NYFA: How has your training at institutions like NYFA helped you to develop as an actress? What advice would you give to students looking to enroll in acting school?
Aubrey Plaza: Experience, experience, experience! NYFA gave me the opportunity to work with other like-minded creative excited people.
NYFA: As you are primarily known for your comedic work as an actress, at what point did you know comedy was the path for you? Were you a funny kid?
AP: I don’t really know. When I was about 12 I started doing community theater and auditioned for Cinderella. Instead of getting cast as the lead (which I was hoping for) I was cast as the Ugly Stepsister
NYFA: You have worked with some of the funniest actors in the business, including Amy Poehler, Seth Rogan, Nick Offerman, Will Arnett, and Adam Scott, to name a few. If there was a comedy version of Survivor, who do you think would be the first one to be voted off the island?
AP: Adam Scott. What an asshole!
NYFA: If your parents didn’t name you after Bread’s song Aubrey, what other 70’s song would you have liked to be named after?
AP: Summer Breeze. Summer Breeze Plaza. In fact, I might change my name to that…
NYFA: If you could work with any actor, alive or dead, who would be your dream co-star? And on that note, are there any particular animals or monsters you would like to act with?
AP: Judy Garland. Nicolas Cage. And all the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park (the first one).
NYFA: As Parks and Recreation enters its final season, what would be your dream ending scenario for your character April Ludgate?
AP: I would like April to shadow Joan Callamezzo and then take over her show after she overdoses. Then April will turn it into a variety show and become famous. This way I can do different characters and begin world domination.
NYFA: What do you think the most general misconception the audience has about you as a person? Do people tend to confuse your personality with that of April’s on Parks and Recreation?
AP: People tend to think I will be mean or sarcastic like my characters…but I am nice! I am definitely sarcastic but that is not my most dominant characteristic…in real life I am much more jazzy.
NYFA: You’ve made it very public your affection for Chris Bosh on Twitter. If he was a dinosaur or magical creature, what kind do you think he would be? Has he yet to recognize your fandom and has his wife commented on your fraternizing?
AP: He has not. She has not. He IS a magical creature and someday we will go on a journey together through a magical forest of dreams.
NYFA: Having worked primarily in comedies and dramas, what genre would you like to try your hand at, if you could pick any? Could you see yourself fronting an action movie like Die Hard or going the fantasy YA route?
AP: I would absolutely kill to be in an action movie. I want to kick some ass real real bad.
NYFA: Do you have any rituals or superstitions that you perform before filming a scene? Or are superstitions for wusses?
AP: I stare at myself in the mirror and slap myself over and over again until I feel ready.
NYFA: What actor or comedian do you think the rest of the world is totally sleeping on right now?
AP: Marcy Jarreau.
NYFA: You’ve stated in the past that you modeled the character of April on your own younger sister. Have you used any other friends or family as inspirations for roles?
AP: I cannot tell.
NYFA: What do you dislike most about being a publicly recognized actress?
AP: Expectations.
NYFA: In a perfect or parallel world, where do you see yourself in ten years?
AP: In the south of France, with a bunch of adopted children and blonde hair.
Aubrey Plaza portrays the title character in Matt Spicer’s dark comedy “Ingrid Goes West,” releasing August 2017.