made Plaza a standout in a large ensemble cast. Around the same period, she appeared in Mystery Team, Funny People and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, then took her first major film lead in Safety Not Guaranteed. That 2012 film helped establish her as an indie-film presence capable of carrying a story rather than simply stealing scenes.

After Parks and Recreation, Plaza deliberately stretched her range. She starred in and produced Ingrid Goes West, a dark comedy about obsession, social media and identity, and produced and acted in The Little Hours. She took more unstable and ambiguous roles in Black Bear and Emily the Criminal, the latter giving her one of her strongest dramatic showcases as a financially trapped woman drawn into illegal work. Plaza's performances in these films often use stillness and discomfort as comic and dramatic tools at the same time.