10 Times Aubrey Plaza Totally Stole the Screen

10 Times Aubrey Plaza Totally Stole the Screen

Aubrey Plaza has a rare gift — she can walk into a scene and make you forget everyone else is even there. Whether she’s playing a deadpan office worker or a social media-obsessed stranger, she brings something magnetic and unpredictable to every role.

From TV comedies to indie films, her performances have left audiences genuinely stunned. Here are ten unforgettable moments when Aubrey Plaza completely owned the screen.

1. April Ludgate — Parks and Recreation (2009–2015)

Nobody does “I don’t care” quite like April Ludgate.

For seven seasons, Aubrey Plaza turned April’s eye-rolls and dry one-liners into some of the funniest moments in TV history.

She made apathy look like an art form.

What made April special was the warmth hiding just beneath her cold surface.

Plaza let tiny cracks of emotion slip through at perfect moments, making viewers root for a character who pretended not to care about anything.

That balance was incredibly hard to pull off.

April Ludgate launched Plaza into stardom, and honestly, the role was made for her.

2. Emily Benetto — Emily the Criminal (2022)

Raw, gripping, and completely fearless — that’s the only way to describe Plaza’s performance in Emily the Criminal.

She plays a debt-crushed young woman who slowly slides into a world of credit card fraud and crime.

Plaza carried nearly every scene on her own, and she did it without flinching.

Her Emily feels desperate but smart, reckless but calculating.

You understand exactly why she makes every bad choice, even when you’re yelling at the screen for her to stop.

Critics went wild for this role, and it proved Plaza could headline a serious thriller with zero backup.

3. Ingrid Thorburn — Ingrid Goes West (2017)

Obsession has never looked so uncomfortably relatable.

In Ingrid Goes West, Plaza plays a mentally unstable woman who becomes dangerously fixated on an Instagram influencer and moves across the country to befriend her.

The role required Plaza to be both deeply sympathetic and genuinely unsettling — sometimes within the same sentence.

She nailed it.

You laugh, then feel guilty for laughing, then feel a little scared.

That emotional rollercoaster is entirely her doing.

Fun fact: Plaza has said this was one of the most personal and challenging roles she’s ever taken on.

It absolutely shows.

4. Julie Powers — Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Julie Powers only appears in a handful of scenes, but every single one lands like a punch.

Plaza plays Scott’s sharp-tongued, hilariously blunt friend who seems to exist purely to call people out on their nonsense — and she does it beautifully.

The joke about Julie’s censored swearing became one of the film’s most quoted gags.

Plaza’s deadpan delivery made it land perfectly every time.

She turned a minor supporting role into something audiences still talk about over a decade later.

Stealing scenes in a movie packed with scene-stealers?

That takes serious skill, and Plaza had plenty to spare.

5. Allison — Black Bear (2020)

Black Bear is one of those films that messes with your head on purpose, and Plaza is the reason it works.

She plays Allison, a filmmaker retreating to a cabin who becomes tangled in a relationship with a couple — and then the whole movie shifts reality.

Plaza plays two completely different versions of Allison across the film’s two halves.

Watching her switch gears is nothing short of stunning.

The emotional depth she brings to both versions makes the film’s strange structure feel grounded and real.

This performance quietly reminded Hollywood that Plaza belongs in the conversation with the best actors working today.

6. Riley — Happiest Season (2020)

Here’s the thing about Riley in Happiest Season — she wasn’t supposed to be the most interesting person in the room, but Plaza made her exactly that.

Riley is the ex-girlfriend who shows up and suddenly makes everything more complicated and more honest.

Plaza brought a quiet confidence to Riley that made her instantly magnetic.

Every line felt real, every glance carried weight.

She gave Riley a backstory you could feel even when it wasn’t spoken out loud.

Audiences loved Riley so much that many felt she deserved her own movie.

That kind of fan reaction says everything about Plaza’s charm.

7. Cat Adams — Criminal Minds (2016)

Playing a villain on one of TV’s biggest crime dramas is no small task, but Plaza turned Cat Adams into one of Criminal Minds’ most memorable recurring characters.

Cat is a hired assassin — brilliant, manipulative, and terrifyingly calm under pressure.

What made Cat so chilling was how much she seemed to enjoy herself.

Plaza leaned into the character’s twisted intelligence with obvious pleasure, sparring with Spencer Reid in scenes that crackled with tension.

She returned for multiple episodes because fans simply couldn’t get enough.

Watching Plaza go full villain was a genuine treat, and Criminal Minds was better for it.

8. Fernanda — The Little Hours (2017)

A foul-mouthed medieval nun with a rebellious streak and zero patience for rules — yes, that’s the role, and yes, Plaza was born for it.

The Little Hours is a comedy set in a 14th-century convent, and Plaza’s Fernanda is the chaotic heart of the whole thing.

The film leans hard into improvisation, and Plaza thrives in that environment.

Her comic timing is razor-sharp, and she plays Fernanda’s wild energy against the absurdly prim setting with perfect contrast.

Fernanda is outrageous, unpredictable, and wildly funny.

It’s Plaza at her most playful, and watching her clearly have a blast makes every scene infectious.

9. Brandy Klark — The To Do List (2013)

Brandy Klark is the kind of overachiever who approaches everything — including hooking up — like a homework assignment.

Plaza plays her with a straight-faced determination that makes every awkward scene funnier than it has any right to be.

Set in the early 1990s, the film is a coming-of-age comedy that flips the typical teenage movie script.

Instead of a guy making a list, it’s a girl — and Plaza commits to Brandy’s clueless confidence completely.

The result is endlessly entertaining.

Plaza’s ability to play both comedically oblivious and quietly self-aware at the same time is exactly what makes Brandy such a memorable lead character.

10. Harper Spiller — The White Lotus (2022)

Season two of The White Lotus gave Plaza one of her meatiest TV roles yet.

Harper is prickly, suspicious, and deeply uncomfortable with the wealthy world she’s been pulled into — and Plaza plays every layer of that discomfort with surgical precision.

What’s fascinating about Harper is how she evolves across the season.

Plaza starts her off as almost unlikeable and slowly peels back the reasons why.

By the finale, you completely understand her, even if you’re not sure you’d want to vacation with her.

Harper proved Plaza can anchor prestige drama just as powerfully as she handles comedy.

The range is genuinely jaw-dropping.