Aubrey Plaza explains the 'challenge' of not being able to escape April on 'Parks and Rec'
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"I don't want any role to ever define me," Plaza recently told Business Insider. "Being on a television show for seven years was the greatest gift that was ever given to me and I wouldn't change it for second. But I think moving forward, it's very important to me for people to not associate me so heavily with the characters that I play."
And while she calls it a "challenge" to get Hollywood and her fans to see her apart from that role, for which she became beloved, she's still proud of what she accomplished.
"The character I played on 'Parks and Rec' was such an icon for millennials," the 32-year-old actress said. "There was something about April Ludgate that people really responded to, which I really love and I'm happy about. But I think in regards to getting more work and being seen in different ways, it's always a challenge to remind people that I can play many different characters and not just one kind. I see that as a fun challenge."
Michelle Faye/FX
Played by Dan Stevens, Legion aka David Haller is a mutant with incredible mental powers who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at an early age. Plaza plays his closest friend and fellow mental hospital patient, Lenny, a role that was originally meant to be played by a 50-year-old male.
She took on the role on the condition that it not be rewritten for her. With Plaza playing Lenny, she comes off as a drug-addled lesbian with a penchant for mischief.
"If anything, it's that much more satisfying when people see me in a film or see me do a different character or in real life and say, 'Oh, she's not April Ludgate at all. She can be totally different than that,'" Plaza said. "There's good and bad with everything."
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