Email  Print

Aubrey Plaza of NBC’s Parks and Recreation: Wilmington Native Is Building a Buzz in Hollywood

Wilmington native Aubrey Plaza builds major Hollywood buzz.

(page 1 of 7)

Whether she’s stealing scenes in movies like “Funny People” and “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” doing an off-color and dead-on impersonation of Sarah Silverman, delighting video game enthusiasts in a World of Warcraft commercial, or entertaining millions as April Ludgate on NBC’s hit series, “Parks and Recreation,” Aubrey Plaza is building a reputation as one of the hottest young comedic talents in Hollywood.

An ever-growing legion of fans has fallen in love with the 27-year-old actress’ dry wit and deadpan delivery—Rolling Stone featured her in its 2011 Hot Issue. Not bad for a hometown girl who learned her craft performing in Wilmington Drama League productions, along with plays and skits at Ursuline Academy, from which she graduated in 2002.

Her mother, Bernadette Plaza, a Wilmington attorney with Goldfein and Joseph, named her first daughter after the song “Aubrey,” by 1970s pop group Bread.

“It was mysterious and haunting—what was so special about this girl, one could only imagine and never really know,” says Bernadette Plaza. “It is very fitting for Aubrey. It’s hard to put into words what makes her so special, but I always knew she would be.”

Bernadette Plaza recalls Aubrey being “extremely shy” around strangers as a child—hardly the harbinger of an acting career—but her father, David, senior vice president of wealth management at The Plaza Thompson Group, affiliated with Merrill Lynch, says that even as a youngster, she was “actively doing little skits at home and creating home movies.”

“For as long as I can remember I wanted to be an actor and comedienne,” Aubrey Plaza says. “I don’t know why.”
 

continues on page 2...