Aubrey Plaza bio, age, height, husband, net worth, ethnicity 2025

Biography of Aubrey Plaza

Aubrey Plaza is an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer. She shot to fame playing the deadpan April Ludgate in the hit comedy series "Parks and Recreation," earning her first Emmy nomination.

In 2023, Plaza was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for "White Lotus" (Harper Spiller), but lost to Jennifer Coolidge from the same series. She did win a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the show's ensemble cast.

Childhood, Youth, and Family

Aubrey was born in the summer of 1984 to Bernadette and David Plaza in the city of Wilmington, located in the northeastern United States. Her mother is a lawyer of mixed Anglo-Irish heritage, while her father is Puerto Rican and serves as Senior Vice President of Capital Management at Plaza Thompson Group.

Aubrey's name was given by her mother, who was a fan of the band Bread and their song "Aubrey." The family later welcomed two younger sisters, Renee and Natalie. Aubrey would later draw on her sisters' personality traits when developing her movie characters.

According to Bernadette Plaza, Aubrey was extremely shy around strangers as a child. David, however, tells a different story - describing his daughter as someone who actively parodied family members and shot home videos throughout her childhood. Aubrey herself said, "As long as I can remember, I wanted to be an actress and a comedian."

From an early age, Aubrey began participating in productions of the Wilmington Drama League and became close with one of the directors, Katie Butlerbo. Aubrey also used her talents at the Catholic Ursuline Academy, where her parents sent her to school. She proved to be far less shy than her mother believed, displaying a uniquely deadpan sense of humor. She delivered jokes with perfect deadpan timing and orchestrated elaborate pranks that delighted her classmates. At graduation, Plaza couldn't help herself - she staged a mock sword fight right at prom.

I have always been interested in rocking the boat, making people laugh, and doing strange things. I think a Catholic girls school is a good place for that.

The Aubrey Plaza Saga (funny compilation)

In 2002, she enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. During this time, she appeared in short films, performed in amateur theater productions, and grabbed any creative gig she could find. She eventually landed an internship at Saturday Night Live, working as an assistant producer and director.

Aubrey Plaza on the stage of the amateur theater

This was a significant event, as it was SNL that inspired Aubrey to pursue acting in the first place. Her duties included giving tours of the studio, but she often made up facts about the studio to entertain her guests.

But fate had other plans for Aubrey. In July 2005, at the age of 21, she suffered a stroke. She had to move back home with her family and begin a lengthy rehabilitation process that included relearning how to speak. The situation became even more challenging when Aubrey began experiencing panic attacks triggered by the trauma of her stroke.

It was a complete shock because no one in my family had ever had a stroke. I had expressive aphasia, which meant I understood what was happening, but couldn't speak or write by hand. But at least I could walk... Luckily, I was so young that my brain healed very quickly. The doctors said I was really lucky in that sense.

Acting Career

In 2006, Aubrey finally graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts. She credits her passion for acting with helping her bounce back quickly. After recovering from her illness, she began attending auditions. Initially, she landed small parts in indie films and TV shows.

Aubrey Plaza Reads Thirst Tweets

In 2009, Aubrey's luck turned when she scored three major roles. The first two were in comedies "Mystery Team" and "Funny People," respectively. The third role catapulted the rising actress to fame in the TV series "Parks and Recreation," which ran for six seasons.

Her character, April Ludgate, is a young intern at a government agency. She's completely uninterested in her job and constantly delivers deadpan one-liners while rolling her eyes.

Best of April Ludgate | Parks and Recreation | Comedy Bites

The role was specifically written for Aubrey, and no other actresses were even considered.

Eventually, her character falls for her colleague Andy (Chris Pratt). The show's writers never planned a romance between April and Andy. Aubrey explained:

It all started with an improvised scene in the season one finale. Andy is trying to get everyone to come to his concert and trying to explain what kind of music his band plays... And everyone's like, «I don't understand what you mean.» I didn't even have a line. We did one take where I just looked at him and said, «I totally get it.» I think the writers picked up on that and were like, «Wow, April is in love with him!»

Around this time, Aubrey also appeared in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," based on the cult comic series. She played Julie Powers, the ex-girlfriend of the main character's friend.

Julie Powers from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

In 2012, together with Mark Webber and Amanda Seyfried, Plaza starred in the social drama "The End of Love," and later worked with Chris Evans and Michelle Monaghan on the comedy "Playing It Cool."

The actress also met Robert De Niro during the filming of the comedy "Dirty Grandpa," but critics weren't impressed with her performance, earning Plaza a "Worst Supporting Actress" nomination at the Golden Raspberry Awards.

Plaza found her role in the social drama "Happiest Season" particularly meaningful, where Kristen Stewart played a lesbian woman who decides to start a family with her girlfriend. Plaza, who played Riley Johnson, an LGBTQ+ character, revealed: "My younger sister is a lesbian, so I guess it's just in our blood."

Aubrey Plaza and Kristen Stewart in Happiest Season

In 2021, Plaza starred in the dramedy "Best Sellers" as publisher Lucy Stanbridge. The film featured Michael Caine as a once-brilliant writer turned hopeless drunk.

That same year, the first season of "The White Lotus" premiered. Showrunner Mike White knew Plaza well and wrote her character Harper specifically for her.

Harper is a sharp, controlling woman who's used to keeping everything in line. She goes on vacation with her husband and makes no effort to hide her irritation. Aubrey also landed the lead role in the crime drama "Emily the Criminal," and in the comedy "Spin Me Round," which premiered in 2022, she played the character named Kett.

Personal Life of Aubrey Plaza

During the filming of the comedy "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," Plaza met the performer of the main role, Michael Cera. Romance quickly blossomed: the young couple appeared everywhere together, and once, soon after wrapping "Scott Pilgrim," they almost got married in Las Vegas but changed their minds at the last moment.

The actors dated for a year and a half and broke up in late 2010, but fans didn't find out about their relationship until six years later when Aubrey revealed it on the What's The Tee podcast.

In 2011, Plaza began dating screenwriter and director Jeff Baena. Their relationship also began on set and proved to be rock solid. Jeff was 43 and Aubrey was 36 when they tied the knot after ten years together.

Aubrey Plaza Now

Aubrey Plaza currently stars in Guy Ritchie's thriller "Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre" alongside Jason Statham and Josh Hartnett, taking on the lead female role.

Aubrey Plaza in Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre

She is also the founder of the production company Evil Hag Productions. She's dreaming of creating a Tim Burton-style film—a family-friendly fantasy comedy. The title is still up in the air.

She's also on a mission to normalize "imperfect" female characters in Hollywood:

We're used to expecting female characters to be likeable. I think it's cool to normalize anti-heroines, because women can do questionable things and still be likeable. For me, it's not about whether I like the character, it's about whether she's realistic. If you can create a truly dimensional character, people can associate themselves with them.

She's also set to appear in Francis Ford Coppola's "Megapolis" and will star in the Marvel series "Agatha: House of Harkness."

Interesting facts

Back in school, Aubrey Plaza was notorious for her outrageous stunts. She once decided the school's "Raiders" team needed a mascot. So she threw on a red cloak and mask and climbed into the gym rafters during basketball games. Another time, she donned a giant box and stalked the principal home. Whenever he turned around, she'd freeze and duck inside the box.
At the MTV Movie Awards, she famously crashed the stage and tried to snatch Will Ferrell's "Golden Popcorn" award. Ferrell played along but held onto his trophy, despite the nominated film's title being scrawled across Aubrey's chest.

Aubrey Plaza crashes Will Ferrell's MTV speech
Fans have long noticed the striking resemblance between Aubrey Plaza and Jenna Ortega, who shot to fame starring in "Wednesday." SAG Awards organizers had fun with their uncanny resemblance and the shared deadpan energy of Wednesday and April's characters at the February 26, 2023 ceremony.

Jenna Ortega & Aubrey Plaza Make Everyone Laugh While Presenting At SAG Awards