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(#15) She Has A Thing For Movie Dads
Everyone has a type they're physically attracted to in film and on television. For Plaza, that type is a bit unexpected. She told W Magazine that she "was always into the dads" in popular movies. "I remember when Casper came out, all my friends were obsessed with Devon Sawa and they had a crush on him, but I always had a crush on Bill Pullman, who played the dad," she said.
Plaza also listed John Heard in Home Alone and Dennis Quaid in The Parent Trap as cinematic dads who left her reeling.
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(#3) She Took An NBC Page Uniform
In one memorable Parks and Recreation episode, April takes her father's car so she and Andy can drive to the Grand Canyon. Like her character, Plaza occasionally has sticky fingers. NBC fired her from its much-respected page program, which has employees giving tours of the 30 Rock building.
The actress did not want to return her uniform. She explained the firing to Elle:
I wasn't used to working in a corporate environment like NBC where there are HR rules. It's fuzzy to me exactly what happened, but I think I made a joke about Jesus being crucified or I wrote it on a wall, and I got in trouble. Three or four months after I started, they were like, "Maybe this isn't right for you," and I was like, "Maybe it isn't."
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(#9) She's A Member Of A Basketball Team
Basketball has played a significant role in the lives of both April Ludgate and her real-life counterpart, albeit to different levels of success. In the "Comeback Kid" episode, April books a basketball court for Leslie's political campaign rally, unaware that it's become an ice rink.
Plaza, meanwhile, is a point guard on the Pistol Shrimps, a rec-league basketball team in Los Angeles comprising women from various creative industries. The team was the subject of a 2016 documentary bearing their name, and they also have a podcast, Pistol Shrimps Radio.
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(#7) She Was Surrounded By Comedians Before Getting Famous
It's no wonder Plaza is hilarious. Long before she became famous on Parks and Recreation, she was surrounded by some of the most talented comedians in the world. While attending NYU's Tisch School for the Arts, she got an internship on the legendary late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live.
Shortly thereafter, she secured a spot on the roster at the Upright Citizens Brigade - the same improv theater that helped launch the careers of Kate McKinnon, Donald Glover, and future co-star Amy Poehler. Another future co-star, Aziz Ansari, was there at the same time.
Exposure at UCB brought her to the attention of writer/director/comedy guru Judd Apatow, who gave her a supporting role in his film Funny People, opposite Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen. Parks and Rec came right after that.
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(#8) She Almost Married Michael Cera
Before her current long-term relationship with writer/director Jeff Baena, Plaza dated Michael Cera, with whom she starred in the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Their relationship was apparently pretty serious. She revealed on RuPaul's What's the Tee? podcast that she and Cera almost got married.
After dating for a year and a half, the two took a road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. Along the way, they strongly considered swinging through Las Vegas to tie the knot. Though she didn't say what changed their minds, Plaza did acknowledge that Cera remains "very special" to her.
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(#14) She Voiced Grumpy Cat In A Movie
Not many performers have had the opportunity to play a popular internet meme - Plaza is the exception. She provided the voice of online sensation Grumpy Cat in a 2014 Lifetime movie called Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever.
During an interview to promote the film, Plaza told Jimmy Kimmel it was "the weirdest thing I've ever seen" and encouraged viewers to "have a couple glasses of wine" before watching it.
The casting was oddly perfect, given that April is as prone to grumpiness like Grumpy Cat.
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