Mara Marini - Brandi Maxxx, Parks And Recreation, Celeb

Photo: Courtesy of Grapevine PR.

If you haven't yet heard of Canadian actress Mara Marini, this is your lucky day. The comedienne is best known for her reoccurring role on Parks and Recreation, playing the hilarious porn star Brandi Maxxxx, who sees herself as a young Leslie Knope (a.k.a. Amy Poehler) in the making, no matter how much Knope attempts to repel this notion. We caught up with Marini to talk about working with Poehler, playing a porn star, and so much more.

What's it like to work with Amy Poehler?
"Oh my gosh, she’s so amazing. Not only is she incredibly hilarious and so much fun, but she’s so generous. She’s so supportive, always saying like, 'try this,' or how about 'try that.' She’s amazing. I can’t say enough wonderful things about her."

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Is there a lot of improv when you're shooting or does everyone stick pretty closely to the script?
"Usually, the first few takes, we’ll do right off the script. Then after that, they’ll let us do some fun ones. And, you never know what will make it in to the actual episode, so it's always fun to watch and see what ends up getting picked."

Your character on the show, Brandi Maxxxx, is a porn star. From a woman's perspective, did you worry about not wanting to feed into a certain stereotype?
"It would be easy to write the character as just a 'one-dimensional porn star,' but the writers give Brandi so many layers for me to work with. I do think though that Brandi is definitely a feminist, and a big supporter of women's rights. She just also happens to be someone who is very comfortable with her sexuality, as well."

Catch Marini on Parks And Recreation Thursdays on NBC.