Is Aubrey Plaza Married? The ‘Happiest Season’ Star on the Way She Relates To Her ‘Black Bear’ Character
Actor Aubrey Plaza is perhaps best known for playing April Ludgate in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. But in recent years, she’s taken on roles such as Lenny in Legion that show off her range. Learn about her 2020 films, Happiest Season and Black Bear, and her marital status.
Aubrey Plaza stole the show in ‘Happiest Season’
Plaza starred alongside big names like Victor Garber and Alison Brie in the 2020 holiday romantic comedy Happiest Season. The film depicts a couple, Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis), who spend Christmas was the latter’s family. Abby is ready to propose, but before they arrive, Harper explains she isn’t out to her family.
While Harper competes with her sisters (Brie and Mary Holland), follows her mother’s (Mary Steenbergen) strict schedule, and hangs out with her high school friends, Abby spends time with Plaza’s Riley. Riley and Harper dated in secret once, too, and she’s there for Abby as the latter tries to adjust to the situation.
She encouraged the audience pulling for her character
Following the film’s release, much of the internet concluded that Plaza was excellent in her role, and Riley and Abby had definitive chemistry. “Imagine being so attractive you turn gay twitter against the protagonist,” wrote one Twitter user. As it turns out, the actor is into this ship — or at least, she’s humoring those who are.
“I hope that people walk away from the movie, and they’re disappointed that she — that Kristen Stewart didn’t end up with my character. And they riot in the streets about it,” said Plaza in an interview for FabTV. “I want people to walk away and go, ‘Man, she should’ve been with Riley.'”
Plaza stars in another new film, ‘Black Bear’
In Black Bear, Plaza portrays Allison, an actor making a film that quickly blurs the lines between fiction and reality for all of those involved. “I’m playing an actor that’s performing in a scene, but also I’m acting as the wife of a husband that is directing her,” said Plaza in an interview with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Not only does she share a profession with her Black Bear character, but Plaza knows a bit about testing relationship dynamics on set. “My partner is a filmmaker, and we’ve made movies together,” she explained. “We’ve had really good experiences and really bad experiences.”
Who is Plaza’s partner, Jeff Baena?
Baena is a writer, director, and producer. He co-wrote his first film, I Heart Huckabees, after he began working with David O. Russell. Plaza starred in Baena’s directorial debut, Life After Beth, and his 2017 movie The Little Hours (alongside Alison Brie and Dave Franco). She had a smaller role in another one of his films, Joshy.
Plaza and Baena reportedly began dating in 2011, while she was working on Parks and Rec. However, both generally refrain from talking about their private life in interviews. As Plaza referred to Baena as her partner in the above conversation, there’s no indication that they’re married.
