Aubrey was interviewed by Oyster magazine. You can find pics in the gallery and the interview below!
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As a journalist whose CV is almost exclusively made up of interviews, I have met my fair share of intimidating interview subjects. No interviewee, however, has generated as much pre-game nail-biting as Aubrey Plaza. Miss Plaza is the comedic actress best known for playing Pawnee Town Hall employee April Ludgate on the hilarious sitcom Parks and Recreation. Although Plaza has appeared in a slew of hit movies — Funny People, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and the soon-to-be-released Safety Not Guaranteed — it’s the sarcastic and wholly apathetic April that she’s best known for. I’m afraid of April — but luckily, as it turns out, Aubrey is nothing like her.
Jason Crombie: Aubrey, you’re a comedian and an actress.
Aubrey Plaza: Yes.And you’re 27?
I’m 27, yeah. I turned 27 in June.Happy birthday!
Thanks.And you’re from Delaware.
I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, yeah.Do you remember that scene in Wayne’s World where they diss Delaware?
Yes. That’s, like, the number one thing people say to me when I say I’m from Delaware. They go, “Hi. We’re in Delaware.”That’s horrible!
Yeah.But what’s the deal with Delaware?
Delaware is so fucking weird, but so great. It’s hard to describe, because it’s nestled in the middle of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and it’s kind of New England-y, but also kinda feels Southern.Right.
But it’s also a beachside state, so it has beaches. It’s two hours from New York City. So it’s got everything.Did you like growing up there?
I actually did, because there weren’t that many things to do, so you had to be creative, which I think helped me a lot, you know? Me and my friends would go driving around in the woods and, you know, go on adventures. There wasn’t a lot of clubbing and drinking, so I think it was good for me.In high school were you, like, the leader of the pack–type ‘funny girl’? The girl no one fucked with?
Yeah! No one fucked with me! No, people fucked with me all the time.Really?
All the time. But I was funny, yeah, and I was popular, but not in the traditional sense. I wasn’t, like, the popular, hot cheerleader girl, but I was kinda popular because I didn’t care what anyone thought of me, and I would do crazy things in public. I think a lot of people my age were horrified because…Wait, what did you do that was crazy?
So many things.Like what?
Just stupid stuff. Like, my friend Neil and I would wear a chicken and a duck costume to the movie theatre on Friday nights.Jesus. You were definitely making your own fun, then.
You had to — it was Delaware.You have an Irish mother and Puerto Rican father. Is that right?
That’s right.And two little sisters.
Yeah.Are you, like, the cool older sister?
Oh my God, no! I’m such a dork to them.Really?
Yeah. My little sisters are so much cooler than me. They’re always making fun of me for being so lame.Impossible. You’re on a great TV show and you’re in movies and stuff. How can you not be the cool older sister?
Well, I think that’s cool, but I’m not cool — to them — in the normal way. I’m pretty dorky. I live in LA, and my sisters always get mad at me for not using my ‘star power’ to get into parties and meet people. They’re always like, “What are you doing on Friday night?” or, “What are you doing this weekend? Are you going to this or that premiere?” and I’m always like, “I think I’m just gonna play Boulder Dash with my friends and then watch Battlestar Galactica.” So, that’s what I do, and then they’re pissed at me for not going out with Miley Cyrus and making connections and stuff.How much fun is it making Parks and Recreation? My girlfriend and I are convinced you guys are having the time of your lives.
Yeah, it’s ridiculous! It’s so much fun. I just finished this movie that I had to do while doing this season of Parks, and I was going back and forth between the movie and the show…Yeah?
And it really helped me realise just how much fun it is to do the show! The movie was really good, but it was a lot of work. When I went to the show, though, I got paid to sit there and eat waffles with Amy [Poehler] and Chris [Pratt] for, like, an hour, and just mess around. And that’s my job. That’s awesome. And also my character, April, is so fun because it doesn’t matter if I’m hungover or in a bad mood — I just have to show up and hate everyone.Who cracks you up the most on set?
Oh, it’s so hard to say; everyone is so funny. I feel like…Is it Ron Swanson?
That’s what I was going to say: Nick Offerman [aka Ron Swanson]. He makes me crack up a lot. We’ll be doing a bunch of takes and he’ll do the same thing each time, but then, out of nowhere, he’ll say something really mean or he’ll yell for no reason, and that stuff kills me. He’s really fun.He looks like a cat. Have you ever noticed that?
Yeah! I think there’s a thing on the internet that compares his face to a cat.Really?
Yeah, it’s pretty creepy. Now I think you’re the one that created that.I’m way too busy to maintain a ‘Nick Offerman looks like a Cat’ website.
Sure.What did you do for a job before you became a successful actress?
I had a lot of shitty jobs. I was a waitress at a bowling alley…In New York?
In New York, yeah.Was it Bowlmor Lanes?
Yes!You were a waitress at Bowlmor?
Yeah!Oh my God! I didn’t know you could get food there.
You can get a lot more than that.Do you miss it?
No. I miss the uniform, though. I used to wear that slutty bowling-alley uniform. I don’t know if you remember…I sort of remember it. It’s like a one-piece short/skirt thing, right?
Right; good memory. And fishnets and heels. I made my mother proud.Did you ever spit in anyone’s food?
Did I spit in anyone’s food? Nooo, but here’s the thing about my waiting days: I don’t remember much because I was drinking a lot at work, so I don’t know exactly what I did. I do know that I gave out a lot of free drinks.How did you get through those days?
I had a philosophy. I worked in a bunch of different restaurants, and kind of made a pact with myself — a ‘no loyalty’ pact — where I decided that I would have no loyalty to any restaurant I worked at. I’ll do whatever I want when I get there, try to make as much money as possible, and the minute they tell me I can’t go to an audition or whatever, I quit. The minute they try to interfere with my life, I quit.So, you probably got fired a lot, too.
Oh yeah. One time I was paid to leave.Shut up. How much?
I forget — like, two or three hundred dollars. This one restaurant made me work on New Year’s Eve, and I didn’t want to, so I started getting really drunk. I was like, “Fuck it! It’s New Years Eve! I’ll just keep drinking!” and then I accidently pushed one of the busboys down some stairs…Whoa!
It was an accident, but they felt like I was a liability at that point, and they said, “You should go.” I was like, “I’m not gonna go! You wanted me here, so I’m here! I’m workin’ all night, baby!” So they paid me to leave.OK, last question: when are you going to have your own show?
I don’t know — that’d be cool! I hope Parks goes on for a long time, but if it ever ends… maybe. I never planned on being on TV; that wasn’t something I thought I’d be doing, but I really like it! I’d love to have my own show some day, but you know — who knows?It could be an offshoot of Parks, called April.
I don’t know about that — well, maybe. Maybe April could be all grown up and she works for the IRS. I don’t know…Sounds like you’ve thought about it.
Oh yeah, I’ve written the show; it’s ready. No, I’m kidding. I don’t know what the fuck is gonna happen.
erika
November 01, 2011
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Aubrey up for an EWwy!
Aubrey is nominated in the Best Supporting Actress Category in a Comedy category for the EWwys, run by Entertainment Weekly for her role as April Ludgate! Be sure to Vote and show your support!
erika
September 03, 2011
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Chris Pratt Talks About His ‘Parks’ Costars with Vulture
Chris Pratt recently talked with Vulture about what’s in store for the “Parks and Rec” newlyweds (marked as spoilers below) and what his costar Aubrey Plaza is like in real life. Continue…
Janie
April 22, 2011
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Entertainment Weekly – February 18th Issue
The cast of Parks and Recreation was featured on the cover of the February 18th addition of Entertainment Weekly. We now have scans from the issue in our gallery.
Janie
March 13, 2011
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New Project – “Safety Not Guaranteed”
IndieWire.com recently announced that Aubrey has signed on to a new project entitled “Safety Not Guaranteed.” Continue…
Janie
March 11, 2011
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Aubrey Plaza’s idea of method acting involves copying her 19-year-old sister
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is having a tough go of it at the box office. After being out-performed by Eat Pray Love and The Expendables in earnings last weekend, the film seems to be in need of a second wind. Aubrey Plaza, who stars in Edgar Wright’s eye-popping love story alongside Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman, believes audiences may yet catch on.
“How can you make a movie that good and not have everyone run to the theatre to see it? Especially when it’s up against other movies that aren’t as special,” says the 24-year-old Plaza, who also stars as the deadpan April Ludgate on television’s Parks and Recreation. “It feels like a Ghostbusters, like a game-changer. It’s got heart, a message for young people and a story that even my parents could fully grasp.”
For Plaza, July 2008, is the moment when her professional career truly began. That month, she not only auditioned for Parks and Recreation and Scott Pilgrim, but she also read for the role of Seth Rogen’s love interest in Funny People, Judd Apatow’s semi-autobiographical dramedy. The actress was living in New York at the time and working with the Upright Citizens Brigade as a stand-up comic, but after the film opened, she was whisked away to Los Angeles.
“Being associated with Judd and Seth and that crew helped me gain some street cred,” says Plaza, who once dreamed of performing on Saturday Night Live. “That movie changed everything for me.”
Funny People premiered just as Parks and Recreation, a comedy from the team that brought The Office to the U.S. and starring Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari, began its rise in the ratings. On the show, Plaza’s character shows the same sweet bored-to-death watchfulness as the other big roles she snagged in that fateful month.
“My sister Natalie’s 19 years old, and whenever I go home I try to absorb her mannerisms and the way she talks and her general disinterested apathetic attitude,” Plaza says, with just a hint of a little laugh. “She’s amazing — there’s times when she’s interacting with her friends that are on a whole different level.”
Today, Plaza seems like she’s one role of away from reaching a whole different level herself. She’s currently reading scripts and writing her own material, and says she’s looking forward to leaving her Natalie-influenced performances behind.
“You put yourself out there in one way and people assume that’s entirely you, but those roles are only a tiny part of me,” she says. “I change all the time and I want to do everything, not just comedies. I don’t think people are out there writing a million scripts for me, but who knows? Maybe they will.”
From the National Post
Janie
August 19, 2010
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Tracklist: Aubrey Plaza Rocks the Boat
I’m really bad at picking my favorite anything,” says Aubrey Plaza, the 25- year-old actress who appears on NBC’s primetime gem Parks and Recreation. “I don’t really have a favorite movie or band or color or candy bar or parent. I’m pretty inconsistent in all areas of my life. Maybe that’s why I’m an actor?” Whatever the reason, Plaza should keep at it. In addition to her recurring role on Parks, the banged brunette recently appeared in Judd Apatow’s Funny People and will soon be seen in the Michael Cera vehicle, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. “Oh my God!” she says, “I totally forgot to put the song I was named after on this list! It’s called ‘Aubrey’ and it’s by Bread, this weird ’70s band. It’s actually really depressing when you listen to it. Can we add an eleventh song to this thing? Either way, here are 10 songs that have nothing to do with each other.”
Judy Garland’s “Do It Again.” I have been obsessed with Judy Garland since I was 12. I don’t know why. It’s really weird how I got into her. I had to do this project in seventh grade on decades. My decade was the ’60s, I think, the decade she died. Some people said that she killed herself and some people said that it was an accidental overdose. For some reason, I got all Nancy Drew-obsessed with trying to figure out how she died. Now I know everything about her, in a creepy way. My room was covered with pictures of her.
Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Crimson & Clover.” I enjoy love songs about people who hardly know each other. The lyrics are something like, “I don’t hardly know her, but I think I could love her.”
Hap Palmer’s “I Can Put My Clothes On By Myself.” This is from an album that Amy [Poehler, her co-star in Parks and Recreation] and I found while shooting on location at a preschool. We were stealing things, like we usually do, and started listening to all these weird children’s albums. Hap Palmer makes kids songs sound like cool ’70s rock songs. I listen to them while I clean.
Coconut Records’ “I Am Young.” This song is in Funny People. Jason Schwartzman did a lot of the music for the movie [under the name Coconut Records]. That movie kind of changed my life, so I felt like I needed to add a song from it. Before Funny People, I was waiting tables. Literally, the week before I got cast, I was broke and didn’t have a job. I still feel like, any day now, I’ll have to go back to New York and start taking people’s orders again.
The Spring Standards’ “In The Underground.” I grew up with these guys in Delaware and now they are a real fucking band. I don’t know what it is about Delaware, but there are a lot of talented people out there. I think there’s some
strange radioactive stuff in the water. You should buy this album. The Beatles’
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” I went on a road trip last August, from Chicago to L.A. We stopped at a Starbucks to get pumpkin lattes, and ended up buying all of these Beatles albums. I don’t know why, but it’s more fun to listen to something that you bought at Starbucks. We also listened to this Stephen King book on tape that was read by Anne Heche for nine hours.
Judy Garland’s “The Man That Got Away.” This song is in A Star is Born, one of my favorite movies of all time. I’ve watched everything with Judy in it. I’ve read so many books about her. She’s just one of those famous people who made me want to act.
Big Pun’s “100%.” I’m half Puerto Rican. This song makes me want to be full Puerto Rican.
Ben Folds Five’s “Don’t Change Your Plans.” This reminds me of when I was in Spain on a high school field trip. It was all juniors and seniors, but I went as a freshman. I didn’t have any friends, so ended up getting lost on my own, looking at old castles and listening to Ben Folds’ voice.
Aqua’s “Barbie Girl.” I think I hate this song.
From BlackBook
Janie
March 12, 2010
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Hey, aren’t you that funny girl?
Actress, Delaware native Aubrey Plaza garden attention, television roles
During her two weeks back home in Delaware during the holidays, it didn’t take long for 2009′s success to catch up with actress/comedienne Aubrey Plaza.
While taking a break from shopping for Christmas presents at the Concord Mall, the co-star of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” met a woman in the ladies’ room.
“A woman said to me, ‘You really look like that girl from ‘Parks and Recreation’ and I said, ‘Oh yeah, I think I am. I am that girl,’ ” Plaza said during a phone interview recently. “She was asking, ‘What are you doing in the Concord Mall bathroom?’ ”
Plaza, a Wilmington native, isn’t being recognized only because of her role as the disinterested intern on the prime-time sitcom, but also for her role as Seth Rogen’s girlfriend in last summer’s film “Funny People,” directed by Judd Apatow (“Knocked Up,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”)
In it, Plaza’s character is also from Delaware, leading to the memorable First State-themed exchange between the two:
ROGEN: So where are you from originally? You just moved here, right?
PLAZA: Delaware.
ROGEN: Delaware! Our first state in the union.
PLAZA: Yes, it is.
ROGEN: That’s great. No sales tax in Delaware.
PLAZA: Yeah, there’s not. That’s weird that you know so much about Delaware. (What) are you … Joe Biden?
ROGEN: He’s from Delaware. See, I knew that!
After high school, off to New York
So how did Plaza, who has been acting since the age of 10, go from productions at Wilmington Drama League and Delaware Theatre Company to a Hollywood career that also includes an upcoming summer comedy with Michael Cera called “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” directed by Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz”)?
With the support of her parents, David, a financial adviser, and Bernadette, an attorney, Plaza decided to move to New York after graduating from Ursuline Academy in 2002 to study at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, from which she graduated in 2005.
“She’s one of these rare individuals who just knew what she wanted to do at a very young age. She had the talent and the drive,” David Plaza said. “It’s amazing how quickly things have come together for her.”
In addition to her studies, Plaza performed both stand-up and improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York. It counts Amy Poehler, Plaza’s costar on “Parks and Recreation” and a “Saturday Night Live” alum, as a founding member.
It’s appropriate that Plaza landed on a show with Poehler, since Plaza credits “Saturday Night Live” for her love of comedy and acting.
A fan of the show since middle school, Plaza also used humor as a teen and admits she could have been described as a class clown.
Kay Gaglione, who taught Plaza American history in seventh grade, said she remembers walking home from school one day followed by Plaza, hidden in a large cardboard box. Gaglione would walk a few steps and so would Plaza. When Gaglione would stop and turn around, the box would stop and drop to the sidewalk.
“She was very, very funny. Even then, she was just a riot,” remembers Gaglione, who is now the middle-school coordinator for Ursuline.
“I never thought I could turn that into something until after I started watching ‘SNL’ and getting into other TV and film comedies,” Plaza said. “I was making people laugh in my everyday life and these people were getting paid for it, so I figured I should learn how to do that.”
From Delmarva Now
Janie
January 23, 2010
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EXCLUSIVE: Aubrey Plaza Is One of the Funny People
The rising comedic star talks about this new DVD, Parks and Recreation, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and more.
Around this time last year, I was reading up on Judd Apatow’s new directorial effort, Funny People, since I was going to be visiting the set of the film. Among the huge names in the film was a newcomer named Aubrey Plaza, and, if the newcomers in Apatow’s previous two films were any indication (See: Jonah Hill and Charlene Yi), I figured this young comedienne was surely on a pretty damn good path. Of course, that was before we knew her as the hilariously deadpan April Ludgate on the wonderful NBC comedy Parks and Recreation and the actress also has the highly-anticipated Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World coming up as well. I recently had the chance to speak with Aubrey Plaza for the new Funny People DVD and Blu-ray release on November 24, and here’s what she had to say.
I was wondering how you first heard about Judd’s script and how the whole casting process went about for you? Who was already attached when you first heard about the film?
Aubrey Plaza: Well, I didn’t know much. I didn’t read the script, I didn’t really know anything about it. I knew it was Judd’s movie and that Seth (Rogen) and Adam (Sandler) were going to be in it. That’s kind of all I knew. Allison Jones cast the movie and I had met her, just kind of generally, a couple of months before. She told me then that she was on this movie, but she wasn’t going to tell me what it was until later. I knew something was going on, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I was in New York at that point and she had me put myself on tape. I just did the scenes and improvised with my friends and sent it to L.A., just hoping that they would actually watch it. I heard a couple of months later that Judd did watch it and he really liked it, so I came out to L.A. to have a callback and I read with Seth, in front of Judd. That was terrifying but it went really well. I hadn’t heard anything for a month after that and I knew I did well but I wasn’t really sure what the hold-up was, what they were looking for. I found out that they had really wanted to cast a stand-up comedian. At the time I wasn’t doing stand-up, so I kind of took it upon myself to start doing stand-up and taping myself and sending it to him. So that’s kind of how I got the part. It was a three-step process, I guess, where the final step was, I think, the most important, sending bits of me actually doing jokes and having him actually see me on stage with a mic, in front of an audience, that it was possible that I could pull it off, to be this young, stand-up comedian.
You have an improv background, I believe. What was it like getting into stand-up mode, as opposed to your improv background?
Aubrey Plaza: It was really tough. Improv is so different, it’s such a collaborative thing, you’re working with other people, nothing is planned and it’s kind of this community mentality, whereas stand-up, you’re alone and it was really hard. Having to stand in front of an audience and have it be your job to make them laugh, you can’t really look to anyone but yourself. It’s what you wrote, what you said and how you said it, so it’s kind of terrifying, but I liked it. When it goes well, it’s the best feeling in the world. When it doesn’t go well, it’s the worst feeling, but once you get into the rhythm of it, I think it’s really fun. Also it’s a good exercise for writing, for me, using my brain in that different way.
I know the DVD and the Blu-ray that are coming out are both just packed with extras, with a lot of bonus stand-up material. Is there a lot of these unseen bits from your performances on here then?
Aubrey Plaza: Yeah, definitely. The first time I ever did stand-up was in Queens and it was the first time I had done it and I taped it and sent it to him. After I got the part, a couple of weeks later, he brought me out to L.A. and I immediately started doing shows with the rest of the cast, having never done it before. So I went from zero to performing with Adam Sandler in less than a month. It was really a crazy interaction to stand-up, but they had camera crews follow me to every show and tape every single show that I did. I went up multiple times a week and I did The Laugh Factory, all these open mic’s and they sent camera crews everywhere. There’s a ton of shows on the DVD, a lot of me bombing on stage, which I’m sure will be fun for me to watch (Laughs). So yeah, a lot of failure, but it will give you a good idea of how I got to where I am now.
Janie
November 26, 2009
Articles, Funny People
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Aubrey Plaza Says ‘Scott Pilgrim’ Casting Was ‘Meant To Be’
Now that “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” has wrapped principal photography, the movie’s many cast members are starting to talk about their work on the Edgar Wright-directed comic book adaptation. Today, actress Aubrey Plaza is getting in on that action.
Plaza plays Julie Powers in “Scott Pilgrim,” the occasional girlfriend of Scott’s band mate Stephen Stills. The actress spoke with Making Of about the film’s “perfectly” weird faithfulness to the Bryan Lee O’Malley-created graphic novels.
“There’s a lot of weird, really perfectly casted people,” said Plaza. “Alison Pill really looks like Kim Pine, Michael [Cera] really looks like Scott Pilgrim in a weird way, so everybody kind of weirdly looks like their character. You almost feel like it was meant to be.”
The actress is perhaps best known for her role in last summer’s “Funny People,” and while Plaza had plenty of comedy to wade through in “Scott Pilgrim,” she admitted that there was an entirely new element for her in the movie’s action component.
“It’s kind of a crazy movie because it’s a comedy, but it’s also an action film,” she said. “It was a different way of working—a lot more technical, not a lot of improv. There’s no room to improvise when there’s a blue screen and camera craning at these weird times. You have to really be hitting all of the beats and everything. So it was a learning experience for me, because I’m used to kind of just saying whatever I want.”
And who says learning can’t be fun? Certainly not Plaza, who had nothing but great things to say about filming the comic book movie.
“It was really fun,” she said. “Edgar is awesome. He’s really great. Everyone in the cast was really great—they’re all a combination of really funny but also really great actors.”
From MTV