‘Orphan Black’ Star Tatiana Maslany Headed to ‘Parks and Recreation’

Orphan Black breakout star Tatiana Maslany is heading to Pawnee.

The actress has booked a two-episode arc on NBC’s lone returning fall comedy, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Maslany, who plays multiple clones on the BBC drama, will portray a love interest for Aziz Ansari‘s Tom Haverford.

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Specific details about Maslany’s character are being kept under wraps. She’s set to appear in the fifth and sixth episodes of Parks, which returns for its sixth season on Sept. 26.

This marks the most high-profile comedic role for the Critics Choice Award winner, who has a background in improv that dates back to her childhood, where she would perform with her brothers for their friends.

“I went to a French immersion school and French-Canadian improv is a big thing, and we had an improv team at school and 12 of us would get up and make things up against other elementary schools,” the actress told THR during a June interview. “I’d always wanted to perform and that was just another extension of it. I was on the improv team in high school, and after I graduated I joined an improv company that had been established 10 years prior to me getting there. They did longform improv and I fell in love with it. It’s acting, character creation, collaborative, artistic expression and comedy — and it’s scary. It was a big rush. My brothers and I always did improv stuff in our basement with our friends; we’re super nerds and that was our way of spending a Friday night.” 

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Maslany marks the latest love interest for the sharply dressed Tom. Following an amusing arc where he dated Rashida Jones‘ Ann Perkins, Tom more recently went out with Jean-Ralphio’s (Ben Schwartz) sister, Mona Lisa (Jenny Slate). 

Maslany marks the latest high-profile guest star slated for the sixth season of Parks. She joins previously announced Schwartz, Kristen Bell, June Diane Raphael, Sam Elliott, Lucy Lawless, Heidi Klum and Henry Winkler, who plays Jean-Ralphio’s father.        

In addition to the Critics’ Choice prize for actress in a drama, Maslany won the TCA Award for individual achievement in drama and the Young Hollywood Award for breakout actress. She’s repped by Resolution and Characters Talent Agency.   

E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit