Aubrey Plaza discusses how her career is “fuelled by rejection”
Aubrey Plaza is one of the most captivating acting talents of her generation. However, it has taken a long time for the world to realise that her dramatic propensity stretches far beyond the dry comedy with which she made her name.
Most recognise Plaza by her role in Mayne Street and as April in Parks and Recreation, not to mention the string of kooky independent films in which she has starred, such as Edgar Wright’s iconic adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Still, that chapter of her career is now deeply buried in the past. In her recent turn in John Patton Ford’s dark crime thriller Emily the Criminal, Plaza resoundingly showed everyone just what she can achieve when handed a script of significant substance.
It goes without saying, Plaza’s career to date has been an interesting one. It is clear that she’s always followed her sense of the self, treading her own path by accepting the roles that she wants to. This ethos has seen her work with a variety of the finest actors on the planet, such as Robert De Niro, Donald Glover, Elizabeth Olsen and Zac Efron, to name but a few.
Her current status has not been for want of trying, Plaza’s road to being recognised as one of the talents of her generation has been a long one. However, as you might expect, the rejection that every actor worth their salt has been forced to endure has only “fuelled” her ambition. Plaza’s combination of talent and resilience is a potent one, and it is this desire that will take her to heights others only dream of.
When speaking during an interview with the NME in 2021, Plaza discussed the auditions for adverts, terrible comedy shows and the rejection that came during the greenest stage of her career. “Auditioning always felt like this fucked-up game that I was playing with life,” she reflected. “Like playing the lottery or something.”
Plaza explained that there were many times when she felt utterly disillusioned, with poor comedy shows much worse than terrible auditions. Looking back, Plaza said that she wasn’t phased by the auditions, explaining that she always had more to gain from them. Luckily for her, though, rejection spurred her on and made the actor want to succeed even more.
“I think I’ve always been very fuelled by rejection,” she revealed. “It only made me want it more, because I think I just had that thing inside of me that’s like: ‘I wanna be in the club that I’m not in’ or whatever that is; ‘I want the thing that I can’t have, or the thing that I don’t have. And if you tell me that I’m not good enough, I’ll just find a way to prove you wrong somehow.’”
