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April Roberta Ludgate-Dwyer (nee Ludgate) is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation who has a fascination with "the dark side," mentioning occult ritual sacrifice in nearly every season. At the beginning of the series, she is an apathetic college student with a rather dark sense of humor and is Ron Swanson's assistant. She is employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation originally as an intern. Her alter egos include Janet Snakehole and Judy Hitler. She is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza.

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Physical Appearance Edit

April goes through multiple hairstyle changes. At first, she had long hair with no bangs, then long hair with bangs, then medium length hair with bangs, back long hair again without bangs, and finally medium hair without bangs.

Background Edit

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 dryly and sarcastically 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.[2][3]

April is of mixed Puerto Rican descent, and she speaks and understands Spanish as a result (Although she is definitely not proficient in the language.) April ironically claims of her Puerto Rican heritage, "That's why I'm so lively and colorful."[4] Her favorite band is Neutral Milk Hotel, yet she enjoys listening to Halloween sound effects and German Death Reggae.

April was responsible for uploading the staff bios onto the Pawnee parks and recreation site[5], and she jokingly made a fictional bio for herself that reads as follows:

Storyline Edit

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.[6]

Although still dating her gay boyfriend, April begins to develop a crush on Andy Dwyer, the ex-boyfriend of Ann Perkins who works in city hall and is seen hanging around Andy's Shoe Polishing Stand frequently.[7] Andy is able to make April smile, which is something she rarely does.[8] 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..[9]

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.[10] 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. [11] 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.

In the season finale, Andy tells April that he likes her and asks her out, but she tells him she does not want to get involved with him due to what she perceives as his lasting feelings for Ann. When Andy is hospitalized, she comes to him and says that she wants to go out with him and then kisses him. Unfortunately, Ann kissed Andy earlier and when Andy tells her this, she leaves.

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. Since she was hoping to use Eduardo to make Andy jealous, this infuriates April and she breaks up with him. 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 "Media Blitz," April makes Andy do her least favorite things she has to do every day and in exchange, she "might begin to think about the possibility of thinking about maybe staying." After one day of Andy doing her least favorite things and with Ron's advice, she forgives Andy and kisses him. 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 Edit

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.

April moves to Washington D.C. to work for Ben on a campaign 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 Pawnees Animal Control. Towards the end of Season 5, April asks Ann 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.

At the beginning of Season 6, April is planning on attending veterinary school, however, upon going to the orientation with Ann she realizes it is not what she wants to do. While she supports Andy for having a job away in London, she is very upset while he is away and misses him. She develops a closer relationship with Donna, and they both try to stop Tom from leaving the Parks Department by being unhelpful as he searches for a property for his restaurant. However, they later feel guilty, and help him find the perfect place.

When Andy returns, she actively supports him in playing music for children, deciding to become his manager. While she makes out she is excited that Ann is leaving Pawnee, the pair share a nostalgic farewell at the Pawnee Commons site in "Ann and Chris." Along with Andy, Tom and some other Pawnee youths, she comes up with an idea to hold a Unity concert celebrating the merger. In the season finale, it is revealed that April and Andy are still happily married in 2017, with April working for Leslie.

It's 2017 and April laments her marriage to Andy as she feels they'll become boring in their old age. While driving through the warehouse district, they spot a creepy old house with an equally creepy owner. He tells them it was a place for old factory workers who ended up going mad. They decide to purchase it. When Joan Callamezzo is honored by the mayor, April starts to feel that her life hasn't been fulfilled yet so Ben asks her what she wanted to be when she was ten years old so they visit a mortuary. However, April is unimpressed with how long it will take for her to get a job there. She later thanks Ben for helping her.

In "Ms. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington," April is trying to find a way to tell Leslie that she wants to leave the National Parks Service. When she finally tells Leslie, after a bit of reluctance, Leslie decides to help her. Leslie takes April to the American Service Foundation, which helps determine potential occupations for job-seekers. After April's meeting, April tells Leslie that she would like to work at the Foundation itself.

On the series finale, April and Andy become parents after Andy's desire and talking to Ben and Leslie. Jack Dwyer (short for Burt Snakehole Ludgate Karate Dracula Macklin Demon Jack-o-Lantern Dwyer) was born on Halloween 2023. She is shown pregnant again with her second child at the end.

Trivia Edit

Although she insults and talks about harming certain people, she has never once been shown to physically assault anyone.

She likes to regularly sit on Andy's lap, being shown doing so multiple times in many episodes.

She once drove a riding lawn mower through Nordstrom's.

She goes through multiple hairstyle changes. At first, she had long hair with no bangs, then long hair with bangs, then medium length hair with bangs, back long hair again without bangs, and finally medium hair without bangs.

April is tied with Ben on looking directly into the camera multiple times following closely with Tom.

She was a loner and Goth in high school.

She and Ann don't get along.

April and Andy use Ben's comforters as pillow forts to have sex on.

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.

She 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 America , April says she only takes one course a semester at Pawnee Community College.

, April says she only takes one course a semester at Pawnee Community College. She created her own major in college: Halloween Studies.

She gives birth to her first child, Jack, with monster makeup on and the song "Monster Mash" playing.

April's favorite band is Neutral Milk Hotel.

April is also a fan of alternative rock band The Smiths. In the episode Time Capsule, Eduardo says that April is making him listen to said band, who he finds "very depressing."

In the future, April has another child. The sex and name are unknown.

April is probably born in 1989. The entire first season is set in 2009, and April is mentioned to be 19-years-old and then, turns 20 in the same season. Later during season 2, Andy, who was born in 1981, mentions his eight years age difference with April, resulting in 1989.

April has 269,875 Gryzzl Points as of A Parks and Recreation Special.

Photos Edit

This character has a Photo Gallery.

References Edit