Aubrey Plaza Describes Her Strange Relationship With Her Fans

Many of her fans know her as April Ludgate from Parks and Recreation. However, Aubrey Plaza is far from a one-trick pony. Plaza has been acting since the early 2000s and has earned the opportunity to portray a wide variety of characters over the last two decades. Over the years, Plaza has gained a large fan base drawing from her seven seasons on Parks and Recreation and many other works. What’s unique about Plaza’s popularity is that the actor has cultivated a unique relationship with her fans.

Aubrey Plaza got her start on ‘Parks and Recreation’ 

In 2004, at the age of 20, Aubrey Plaza began performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. Performing at the Theater opened a variety of doors for Plaza. According to IMDb, Plaza landed a variety of small acting roles in the early 2000s, including the role of Daisy, Seth Rogen’s love interest, in the 2009 comedy film Funny People. However, Plaza’s Hollywood breakout came when she landed the role of April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation. 

The political satire sitcom of Parks and Recreation was an instant success with fans, and throughout its seven seasons, the show attracted a cult-like following. Plaza portrayed the snarky and cynical April Ludgate from April 2009 until February 2015. According to Fandom, the character of April was explicitly written for Plaza. After Plaza met with Allison Jones, one of the casting directors, Jones told the show’s creator, “I just met the weirdest girl I’ve ever met in my life. You have to meet her and put her on your show.”

Fans have some interesting requests for Plaza 

In a recent interview with GQ on YouTube, Aubrey Plaza was asked what her relationship with her fans is like. As it turns out, the relationship dynamic between Plaza and her fans is quite interesting. Plaza told GQ that she has multiple types of fans. She revealed with one set of fans, it’s a dynamic where they act like they hate her, and she acts like she hates them, but in reality, they all love each other. 

Plaza went on to depict other relationship dynamics, revealing, “I have another kind of fan that is a baby hag, and I guess I’m mother hag and they are my babies and they live in a cave covered in seaweed.” If that wasn’t an interesting enough answer, Plaza went on to say, “And the third kind of fan that I have is the one that wants me to run them over with a car or punch them in the face.” 

While Plaza’s depiction of her relationship with fans may seem far-fetched, the 38-year-old actor is not joking. Fans who know Plaza from her days on Parks and Rec have made weird requests over the years. In December 2020, Plaza openly discussed one of these fan encounters during an interview with Dewey Singleton. Plaza told the host, “One time I was in a bar, and some guy came up to me, and he said, “I know this sounds weird, but will you punch my friend in the face?” The fan even offered her a whopping $20 to smack their friend in the face. 

Plaza didn’t elaborate on whether she took the fan up on their offer or not. However, she ended the interview with, “A lot of people want me to be mean to them. They want me to berate them in public. I’m not sure why.” Well, while it might be hard to pinpoint the true motive of these fans, their requests probably stem from watching Plaza’s character April Ludgate berate people onscreen for seven seasons.  

What is Aubrey Plaza up to now? 

Since the ending of Parks and Rec in 2015, Aubrey Plaza has stayed pretty busy in her career. Along with roles on television shows like Drunk History, Criminal Minds, and The White Lotus, Plaza has also landed various film roles. She played Lenore in the 2016 comedy film Dirty Grandpa and Riley Johnson in the 2020 romantic comedy Happiest Season. Plaza also has three upcoming film releases, including Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, Megalopolis, and The Ark and the Aardvark. 

In addition to her acting credentials, Plaza founded a production company called Small Wonder Productions in 2004 with Dan Murphy. The company never really took off, but it seems to still be in existence. So, while the company took a back burner to Plaza’s acting career, there’s still a chance that Plaza will explore more of a producer-type role later on in her career.