Ever wonder what's *actually* going on behind Aubrey Plaza's deadpan stare?

That look – the one that makes you wonder if she's judging you, plotting your demise, or just really, really bored. It's become her trademark. But like most things with Plaza, what you see isn't quite what you get.

"Is This Going to Work Out?": How Aubrey Plaza's Childhood Shaped Her Enneagram Type 6 Vigilance

Aubrey Christina Plaza didn't start out as the queen of deadpan. Born in Delaware to incredibly young parents (they were just 19 and 20 when they had her), Plaza grew up watching her parents hustle.

"When I was young, they worked various jobs to make ends meet and attended night school," she once shared, describing how her father eventually became a financial advisor and her mother an attorney. This early example of preparation and planning ahead? Classic Type 6 influence.

As the oldest of three sisters in a working-class family with Puerto Rican roots on her father's side, Plaza developed the Enneagram Type 6's characteristic vigilance early.

She was quiet as a child. Shy, even.

"I'm way more socially, like, anxious and introverted than people would expect, I think," Plaza confessed in a 2023 Vanity Fair interview. "I'm just as insecure as anybody, and I'm probably way more shy than people think."

This isn't unusual for Type 6s – they're often scanning the environment, analyzing risks, testing loyalties. For young Aubrey, Catholic school at Ursuline Academy added another layer to her developing worldview.

But something shifted in middle school. The shy girl found community theater.

The security-seeking Type 6 had discovered a safe space for expression.

While other Type 6s might retreat further into safety, Plaza showed early signs of what Enneagram experts call "counterphobic" tendencies – moving toward rather than away from what frightens them.

Her high school boyfriend, now Broadway actor John Gallagher Jr., saw it clearly, describing teenage Aubrey as "a female teenage small-town Andy Kaufman" – someone who blurred the lines between sincerity and performance, keeping others guessing.

"I'm Way More Socially Anxious Than People Think": The Inner World of Aubrey Plaza's Type 6 Mind

What's it like inside Aubrey Plaza's head? Probably noisier than you'd expect.

Type 6s are constantly running scenarios, asking questions, and looking for potential problems. It's exhausting. For Plaza, this manifests in what she calls "extreme behaviors" – the oddball public persona that simultaneously protects her and expresses her anxiety.

"You can see all the colors of my psychological state on display in any of these [TV] interviews," she admitted to Vanity Fair.

Let that sink in.

Those weird, awkward, sometimes hostile interview moments? They're not just comedy bits. They're a window into her Type 6 stress response.

The inner dialogue of a Type 6 often sounds like:

  • "What if this goes wrong?"
  • "Are they really on my side?"
  • "Better prepare for the worst"

For Plaza, these thoughts find an unusual outlet. While some Type 6s prepare extensive contingency plans, Plaza developed a different approach: weaponized awkwardness.

"I've always made a spectacle of myself in public. I've always humiliated myself in large groups of people," she told The Telegraph.

This isn't random. It's strategic.

When you're already awkward on purpose, you can't be caught off guard by actual awkwardness. A Type 6 preemptive strike.

"A Female Teenage Small-Town Andy Kaufman": How Plaza's Type 6 Counterphobic Tendencies Define Her Comedy

Not all Type 6s look alike. The "phobic" side seeks safety through caution and planning. The "counterphobic" side challenges fear directly, sometimes appearing reckless.

Plaza? She's a counterphobic case study.

"I'm just always interested in the silliness and the weirdness and the uncanniness of life," she explained, offering a glimpse into what drives her distinctive comedic style.

This isn't just an act. It's her Type 6 psychology finding expression.

When Plaza auditioned for Parks and Recreation, casting director Allison Jones called creator Mike Schur with an urgent message: "I just met the weirdest girl I've ever met in my life. You have to meet her and put her on your show."

Schur's recollection? "Aubrey came over to my office and made me feel really uncomfortable for like an hour, and immediately I wanted to put her in the show."

That uncomfortable hour wasn't a fluke. It was Plaza's Type 6 counterphobic side in action – testing boundaries, establishing control through discomfort.

Most Type 6s worry about rejection. Plaza's approach flips the script: reject conventionality first.

The result? A unique comedic presence that's both calculated and authentic.

"I Have This Existential Crisis Whenever I Go On Those Shows": Plaza's Type 6 Security Seeking in Hollywood

Fame presents a particular challenge for Type 6s. The scrutiny, unpredictability, and performative expectations run counter to their desire for security and authenticity.

Plaza struggles with this contradiction.

"I'm more comfortable working and being," she confessed in a 2016 interview. "I was like being a persona. Like a heightened version of myself, and I just always have this like existential crisis whenever I go on those shows."

That crisis? Pure Type 6.

While her public appearances might seem chaotic, Plaza's career moves reveal the methodical side of her Type 6 personality. She built from improv to internships to bit parts to iconic roles. She's expanded into producing. Each step creates more control, more security.

This isn't reckless improvisation. It's calculated risk management.

"I have to remind myself that I'm not in survival mode anymore," she told Yahoo!, revealing how deeply ingrained her Type 6 vigilance remains despite her success.

And like many Type 6s, Plaza forms strong, loyal bonds with collaborators. Her enduring industry relationships aren't just career networking – they're the Type 6 creating islands of security in uncertain waters.

"I Never Feel Satisfied": Aubrey Plaza's Type 6 Drive and Growth Journey

Type 6s can be their own harshest critics. The same vigilance that scans for external threats turns inward, questioning their own achievements and worthiness.

Plaza embodies this struggle.

"It's hard for me to keep in perspective what has happened or where I am in my career," she admitted. "I never feel satisfied. I never feel like I can take a break."

That dissatisfaction has pushed her toward increasingly challenging roles – from the deadpan April Ludgate to complex performances in films like Black Bear and the critically acclaimed HBO series The White Lotus.

This evolution isn't accidental. It's a Type 6 growth journey.

At their best, Type 6s move from anxiety toward courage – not the absence of fear, but the ability to move forward despite it. Plaza's willingness to take on roles that require tremendous vulnerability demonstrates this development.

The perfectionistic Type 6 drive combined with counterphobic tendencies makes for a potent creative engine. When Plaza described being "a shell of a person" after filming Black Bear, we see both the cost and reward of this approach.

What looks like fearlessness to others is actually a Type 6 facing fear directly.

"I Was Like Being a Persona": How Plaza's Type 6 Personality Shows Up in Her Acting Choices

The roles that draw Plaza reveal much about her Type 6 psychology.

In Legion, she portrayed a disembodied mutant with questionable motives – a character whose reality constantly shifts. In Black Bear, she played an actress being emotionally manipulated by a director for a "better" performance.

See the pattern?

Type 6s are naturally attuned to questions of trust, manipulation, and reality versus appearance. Plaza gravitates toward roles that explore these themes.

"It's a lifelong pickle that I've found myself in," she says of being frequently misunderstood. "I've had so many moments where I'll say something very sincerely and people will completely think that I'm taking the piss out of them."

This disconnect between intention and perception is familiar territory for Type 6s, who often feel misread by others.

"It's always mind-blowing to me that people assume that I am my character," Plaza told Yahoo!, expressing frustration at being confused with her most famous role.

Yet the line between Plaza and her characters isn't always clear – even to her. This blurriness is part of what makes her performances so compelling.

The Type 6's gift for seeing multiple perspectives gives Plaza an unusual advantage as an actress. She naturally understands how differently people can interpret the same situation.

"Not So Very Ordinary": What Aubrey Plaza's Type 6 Journey Teaches Us About Authenticity

What can we learn from Plaza's Type 6 psychology?

First, that anxiety doesn't have to be limiting. Plaza hasn't eliminated her social anxiety or insecurity – she's channeled it into creative expression.

Second, that authenticity sometimes looks like inconsistency. Type 6s contain multitudes – caution and recklessness, trust and skepticism, certainty and doubt.

Plaza embraces these contradictions. "I'm literally just trying to be normal," she told The Independent. "But I can't do it."

That inability to conform has become her superpower.

For fans of the Enneagram, Plaza demonstrates the integration path of Type 6 – moving toward the groundedness of Type 9 while retaining their natural vigilance and perceptiveness.

For the rest of us, she offers something simpler but no less valuable: permission to be complicated.

Behind the deadpan stare and bizarre talk show antics is a mind constantly in motion – questioning, planning, testing, creating.

That's Aubrey Plaza: a Type 6 who turned vigilance into vision, anxiety into art.

Not so very ordinary indeed.

Disclaimer This analysis of Aubrey Plaza's Enneagram type is speculative, based on publicly available information, and may not reflect the actual personality type of Aubrey.