What The Cast Of Parks and Recreation Is Doing Now
The Pawnee, Indiana Parks Department staff have all been promoted!
Parks and Recreation is one of the great mockumentary sitcoms which aired on NBC and sustained 7 hilarious seasons from 2009 to 2015, but most die-hard fans will tell you to skip that first season. The reason Parks and Rec is still beloved by new and old fans is the incredible chemistry of the ensemble cast. Whether you were in a few episodes or one of the main Parks Department employees, heck, even the people who popped up to deliver one-liners in town halls, the show was perfectly cast. Here is what the cast of Parks and Recreation is doing now.
Amy Poehler
Poehler was a star and writer of the show, playing the terminally optimistic Indiana bureaucrat Leslie Knope. She has been much more active behind the camera as a writer, director and executive producer for shows including Russian Doll and Three Busy Debras, and the 2021 Dramedy film Moxie which she directed and produced.
Clearly, Leslie Knope is still close to Poehler's heart. She just revived the character, alongside Aubrey Plaza, for a segment on SNL's Weekend Update.
Rashida Jones
Jones, who playe Ann Perkins, has worked actively as a director, writer, producer and actor since Parks and Rec came to a close. Along with Michael Schur, she co-wrote an episode of Black Mirror titled Nosedive in 2016, and also made several documentaries including Quincy, about her father Quincy Jones.
She will appear in a main role in the AppleTV+ science fiction dystopian series Wool this year.
Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman played Ron Swanson, the anti-government director of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department. Since the end of that show, he has been all over TV including with a supporting role on a season of the anthology drama series Fargo and a new part in The Last of Us as Bill.
He also developed his passion for woodworking with his business Offerman Woodshop, and as the host of the reality competition show Making It, which Amy Poehler co-hosted.
Aubrey Plaza
Plaza goofing off with John Goodman at the Critic's Choice awards. She played the fan favorite apathetic Parks Department intern April Ludgate, and has been very busy since the show ended. In 2022 alone, Plaza had a part in the massive second season of The White Lotus, and also made a standout performance in Emily The Criminal which premiered at Sundance.
Chris Pratt
Pratt's role as Ann's ex-boyfriend Andy Dwyer was famously meant to be a minor arc written off the show early, but he gelled so much on-and-off camera that he was soon made a series regular. Now, Pratt is all over the MCU playing Peter Quill / Starlord in the Guardians of the Galaxy film series and other Marvel projects, and is voicing the iconic jumping plumber Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Aziz Ansari
Ansari played the very quotable Tom Haverford, who underperformed at the Parks Department but always had bizarre alternate business schemes. Since Parks and Rec, he created his own three-season Netflix series Master of None and has recorded several stand-up comedy specials for the streamer as well. In 2022, production of his feature film Being Mortal was suspended after star Bill Murray was accused of inappropriate behavior on set.
Adam Scott
Scott played Ben Wyatt, who was often the straight-man when he joined the cast in Season 2, but still had hilarious highlight moments. Scott is a sitcom veteran all the way back to the days of Party Down, but also showed up for some incredible dramatic parts recently including his role in Big Little Lies, and his incredible starring performance in the AppleTV+ drama Severance.
Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe gained all-new fans as the hyper-positive, exercise-obsessed Chris Traeger who joined the crew in Season 2. He is currently playing the lead in and executive producing 9-1-1: Lone Star and starred in the biographical drama Dog Gone which came out in January 2023.
Jim O'Heir
Jim O'Heir was behind Garry Gergich, also known more often as Jerry and even Larry and Terry sometimes to boot. He was often the butt of jokes from his co-workers, but was still beloved by characters in the show and of course its fans. O'Heir has been all over TV in single episode arcs including appearances in Better Call Saul, 9-1-1 and Young Rock.
Retta
The hilarious comedian and actress Retta stole more than a couple scenes while she was playing Donna Meagle. She had another NBC series after Parks and Rec, the crime dramedy Good Girls, which was canceled after four seasons to the chagrin of its fanbase.
Paul Schneider
Schneider was a founding main cast member playing Mark Brendanawicz, but departed the show after 2 seasons. He has been working plenty since Parks and appeared in two recent horror films called Abandoned and A House on the Bayou.
Billy Eichner
Billy Eichner had a memorable recurring part as a high-strung bureaucrat Craig Middlebrooks who joins the Parks Department after it merges with the more affluent town of Eagleton. Eichner had a huge 2022 with the premiere of the romcom he wrote and starred in, Bros. He has also appeared in several seasons of American Horror Story and American Crime Story since Parks.
Ben Schwartz
Schwartz played the deranged rich man-child Jean Ralphio Sapirstein in 22 total episodes of the show and has been all over several film and tv projects since including The Afterparty on AppleTV+. He also has a healthy voice acting career, most notably as Sonic the Hedgehog in the new film series.
Jenny Slate
The Sapirsteins were both hilarious and deranged guest characters, so we also had to shout out Jean-Ralphio's sister Mona-Lisa, played by Jenny Slate. Slate had a small role in the incredible Everything Everywhere All At Once, and also returned to her cult-classic character Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which she co-created with Dean Fleischer Camp as a series of YouTube shorts .
Mo Collins
The town of Pawnee, Indiana is full of incredible characters we could go on naming, but the bizarre host of the morning show "Pawnee Today" Joan Callamezzo, played brilliantly by Mo Collins, definitely deserves some love here. Collins has been all over TV and streaming, and can be seen in Maria Bamford's brilliant show Lady Dynamite as well as dramas like Fear The Walking Dead, where she plays Sarah Rabinowitz.
Co-Creator Michael Schur
Parks and Recreation was co-created by Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, who met while working on The Office together and initially planned this show as a spinoff, explaining the shared mockumentary DNA of the two shows. Since Parks, Schur was the creator of the acclaimed series The Good Place and has been an executive producer on shows like Hacks and Rutherford Falls.
Jacob is a Temporary Partnerships Editor at Hearst based in Queens, New York with his partner and cat Tiger. He loves learning and writing about Film and TV, Video Games, and the weird histories of unexpected subjects.
Get to Know Chase Infiniti
The Surprising Reason Robert Redford Joined Marvel
Robert Redford Endured Unimaginable Personal Loss
Robert Redford & Paul Newman’s Lifelong Friendship
![a teenage boy holds golden trophy above his head with one hand](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/owen-cooper-accepts-the-outstanding-supporting-actor-in-a-news-photo-1757950768.pjpeg?crop=0.651xw:0.875xh;0.0561xw,0.0517xh&resize=360:* "Owen Cooper accepts the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie award for "Adolescence" during the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 14, 2025")
