Aubrey Plaza on creating April Ludgate.
April Roberta Ludgate-Dwyer (née Ludgate) is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is an apathetic college student, who is Ron Swanson's assistant, employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation originally as an intern. She is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza.
More important than that and more important than anything in the world is finding me (Ron) an assistant.
Background
April Ludgate is a college student who starts out working as an intern in the Pawnee parks and recreation department. April is extremely disinterested in the job, and acts very dry and sarcastic around her co-workers. She was assigned the internship because she overslept on intern sign-up date, which she blamed on her sister Natalie for not waking her up.[1][2] April is of mixed English and Puerto Rican descent, and she speaks and understands Spanish fairly well as a result. April ironically claims of her Puerto Rican heritage, "That's why I'm so lively and colorful."[3] Her favorite band is Neutral Milk Hotel .
April was responsible for uploading the staff bios onto the Pawnee parks and recreation site[4], and she jokingly made a fictional bio for herself that reads as follows:
April Ludgate was born in Björk’s house in Iceland and grew up on Easter Island, where her parents were giant stone heads. She has the ability to fire beams of tacos out of her hands and she can turn her legs into tigers. On Sundays, April enjoys reading Family Circus and traveling through time. Her favorite color is greenish-transparent and her favorite movie is the one you just watched. April is in charge of uploading the staff bios to the website, and no one has checked over her work.[4]
Storyline
Season 1
April starts as an intern at the parks department, who is somewhat rebellious and is often annoyed by her fellow parks department workers. Her boyfriend, Derek, is openly gay and simultaneously dates a fellow college student named Ben (whom April dislikes). Aubrey Plaza herself came up with the idea of her character's boyfriend being gay and dating another boy.[5]
Season 2
Although still dating her gay boyfriend, April begins to develop a crush on Andy Dwyer, the ex-boyfriend of Ann Perkins who works at city hall, and is seen hanging around Andy's Shoe Polishing Stand frequently.[6] Andy is able to make April smile, which is something she rarely does.[7] April flirts with Andy and even convinces Andy to let her give him hickeys on his neck in order to make Ann jealous, but Andy nevertheless remains unaware of her feelings toward him.[8] In order to remain close to Andy, April volunteers to work as Ron's assistant in "The Set Up", ending her time as an intern and establishing herself a full-time position at the Pawnee City Hall.[9] April finally breaks up with Derek after he makes fun of Andy and gives her a hard time about spending too much time with him. [10] Toward the end of the season Andy and April's relationship begins to grow to the point that he begins to reciprocate her feelings but their age difference continues to be a wedge between them. They kiss in the season finale, but she tells him she does not want to get involved with him due to what she perceives as his lasting feelings for Ann.
Season 3
In "Go Big or Go Home", April reveals she's spent the last 3 months in Venezuela while the government was shut down in Pawnee due to the budget problem. While she was there, she met her new boyfriend Eduardo. At first, Andy is upset and hates Eduardo, but then the two get along and bond over Dave Matthews Band. This infuriates April and so she breaks up with Eduardo. April catches the flu in the episode "Flu Season" and proceeds to bug Ann throughout her hospital stay due to Ann kissing Andy. She also becomes Chris Traeger's assistant for an episode. In "Harvest Festival", April declares her love for Andy. They get married in the episode "April and Andy's Fancy Party" on a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Season 4
April and Andy throw a Halloween Party in which Ron and Ann go around fixing all of the problems in April and Andy's house. She becomes a member of Leslie's City Council Campaign as the "youth outreach". In the episode "The Comeback Kid" April and Andy adopt a three-legged dog named "Champion". April takes over a large portion of Leslie's duties in the Parks and Rec department towards the end of the season to allow Leslie to concentrate on the election. April is shown to somewhat enjoy and excel in this position. In "Bus Tour", April becomes legally known as April Ludgate-Dwyer.
Season 5
April moves to Washington D.C. while Andy tries to get into the Pawnee Police Department. Their marriage isn't harmed by the distance and Andy often sends her gifts. April becomes Deputy Director of the Animal Control. Towards the end of Season 5, April asks Anne for a letter of recommendation to veterinary school in Bloomington. In the final episode, April reveals to Andy that she was accepted, to which Andy replies encouragingly.
Trivia
- Once drove a riding lawn mower through Nordstrom's.
- April has attended college.
- She claims to love Ron's first wife, Tammy One, saying she's the "cold, distant mother I never had".
- She reveals in "Summer Catalog" that she played softball in high school.
- Her parents' nickname for her is Zuzu.
- She married Andy after dating him for a month.
- Pairs up Tom and Ann, to her regret, and also tries to set up Chris with Andy's college professor.
- In Pawnee: The Greatest Town in American, April says she only takes one course a semester at Pawnee Community College.
- She hates spiders.
Photos
This character has a Photo Gallery.
References
- ↑ Parks & Recreation: Season One. [Film (DVD)]. Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Event occurs at Deleted Scenes: Pilot.
- ↑ "Parks and Recreation - Pilot: April the Intern". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/video/clips/pilot-april-the-intern/1088084/. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
- ↑ Fowler, Matt (2009-10-16). "Parks and Recreation: "Sister City" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/103/1035767p1.html. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://www.pawneeindiana.com/parks-and-recreation/staff.shtml
- ↑ Schur, Michael. (2009) (Audio commentary). Parks and Recreation: Season One: "Rock Show". [DVD]. Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
- ↑ Abrams, Natalie (2009-11-18). "Parks and Recreation: Leslie and Co. Have Love Woes". TV Guide. http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/412433_tvgif18.html. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
- ↑ Fowler, Matt (2009-11-20). "Parks and Recreation: "Hunting Trip" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/104/1048012p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
- ↑ Heisler, Steve (2009-11-19). "Parks and Recreation: "Hunting Trip"". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/hunting-trip,35615/. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
- ↑ Gonzalez, Sandra (January 15, 2010). ""Parks and Recreation" recap: Will Arnett can see your insides". Entertainment Weekly. http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/01/15/parks-and-recreation-recap-will-arnett-can-see-your-insides/. Retrieved January 15, 2010.
- ↑ Gonzalez, Sandra (February 12, 2010). Entertainment Weekly url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/02/12/parks-and-recreation-recap-breaking-up-is-hard-to-do/.
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