This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2011)

Dominic Dierkes (born March 19, 1984) is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his involvement in the sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy.

Life and career[link]

A graduate of New York University, after having gained notoriety through their comedic videos on Youtube, he wrote and starred in the 2009 comedy Mystery Team along with the other members of Derrick Comedy.^[1]

Dierkes is a former writer for ONN, the "television" branch of satirical newspaper The Onion. Additionally, Dierkes has appeared in such television shows as Parks and Recreation, Community and The Nighttime Clap. Dierkes is also a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie and received a Fulbright Scholarship while at NYU.^{[citation needed]}

Dierkes wrote for the short-lived Fox animated series Allen Gregory in 2011. He joined the writing staff of Workaholics for its third season.

Other work[link]

Dierkes starred alongside Jae Suh, James Atkinson, and formerly Danielle Pivetta in the Channel 101 web-series, Sex Teenagers, which premiered on March 26, 2011.

Dierkes hosts the comedy podcast "The Anytime Show" where he interviews different comedian friends each week.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dominic Dierkes at the Internet Movie Database
• Derrick Comedy's Official Site

Olympic medal record
Men's Football
Competitor for  United States
Bronze	1904 St. Louis	Team competition

Edward B. Dierkes (March 14, 1886 – November 21, 1955) was an American amateur football player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.

In 1904 he was a member of the St. Rose Parish team, which won the bronze medal in the football tournament. He played in three of the four matches.

External links[link]

• Edward Dierkes' profile at Sports Reference.com

This article about an Olympic medalist of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biographical article relating to United States soccer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Donald Glover (Childish Gambino)
Glover at PaleyFest 2010
Born	Donald McKinley Glover (1983-09-25) September 25, 1983 (age 28) Edwards Air Force Base, California, U.S.
Residence	Silver Lake, California, U.S.
Other names	Childish Gambino
Occupation	Actor, writer, comedian, musician
Years active	2002–present
Home town	Stone Mountain, Georgia, U.S.
Website
http://www.iamdonald.com/

Donald McKinley Glover^[1] (born September 25, 1983) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and musician. Glover first came to attention for his work with Derrick Comedy. He is best known for being a writer for 30 Rock, and for his role as college student Troy Barnes on the NBC comedy series Community. In 2011, Glover signed to Glassnote Records under the stage name Childish Gambino; his first studio album, Camp, was released on November 15, 2011.

Early life and education[link]

Glover was born on September 25, 1983 on Edwards Air Force Base, California^[2] to parents Beverly and Donald Sr. and raised as a Jehovah's Witness in Stone Mountain, Georgia.^[3] Contrary to a persistent rumor, he is not related to actor Danny Glover.^[4] In addition to a biological brother and sister, Glover grew up alongside foster children taken in by his parents.^[3] Glover attended Rockbridge Elementary School and DeKalb School of the Arts before studying at New York University, graduating with a degree in Dramatic Writing in 2006.^[5]

Career[link]

TV and Film[link]

Glover is known for his work on the NBC show Community with Joel McHale and Chevy Chase. Glover was a writer for the NBC series 30 Rock from 2006 to 2009, where he also had an occasional cameo appearance. He was presented the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Candace Comedy Series at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the third season of 30 Rock.^[6]

In 2008, rumors surfaced that Glover was to become a cast member of Saturday Night Live and that he would portray Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Glover denied the SNL rumors on his Facebook profile, stating, "Just to let people know. I was NOT asked to SNL. I just auditioned and there's been a rumor spreading around the web. Just trying to clear the air."^[7]

Glover's stand-up special aired on Comedy Central on March 19, 2010.

In May 2010, Glover started a campaign on Twitter to be allowed to audition for the role of Peter Parker in the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man film, encouraging his supporters to retweet the hashtag "#donald4spiderman".^[8] The campaign, originally started to see how far social networking could carry a message, quickly gained a large following.^[9] The call for Glover to be allowed to audition for the role was supported by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee.^[10] Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who announced an African-American version of Spider-Man a year later, said he had conceived of the character before Glover's campaign went viral.^[11] Bendis gave credit to Glover for influencing the new hero's looks; on seeing him dressed as Spider-Man on Community (a nod to the campaign) Bendis said, "I saw him in the costume and thought, 'I would like to read that book.'".^[12]

In June 2010, it was announced that Glover would receive the Rising Comedy Star award at the Just for Laughs festival in July.^[13]

Glover was featured in Gap's 2010 Holiday ad campaign.

On March 16, 2011, Glover hosted the mtvU Woodie Awards held live at South By Southwest.

On March 24, 2011, Glover taped his one hour comedy special Weirdo for Comedy Central; it aired on November 19.^[14][15]

Donald appeared at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music Festival on June 9 in the 'This Tent' as Childish Gambino and June 11 at 'The Comedy Theater' with Bill Bailey performing stand up. Comedy Central streamed the comedy live on their website.^[16]

Derrick Comedy and other projects[link]

Glover is a member of the sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, along with Dominic Dierkes, Meggie McFadden, DC Pierson, and Dan Eckman. Derrick's YouTube videos gained the group nationwide attention^{[citation needed]} and have contributed to Donald Glover's recognition, as well as his newfound success in the television business. The group wrote and starred in a feature-length film, Mystery Team, released in theaters in 2009.

In January 2012, Donald made a cameo as himself in the YouTube webseries (Episode 12) "The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl". He was on the show to meet the main character who is a big fan of Donald Glover and was taken backstage at one of his concerts.^[17]

Music[link]

Childish Gambino in concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City (October 17, 2010)

Donald Glover DJs and produces his own music under the moniker "mcDJ". His music is of the electronic/remix variety and is often made available for free download via his official site. His current album releases include Love Letter in an Unbreakable Bottle and Utterances of the Heart.

Glover raps and performs under the stage name Childish Gambino,^[18] a name he found from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator.^[19] He released an album entitled Sick Boi on June 5, 2008. On September 17, 2009, Childish Gambino released the album Poindexter. A pair of mixtapes entitled I Am Just A Rapper, and I Am Just A Rapper 2 were released in close succession in early 2010. Robert Scahill added his producing expertise helping with the majority of the tracks. The track listings for those albums consist of the name of the song "he" raps, followed by the song he raps over. His third album, Culdesac, was set to be released on July 2, 2010, but a couple of last minute additions caused the album to be delayed for a day. The album was made available on July 3.^[20] Glover has stated in interviews that on Sick Boi and Poindexter he felt he had to hide behind gimmicks, such as pink hoodies, but with his subsequent projects, he has touched on more personal subject matter, including family, schoolyard bullying, troubled romantic relationships, suicidal thoughts and alcoholism. He has disowned his 2005^[21] album, The Younger I Get, as the too-raw ramblings of what he calls a "decrepit Drake."

On December 1, 2010, Glover released the first track off of his EP titled "Be Alone". He released the next track, "Freaks and Geeks", as well as a five-song track list, on February 11, 2011. On February 25, Donald released the dates for the IAMDONALD tour and also his very first music video for "Freaks and Geeks".^[22] The music video was shot by Dan Eckman, the director of the DerrickComedy troupe. This song would later be used in an Adidas commercial featuring Dwight Howard which brought the song, and Donald, more recognition. On March 8, 2011 Donald released his newest EP via his official website.^[23]

On May 4, 2011, in an interview with TheHipHopUpdate, Glover revealed that he was working on an LP, to be released in September.^[24]

During the weekend of the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, Donald performed with his band and his DJ, SoSuperSam, at the House of Blues in San Diego.^[25] Donald performed a new song from his LP and explained why he had not used Twitter or Tumblr in a while.^[26]

On July 25, 2011, Donald Glover announced that his new album would be entitled Camp. On October 8, 2011, during his Orlando concert, he announced Camp would be released on November 15, 2011.

On August 20, 2011, at the Los Angeles Rock The Bells concert, he gave an interview to allhiphop.com, and announced to the crowd that he had signed with Glassnote Records.^[27] This means that his music will be published onto physical media for the first time including cds and vinyl.

In September 2011, Childish Gambino played at the BruinBash festival at UCLA. On September 20, he released his first official single, "Bonfire". It received much praise on blogs and music message boards.^{[citation needed]}

On November 15, 2011, he performed "Heartbeat" from his album Camp on Conan.

On January 11, 2012, Childish Gambino announced on his website that a new mixtape would be coming out soon. Pictures of Stone Mountain appear to be the cover for his mixtape. On April 2, he released a new song, "Eat Your Vegetables", through his website IAmDonald.com. He said that he has recorded 25 songs for the mixtape and that it will be released "extremely soon." Because of his frequent use of the word on his site and Twitter account, many believe the new mixtape will be titled "Royalty". This was later cleared up by Donald on the BET show, 106 & Park, on May 1, where he stated that "Royalty" was just the name he gave to the group of his friends/musicians that he travels and performs with. On May 14, Funkmaster Flex premiered "Unnecessary", featuring Schoolboy Q. On May 16, Gambino released an untitled track (dubbed "We Ain't Them" by fans) through his website, produced by himself and frequent collaborator Ludwig. On May 22, Donald appeared on Das Racist's radio show "Chillin' Island" where he premiered a new song, "Tell Me", which featured Himanshu Suri, aka Heems from Das Racist. On May 26, Donald released another untitled track (dubbed "Black Faces" by fans) through his website, featuring Nipsey Hussle and produced by Boi-1da. On May 30, he released a third track through his website which he named "Silk Pillow" (via his Twitter account), featuring Beck and produced by both Glover and Beck.

Tours[link]

IAMDONALD Tour[link]

The IAMDONALD tour made 23 stops in 33 days, beginning with Ames, IA on April 16, and finishing with Minneapolis, MN on May 19. In between, this included performances in music venues in cities such as Las Vegas, Houston, Washington, and Atlanta. The tour's shows in New York at the Bowery Ballroom on May 10, and in Brooklyn at Williamsburg Music Hall on May 14, both sold out in three hours after tickets were released on March 4.^[3]

Sign-Up Tour[link]

The Sign-Up Tour was Donald's next pre-tour. He visited 11 cities over the course of 38 days in October and November 2011.^[28]

CAMP Tour[link]

Donald's next tour will be nationwide. He made a website for the tour called "Camp Gambino" on November 19, four days after his album released.^[29] The tour will also feature special guest Danny Brown. The tour will make 20 stops during the course of 32 days along a dates in California in December.^[30] As reported on his website on March 14, 2012, several dates on the CAMP tour have been postponed due to a fractured foot Donald Glover suffered on March 10, while performing in Tampa, Florida. The tour will now begin in Austin, Texas on April 5 and end August 3 in Detroit, Michigan.

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

As Childish Gambino[link]

Studio albums[link]

Independent Albums[link]

• Sick Boi (2008)
• Poindexter (2009)
• Culdesac (2010)

Extended Plays[link]

• EP (2011)

Mixtapes[link]

• I Am Just a Rapper (2010)
• I Am Just a Rapper 2 (2010)
• Unknown Title (2012)^[38]

Singles[link]

• Break (AOTL) (2011)
• Untouchable
• It's On
• The Longest Text Message
• Eat Your Vegetables (2012)
• Unnecessary (ft. ScHoolboy Q) (2012)
• Tell Me (ft. Heems) (2012)
• Black Faces (ft. Nipsey Hussle) (2012)
• Silk Pillow (ft. Beck) (2012)

Collaboration Songs (as featured artist)[link]

• Who Dat Pt. 2 with J. Cole & Spencer Datt (2011)
• Womyn 2 with Heems (2012)
• Level Up (International Remix) with Sway (2012)
• Tricks with Ludovin (2012)
• Giants with Josh Osho (2012)

mc DJ[link]

• Love Letter in an Unbreakable Bottle
• Utterances of the Heart
• Fuck Yaselves
• The Works
• New Year's Eve Mix
• Illin-Noise
• Apple Sauce: Fiona Apple Remix Album
• A Charlie Brown X-mas EP

As An Actor[link]

• "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" from 30 Rock: Official Soundtrack (2010)
• "101 Rap", "Somewhere Out There" from Community: Music from the Original Television Series (2010)
• "Troy and Abed's Christmas Infiltration Rap" Community (2011)

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (May 2012)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Donald Glover

• Donald Glover at the Internet Movie Database
• Donald Glover on Twitter
• Official website
• Derrick Comedy's Official Site
• Review of Childish Gambino at Starland Ballroom

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (February 2011)

Aubrey Plaza
Plaza at the 2012 Time 100
Birth name	Aubrey Christina Plaza
Born	(1984-06-26) June 26, 1984 (age 28) Wilmington, Delaware, United States
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, improv
Years active	2004–present
Genres	Deadpan
Notable works and roles	April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation Daisy Danby in Funny People Julie Powers in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Website	http://aubreyplaza.tumblr.com/

Aubrey Christina Plaza^[1] (born June 26, 1984)^[2] is an American actress and comedian who has gained popularity through her deadpan-style comedy, and currently co-stars in Parks and Recreation as April Ludgate.

Early life[link]

Plaza was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the daughter of Bernadette, an attorney, and David Plaza, a financial advisor.^[3][4][5] She has two younger sisters, Renee and Natalie,^[3] the latter of whom she uses as inspiration for her teenage character April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation.^[6]

Plaza was named after the song "Aubrey" by Bread.^[3][7] Her father is Puerto Rican and her mother is of Irish and English descent.^[3][8] Plaza has stated: "I was like the only diverse kid in my high school, and I'm half-Puerto Rican. But yeah, I have a huge family and tons of cousins in Puerto Rico."^[6] She participated in productions with the Wilmington Drama League.^[3]

Plaza graduated from Ursuline Academy^[3][9] in 2002, and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2006.^[3] While at NYU in 2004, Plaza suffered a stroke that caused temporary paralysis and expressive aphasia, but she has fully recovered.^[3][10]

Career[link]

Plaza has said that she has had many internships and that she "was an intern for Samba Post-Its." One of her jobs was to "literally wallpaper a bathroom with Post-Its." She also worked as an NBC page.

She has been performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater since 2004. She also recently began performing stand-up and has appeared at the Laugh Factory and The Improv. In 2008, she was seen in the Improv Everywhere prank "Mobile Desktop", in which she and two other people brought desktop PCs, including a CRT screen, tower computer, keyboard and mouse into a Starbucks and used them just as people use laptops there.

Plaza starred in the online series The Jeannie Tate Show, and stars as Robin Gibney in ESPN's Mayne Street. She also appeared in the first episode of "Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz" on Funny or Die.^[11]

Plaza at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010

She played Seth Rogen's love interest, Daisy, in 2009's Funny People directed by Judd Apatow. She also had roles in the comedy films Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Derrick Comedy's Mystery Team, which debuted at 2009 Sundance. She appeared in a CollegeHumor short alongside Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.

She plays April Ludgate, the deadpan employee in Parks and Recreation, and has a recurring role as "the Princess" in the comedic sci-fi web series Troopers on CollegeHumor.

On March 12, 2010, Plaza performed at A Night of 140 Tweets: A Celebrity Tweetathon for Haiti, produced by Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Ben Stiller, and Mike Rosenstein, at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles.

In 2010 she made a guest appearance in Portlandia.

Plaza appeared as a guest judge during a roast segment on The Next Food Network Star in 2011.

She appeared in Episode 199 of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.

In early 2012, she was featured in Father John Misty(J. Tillman)'s music video for the song "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings", off the album "Fear Fun".

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aubrey Plaza

• Aubrey Plaza at the Internet Movie Database
• Aubrey Plaza Videos - Plaza's video website
• Aubrey Plaza NBC Profile - Profile from Parks and Recreation
• Troopers web series

Ben Schwartz
Schwartz performing in 2009
Born	(1981-09-15) September 15, 1981 (age 30) New York, New York
Medium	Television, sketches, webisodes
Notable works and roles	Jean-Ralphio Saperstein in Parks and Recreation Bill Hoyt in Undercovers
Website	RejectedJokes.com
Emmy Awards 2009 Emmy for Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Special for coauthoring Hugh Jackman's opening number for the 81st Academy Awards[1]

Ben Schwartz (born September 15, 1981)^[2] is an American actor, comedian, and writer. His feature film credits include Peep World^[3] with Rainn Wilson, Michael C. Hall and Sarah Silverman as well as Everybody's Fine with Robert DeNiro. Additionally he had a role in The Other Guys starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg and directed by Adam McKay.

Life and career[link]

On television, Schwartz guest-starred as Jean-Ralphio on NBC’s Parks and Recreation^[4] and is a lead in the Showtime show House of Lies with Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell. In 2010, Schwartz played series regular Bill Hoyt on J. J. Abrams' one-hour spy drama Undercovers for NBC.

Schwartz has been writing, directing and acting in his own short films for some time. He had his own segment on HBO’s Funny or Die Presents called Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz and has appeared in multiple CollegeHumor^[5] sketches including the popular web series Jake and Amir. Schwartz has been nominated for two Emmys and won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special for coauthoring Hugh Jackman's opening number for the 81st Academy Awards.^[6][1]

He was recently hired by Paramount Pictures to re-make the 1991 classic comedy Soapdish^[6] with producers Rob Reiner and Alan Greisman. And he sold an original pitch to Universal Studios based on an idea by Brian Grazer with Imagine Entertainment attached to produce. He was a staff writer for the third season of Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken and served as a freelance writer for the Weekend Update segment for Saturday Night Live as well as the monologues for the Late Show with David Letterman.^[4]

Schwartz is an alumnus of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCBT)^[4] and continues to perform there regularly. Schwartz is a member of the improv group "Hot Sauce" with Adam Pally and Gil Ozeri, the group performs their long-form improv show "Something Fresh" at UCBT every month.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ben Schwartz at the Internet Movie Database