section_path: Career/2017–present: career expansion
section_name: 2017–present: career expansion
paragraph_text: 2017–present: career expansion
  
  In 2017, Plaza starred in and produced the films The Little Hours and Ingrid Goes West. The former is a black comedy about medieval nuns loosely based on stories from The Decameron. Both films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In Ingrid Goes West, Plaza portrayed the social media obsessed fan of an influencer played by Elizabeth Olsen. Variety film critic Peter Debruge praised Plaza's performance writing: "Plaza's tortured performance captures all of this, which is saying something for an actress whose blasé persona hinges on the fact that she can't be bothered: Nobody plays ambivalence better, and yet, Plaza allows herself to seem vulnerable here." The film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. The following year, she starred in the indie comedy An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn.
  
  From 2017 to 2019, Plaza portrayed both Amahl Farouk / Shadow King and Lenny Busker in the FX series Legion, which was critically praised along with Plaza's performance. The role of Lenny was originally written for a middle aged man. When Plaza was offered it, she requested that the character's dialogue and actions remain, as she did not want it "being tied down to anything gender-wise". David Bowie was an inspiration for her approach to the role. She was given creative freedom with the character and collaborated with directors and choreographers on sequences that were ambiguously described on the page. In 2019 and 2020, Plaza hosted the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2019, she starred in Child's Play, a reboot of the 1988 film, as Andy's mother who brings home a killer doll, Chucky.
  
  In 2020, Plaza played Riley Johnson in the romantic comedy Happiest Season, and produced and starred in the independent experimental thriller Black Bear, garnering critical acclaim for her performance. Black Bear follows a filmmaker who retreats to a cabin in the mountains to find inspiration for her next film. NME wrote that the film "examin the power dynamics in filmmaking", and Collider considered it an exploration of "human relationships, gender dynamics, and celebrity".
  
  In 2021, Plaza wrote and made her directorial debut with the episode "Quiet Illness" of the Showtime anthology series Cinema Toast. Created by her partner Jeff Baena, the series reinvents imagery from public domain films to tell different stories. In crafting "Quiet Illness", Plaza was inspired by actress Loretta Young 's experiences and footage of her appearances. She edited various film and television clips starring Young into a psychological thriller about a woman's self-esteem, and cast Christina Ricci as a voice narrator. She described the project as "trippy" with a "pandemic-filming style". Plaza said that she has always had an interest in directing, and she had been writing a project during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also wrote a children's book with Dan Murphy, The Legend of the Christmas Witch (2021), illustrated by Julia Iredale.
  
  Plaza produced and starred as the titular character in the independent film Emily the Criminal (2022), portraying a woman saddled with student debt and compelled into criminal activity. Her performance and the film received critical acclaim, with The New York Times calling it "wonderfully nuanced", Little White Lies writing that it is "perhaps Plaza’s best performance to date", and the Chicago Sun-Times deeming it "richly layered work" and "one of the best performances of the year in one of the best movies of the year". She also appeared in the film Spin Me Round, which premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in 2022. In the second season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus, Plaza portrayed Harper, a lawyer vacationing in Sicily with her husband. For her performance in the series, she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. On August 25, 2022, the adult animated sitcom Little Demon premiered on FXX, which features the voices of Plaza (who is also an executive producer), Danny DeVito, and Lucy DeVito. In October 2022, Plaza was given the Artist of Distinction Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
  
  At the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards, Plaza received a nomination for Best Lead Performance for Emily the Criminal, as well as a nomination for Best First Feature as producer. In January 2023, she hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time and appeared in multiple sketches. In May, Plaza received criticism for participating in a parody ad for "Wood Milk", which mocked plant-based milks in favor of dairy. In July, it was announced that she would be making her stage debut in an off-Broadway revival of John Patrick Shanley 's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, a two-hander about strangers who become lovers after meeting at a dive bar, opposite her Black Bear costar Christopher Abbott. She was nominated for the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. Time magazine named Plaza one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.
  
  In 2024, Plaza and her Parks and Recreation costar Nick Offerman reunited in a Mountain Dew ad that aired during the Super Bowl LVIII broadcast. She was confirmed to be starring in John Waters 's first film in over 20 years, Liarmouth, based on his novel of the same name. Plaza portrays the future self of Elliott Labrant in the comedy film My Old Ass (2024), and TV presenter Wow Platinum in Francis Ford Coppola 's epic science fiction drama Megalopolis (2024). She portrayed Rio Vidal / Death in the Disney+ miniseries Agatha All Along, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which premiered on September 18, 2024.
  
  In 2017, Plaza starred in and produced the films The Little Hours and Ingrid Goes West. The former is a black comedy about medieval nuns loosely based on stories from The Decameron. Both films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In Ingrid Goes West, Plaza portrayed the social media obsessed fan of an influencer played by Elizabeth Olsen. Variety film critic Peter Debruge praised Plaza's performance writing: "Plaza's tortured performance captures all of this, which is saying something for an actress whose blasé persona hinges on the fact that she can't be bothered: Nobody plays ambivalence better, and yet, Plaza allows herself to seem vulnerable here." The film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. The following year, she starred in the indie comedy An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn.
  
  From 2017 to 2019, Plaza portrayed both Amahl Farouk / Shadow King and Lenny Busker in the FX series Legion, which was critically praised along with Plaza's performance. The role of Lenny was originally written for a middle aged man. When Plaza was offered it, she requested that the character's dialogue and actions remain, as she did not want it "being tied down to anything gender-wise". David Bowie was an inspiration for her approach to the role. She was given creative freedom with the character and collaborated with directors and choreographers on sequences that were ambiguously described on the page. In 2019 and 2020, Plaza hosted the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2019, she starred in Child's Play, a reboot of the 1988 film, as Andy's mother who brings home a killer doll, Chucky.
  
  In 2020, Plaza played Riley Johnson in the romantic comedy Happiest Season, and produced and starred in the independent experimental thriller Black Bear, garnering critical acclaim for her performance. Black Bear follows a filmmaker who retreats to a cabin in the mountains to find inspiration for her next film. NME wrote that the film "examin the power dynamics in filmmaking", and Collider considered it an exploration of "human relationships, gender dynamics, and celebrity".
  
  In 2021, Plaza wrote and made her directorial debut with the episode "Quiet Illness" of the Showtime anthology series Cinema Toast. Created by her partner Jeff Baena, the series reinvents imagery from public domain films to tell different stories. In crafting "Quiet Illness", Plaza was inspired by actress Loretta Young 's experiences and footage of her appearances. She edited various film and television clips starring Young into a psychological thriller about a woman's self-esteem, and cast Christina Ricci as a voice narrator. She described the project as "trippy" with a "pandemic-filming style". Plaza said that she has always had an interest in directing, and she had been writing a project during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also wrote a children's book with Dan Murphy, The Legend of the Christmas Witch (2021), illustrated by Julia Iredale.
  
  Plaza produced and starred as the titular character in the independent film Emily the Criminal (2022), portraying a woman saddled with student debt and compelled into criminal activity. Her performance and the film received critical acclaim, with The New York Times calling it "wonderfully nuanced", Little White Lies writing that it is "perhaps Plaza’s best performance to date", and the Chicago Sun-Times deeming it "richly layered work" and "one of the best performances of the year in one of the best movies of the year". She also appeared in the film Spin Me Round, which premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in 2022. In the second season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus, Plaza portrayed Harper, a lawyer vacationing in Sicily with her husband. For her performance in the series, she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. On August 25, 2022, the adult animated sitcom Little Demon premiered on FXX, which features the voices of Plaza (who is also an executive producer), Danny DeVito, and Lucy DeVito. In October 2022, Plaza was given the Artist of Distinction Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
  
  At the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards, Plaza received a nomination for Best Lead Performance for Emily the Criminal, as well as a nomination for Best First Feature as producer. In January 2023, she hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time and appeared in multiple sketches. In May, Plaza received criticism for participating in a parody ad for "Wood Milk", which mocked plant-based milks in favor of dairy. In July, it was announced that she would be making her stage debut in an off-Broadway revival of John Patrick Shanley 's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, a two-hander about strangers who become lovers after meeting at a dive bar, opposite her Black Bear costar Christopher Abbott. She was nominated for the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. Time magazine named Plaza one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.
  
  In 2024, Plaza and her Parks and Recreation costar Nick Offerman reunited in a Mountain Dew ad that aired during the Super Bowl LVIII broadcast. She was confirmed to be starring in John Waters 's first film in over 20 years, Liarmouth, based on his novel of the same name. Plaza portrays the future self of Elliott Labrant in the comedy film My Old Ass (2024), and TV presenter Wow Platinum in Francis Ford Coppola 's epic science fiction drama Megalopolis (2024). She portrayed Rio Vidal / Death in the Disney+ miniseries Agatha All Along, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which premiered on September 18, 2024.