Aubrey Plaza is the June 2023 cover star of Vanity Fair, and in the accompanying interview she opened up about her famous ‘deadpan’ persona.
The 38-year-old Parks and Recreation alum – who stunned at the Met Gala earlier this month – admitted to the publication, ‘I prefer to be a character.’
‘I mean, that’s literally what I am doing,’ she added about her famously quirky disposition.
Giving more context to her tendency to come off stoic during conversations with press, she added, ‘I think it all just stems from — I’m scared.’
Known for her wry sense of humor, the Delaware native explained, ‘The deadpan thing wasn’t, like, my thing. I could do it, but it wasn’t like, “There goes the deadpan girl.”
Cover star: Aubrey Plaza is the June 2023 cover star of Vanity Fair, and in the accompanying interview she opened up about her famous ‘deadpan’ persona
Opening up: The 38-year-old Parks and Recreation alum admitted to the publication, ‘I prefer to be a character’; pictured at the 2023 Met Gala
She continued, ‘I like to think that I’m such a good actor that people just thought that was literally me.’
‘You can see all the colors of my psychological state on display in any of these interviews,’ Aubrey noted.
And she says her experience in interviews is consistently a challenge.
‘It’s a struggle for me every time. It’s a struggle to not quote-unquote “give people what they want,” which is — I don’t even know what they want — and try to have fun for myself without coming off like an a**hole,’ she expounded.
Vanity Fair promoted the new issue on Instagram Monday, sharing Aubrey’s stunning cover along with an insightful caption.
‘Aubrey Plaza can embody deadpan millennial chaos like nobody else. Now, after scene-stealing turns in Parks and Recreation and The White Lotus, she’s in league with both Marvel and Francis Ford Coppola,’ the post teased.
Sharing a brief excerpt from the profile, Plaza was quoted as saying, ‘I’m probably way more shy than people think.
‘But obviously the way I deal with that is, like, extreme behaviors. If all else fails, at least be authentic.’
Content: Aubrey shared a behind-the-scenes look at her getting ready process for this year’s Met Gala
Elsewhere in the interview Aubrey spoke about the trajectory of her career and Latina representation in the entertainment industry.
Speaking with reporter Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, she discussed her viral SAG Awards bit with fellow actress Jenna Ortega.
Plaza co-wrote the skit, which was called In Praise of Jenna Ortega, Aubrey Plaza and Moody, Deadpan Latinas.
‘I loved that. That s**t is important to me, because that’s my whole thing,’ she said proudly.
Referencing her Parks and Recreation character she said, ‘Even with April Ludgate, it was like, come on. Sofia Vergara is not the only Latina personality.
‘There’s other ones! A lot of the characters I play, even with White Lotus — it’s important to normalize that there’s all kinds of different Latina people.
‘I mean, all my Puerto Rican cousins are, like, morbid. Morbid s**t is going on over there!’ she explained.
Lady in red: Aubrey pictured at the Time Magazine 100 gala in April
Plaza is coming off a big year in 2022, starring in HBO’s The White Lotus and the hit Netflix movie Emily the Criminal.
After making her hosting debut on Saturday Night Live in January, Plaza revealed on The Tonight Show that she once auditioned for SNL.
‘I didn’t make it to the Lorne audition, the famous final audition, but I did like a preliminary, like first-round showcase at UCB,’ Plaza revealed.
When Fallon asked if she did any characters, Plaza revealed, ‘I remember one character I did was like a Puerto Rican news reporter that was trying to make all the news stories sexy, even if they were like horrific news stories, and I was just trying to sex up the news.’